"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.
So they came, one by one, there was never any warning
Bled out the stuck pig fields like it was gonna last long
And I saw the whole rise, I saw the whole thing fall down
And all flesh spun, a lattice of it reaching out
Oh I'm left holding my head looking down at every grave
And all millennia pass, just a flicker in a wave
And I've seen more villages burn than animals born
I've seen more towers come down than children grow up
Cross the peaks, cross the marsh, cross your fingers for the last time
And pass out the blame to someone and never step it up side
And nobody's asking, "Why is your head bent down so?"
There's trillions lost, I'm dreaming of a different time
I'm left holding my head looking down at every grave
And all millennia pass, just a flicker in a wave
And I've seen more villages burn than animals born
I've seen more towers come down than children grow up
Oh
Oh
Oh
Oh
Oh
Oh
I've seen biomass swarm back and forth across the globe
They try all manner of things just to keep it all afloat
And I've seen more criminals hung than innocents walk
I've seen more horrors made real than dreamers wake up
Oh
Oh
Oh
Come now, Decider, sit down beside me
Tell me my world is gone, oh
Bled out the stuck pig fields like it was gonna last long
And I saw the whole rise, I saw the whole thing fall down
And all flesh spun, a lattice of it reaching out
Oh I'm left holding my head looking down at every grave
And all millennia pass, just a flicker in a wave
And I've seen more villages burn than animals born
I've seen more towers come down than children grow up
Cross the peaks, cross the marsh, cross your fingers for the last time
And pass out the blame to someone and never step it up side
And nobody's asking, "Why is your head bent down so?"
There's trillions lost, I'm dreaming of a different time
I'm left holding my head looking down at every grave
And all millennia pass, just a flicker in a wave
And I've seen more villages burn than animals born
I've seen more towers come down than children grow up
Oh
Oh
Oh
Oh
Oh
Oh
I've seen biomass swarm back and forth across the globe
They try all manner of things just to keep it all afloat
And I've seen more criminals hung than innocents walk
I've seen more horrors made real than dreamers wake up
Oh
Oh
Oh
Come now, Decider, sit down beside me
Tell me my world is gone, oh
Lyrics submitted by darkfrankhs
The Peaks Lyrics as written by Jeremy Joseph Pritchard Jonathan Joseph Higgs
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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This is one of my favorite songs. https://fnfgo.io
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This song is written as the perspective of the boys in the street, as a whole, and what path they are going to choose as they get older and grow into men. (This is why the music video takes place in an orphanage.) The seen, and unseen collective suffering is imbedded in the boys’ mind, consciously or subconsciously, and is haunting them. Which path will the boys choose? Issac Hayes is the voice of reason, maybe God, the angel on his shoulder, or the voice of his forefathers from beyond the grave who can see the big picture and are pleading with the boys not to continue the violence and pattern of killing their brothers, but to rise above. The most beautiful song and has so many levels. Racism towards African Americans in America would not exist if everyone sat down and listened to this song and understood the history behind the words. The power, fear, pleading in RZA and Ghostface voices are genuine and powerful. Issac Hayes’ strong voice makes the perfect strong father figure, who is possibly from beyond the grave.
It's from the perspective of a higher being or god who is watching earth. And it is making the observation that there has been more atrocities than good - and the fact it has spent it's time having to watch the bad things - leaving no 'time' to watch the beauty in life. It also reflects modern life - where media and humans themselves seem to focus on the negative. In the end the 'god' asks what has happened to the world.
I feel this song is about how we are shaped by our experiences.
The crux of this song for me is "And I’ve seen more villages burn than animals born, I’ve seen more towers come down than children grow up"
If you've seen/been through a lot of bad times then you tend to feel that shape you. you might be idealistic vs cynical for example.
the same theme is here in these lines: "And I’ve seen more criminals hung than innocents walk, I’ve seen more horrors made real than dreamers wake up"
beautiful lyrics, really touch me.
I've heard these lyrics through Lewis Watson's cover of the song, check it out it's pretty great. I listened to it when I was reading Lord of the Flies, the novel by William Golding. The lyrics fit perfectly with the story. It's a highly symbolic novel about the atrocious nature of the human species and our natural tendency to engage in negative actions and thoughts, rather than appreciating the beauty of life, and to love each other. "And all millennia pass just a flicker in a wave", patterns repeat themselves, and so do we. Societies' structures change, but our deeper values (positive/negative) stay with us forever. We are somehow doomed. I recommend reading the book and listening to the cover ;)