"Fast car" is kind of a continuation of Bruce Springsteen's "Born to Run." It has all the clawing your way to a better life, but in this case the protagonist never makes it with her love; in fact she is dragged back down by him.
There is still an amazing amount of hope and will in the lyrics; and the lyrics themselve rank and easy five. If only music was stronger it would be one of those great radio songs that you hear once a week 20 years after it was released. The imagery is almost tear-jerking ("City lights lay out before us", "Speeds so fast felt like I was drunk"), and the idea of starting from nothing and just driving and working and denigrating yourself for a chance at being just above poverty, then losing in the end is just painful and inspiring at the same time.
Yo, there's still time
As the door close, the cold wind blows
Down America like the Wall of Jericho
Some will walk the sheet close
Many are called but few are chose
Who knows until the day they be exposed
UFO's surround the globe
The world is prepared to explode
So I grab hold of the North Pole
Not tryin' to meet the lost soul, at the crossroad
We're bein' sucked up into the black hole
Young becomes old, mighty clouds roll
Unfold the scrolls that were foretold, by the forefathers
The end of the world saga, streets flooded with lava
Mommas and papas, toddlers, hip-hoppers, and rastas
Rock stars and mobsters, above streets in helicopter
Filled with doctors readin' the death roster
Guts spillin' out like pasta, sky, misty, often tipsy
From off the whiskey, the gypsy, told me, my chances, were risky
Cops, pull up and frisk me but never could they get me, too shifty
I will go, into my dungeon, and summon up the second comin'
People started runnin', aliens with hair like Rastafarians
Captured, placed inside of aquariums, studied by scientists
This is it, 'The Apocalypse', I see the mother ship above the cliff
Over Egypt, it made me sea sick, I see the eclipse
And the abyss, the night shifts
It's repentance day
Repent for your sins
When the gates of Heaven open up
And Hell's closin' in
It's repentance day
Repent for your sins
When the gates of Heaven open up
And Hell's closin' in
The archangel imprison my soul into a prism
Usin' cell division and molecular collision within me
He listen and analyze the heartbeat and rhythms
Of children livin' brutalized
My ears became used to the vibes of ruined lives
Sounds in the chamber I was hidden in
Was so spine-tinglin' I was tremblin'
Envisionin' the fear, here within a new millennium
Where rain became toxic, the air's stale and noxious
Comets hit co-ops with force that made blocks split
Flocks tried to escape a fate that made even hard rocks slide
As nuclear dropped out of the sky, causin' burns too severe
For hydro peroxide and sodium oxide, deep down outta basements
Fish turned lopsided and upside down from atomic face lifts
Through the blackness I saw John the Baptist, on the atlas
Holdin' the masters to my Psalm under his arm
But long before I even wrote 'em
23 elders each wrote me a Psalm
And placed them within my motor neurons
It contained the approximate date of, 'The Apocalypse'
Deposited in scripts of the 20th century prophets
The clock ticks, tick, tick, tick upon the land borders
I count down the manslaughter
Military camcorders under ocean waters
Red October causin' fish to grow arms, legs, tits
And double heads, mutating the eggs as the radiation spreads
Over the water beds, I watch Mother Nature as she bled
Grym, was placed in skin casing to begin lacing hymns
Through the basement, won't be no escapin'
From the South to the North
Where you run ten paces and your face is fallin' off
It's repentance day
It's repentance day
Repent for your sins
When the gates of Heaven open up
And Hell's closin' in
It's repentance day
Repent for your sins
When the gates of Heaven open up
And Hell's closin' in
Raised in Hell, waitin' for angels like Rafael
Comin' from space to trace, they race
Thrown in jail cells I had a purpose since
The sperm cell, to bail out and get braille
For the blinded children in Israel
Kids kill forget the bill
For, dollar bills and drug deals by the mayor
Controls the people livin' legal
Sit back and chill, until time will reveal
Two thousand and one holy men with force fields
Levitatin' space ships, earthquake hits, United States splits
Projects turn to snake pits
Secrets of the Masons came to revelations
Babylon destroyed by the nations aggravations
Riots in the train stations, criminals grabbin' cops
Snakes rattlin', angels draggin'
Seven head dragons out the Roman empire
Surrounded with fire, liars in the Pentagon
Drop their nuclear bombs, ran, panic
But still, was trapped on the planet
Died before the mother ship landed
Only the chosen ones understand it, some can't
'Cause of TV brain damage, no time to be romantic
This day your independence and repentance, pentance, pentance
"Now I see the light, my whole life is moving in one direction
I see that now, there never has been any choice for me"
Repentance day
Repent for your sins
When the gates of Heaven open up
And Hell's closin' in
Repentance day
Repent for your sins
When the gates of Heaven open up
And Hell's closin' in
Did you repent today?
Repent for your sins
When the gates of Heaven open up
And Hell's closin' in
As the door close, the cold wind blows
Down America like the Wall of Jericho
Some will walk the sheet close
Many are called but few are chose
Who knows until the day they be exposed
UFO's surround the globe
The world is prepared to explode
So I grab hold of the North Pole
Not tryin' to meet the lost soul, at the crossroad
We're bein' sucked up into the black hole
Young becomes old, mighty clouds roll
Unfold the scrolls that were foretold, by the forefathers
The end of the world saga, streets flooded with lava
Mommas and papas, toddlers, hip-hoppers, and rastas
Rock stars and mobsters, above streets in helicopter
Filled with doctors readin' the death roster
Guts spillin' out like pasta, sky, misty, often tipsy
From off the whiskey, the gypsy, told me, my chances, were risky
Cops, pull up and frisk me but never could they get me, too shifty
I will go, into my dungeon, and summon up the second comin'
People started runnin', aliens with hair like Rastafarians
Captured, placed inside of aquariums, studied by scientists
This is it, 'The Apocalypse', I see the mother ship above the cliff
Over Egypt, it made me sea sick, I see the eclipse
And the abyss, the night shifts
It's repentance day
Repent for your sins
When the gates of Heaven open up
And Hell's closin' in
It's repentance day
Repent for your sins
When the gates of Heaven open up
And Hell's closin' in
The archangel imprison my soul into a prism
Usin' cell division and molecular collision within me
He listen and analyze the heartbeat and rhythms
Of children livin' brutalized
My ears became used to the vibes of ruined lives
Sounds in the chamber I was hidden in
Was so spine-tinglin' I was tremblin'
Envisionin' the fear, here within a new millennium
Where rain became toxic, the air's stale and noxious
Comets hit co-ops with force that made blocks split
Flocks tried to escape a fate that made even hard rocks slide
As nuclear dropped out of the sky, causin' burns too severe
For hydro peroxide and sodium oxide, deep down outta basements
Fish turned lopsided and upside down from atomic face lifts
Through the blackness I saw John the Baptist, on the atlas
Holdin' the masters to my Psalm under his arm
But long before I even wrote 'em
23 elders each wrote me a Psalm
And placed them within my motor neurons
It contained the approximate date of, 'The Apocalypse'
Deposited in scripts of the 20th century prophets
The clock ticks, tick, tick, tick upon the land borders
I count down the manslaughter
Military camcorders under ocean waters
Red October causin' fish to grow arms, legs, tits
And double heads, mutating the eggs as the radiation spreads
Over the water beds, I watch Mother Nature as she bled
Grym, was placed in skin casing to begin lacing hymns
Through the basement, won't be no escapin'
From the South to the North
Where you run ten paces and your face is fallin' off
It's repentance day
It's repentance day
Repent for your sins
When the gates of Heaven open up
And Hell's closin' in
It's repentance day
Repent for your sins
When the gates of Heaven open up
And Hell's closin' in
Raised in Hell, waitin' for angels like Rafael
Comin' from space to trace, they race
Thrown in jail cells I had a purpose since
The sperm cell, to bail out and get braille
For the blinded children in Israel
Kids kill forget the bill
For, dollar bills and drug deals by the mayor
Controls the people livin' legal
Sit back and chill, until time will reveal
Two thousand and one holy men with force fields
Levitatin' space ships, earthquake hits, United States splits
Projects turn to snake pits
Secrets of the Masons came to revelations
Babylon destroyed by the nations aggravations
Riots in the train stations, criminals grabbin' cops
Snakes rattlin', angels draggin'
Seven head dragons out the Roman empire
Surrounded with fire, liars in the Pentagon
Drop their nuclear bombs, ran, panic
But still, was trapped on the planet
Died before the mother ship landed
Only the chosen ones understand it, some can't
'Cause of TV brain damage, no time to be romantic
This day your independence and repentance, pentance, pentance
"Now I see the light, my whole life is moving in one direction
I see that now, there never has been any choice for me"
Repentance day
Repent for your sins
When the gates of Heaven open up
And Hell's closin' in
Repentance day
Repent for your sins
When the gates of Heaven open up
And Hell's closin' in
Did you repent today?
Repent for your sins
When the gates of Heaven open up
And Hell's closin' in
Lyrics submitted by SongMeanings
Repentance Day Lyrics as written by C. Smith Anthony Ian Berkeley
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
Add your thoughts
Log in now to tell us what you think this song means.
Don’t have an account? Create an account with SongMeanings to post comments, submit lyrics, and more. It’s super easy, we promise!
More Featured Meanings
Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman
Mental Istid
Ebba Grön
Ebba Grön
This is one of my favorite songs. https://fnfgo.io
Mountain Song
Jane's Addiction
Jane's Addiction
Jane's Addiction vocalist Perry Farrell gives Adam Reader some heartfelt insight into Jane’s Addiction's hard rock manifesto "Mountain Song", which was the second single from their revolutionary album Nothing's Shocking. Mountain song was first recorded in 1986 and appeared on the soundtrack to the film Dudes starring Jon Cryer. The version on Nothing's Shocking was re-recorded in 1988.
"'Mountain Song' was actually about... I hate to say it but... drugs. Climbing this mountain and getting as high as you can, and then coming down that mountain," reveals Farrell. "What it feels to descend from the mountain top... not easy at all. The ascension is tough but exhilarating. Getting down is... it's a real bummer. Drugs is not for everybody obviously. For me, I wanted to experience the heights, and the lows come along with it."
"There's a part - 'Cash in now honey, cash in Miss Smith.' Miss Smith is my Mother; our last name was Smith. Cashing in when she cashed in her life. So... she decided that, to her... at that time, she was desperate. Life wasn't worth it for her, that was her opinion. Some people think, never take your life, and some people find that their life isn't worth living. She was in love with my Dad, and my Dad was not faithful to her, and it broke her heart. She was very desperate and she did something that I know she regrets."
Gentle Hour
Yo La Tengo
Yo La Tengo
This song was originally written by a guy called Peter Gutteridge. He was one of the founders of the "Dunedin Sound" a musical scene in the south of New Zealand in the early 80s. From there it was covered by "The Clean" one of the early bands of that scene (he had originally been a member of in it's early days, writing a couple of their best early songs). The Dunedin sound, and the Clean became popular on american college radio in the mid to late 80s. I guess Yo La Tengo heard that version.
Great version of a great song,
When We Were Young
Blink-182
Blink-182
This is a sequel to 2001's "Reckless Abandon", and features the band looking back on their clumsy youth fondly.