"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.
Turn turn away
From the sound of your own voice
Calling no one, just a silence
Run to see you at the edge
Fall off the avalanche
Turn away
Hold hold the light
That fixes you in time
Keeps you under
Takes you over
The wall that love divides, between waking and slumber
Turn away
Turn turn away
From the weight of your own past
It's magic for the devil
And betray the lack of change
Once you have spoken
Turn away
From the sound of your own voice
Calling no one, just a silence
Run to see you at the edge
Fall off the avalanche
Turn away
Hold hold the light
That fixes you in time
Keeps you under
Takes you over
The wall that love divides, between waking and slumber
Turn away
Turn turn away
From the weight of your own past
It's magic for the devil
And betray the lack of change
Once you have spoken
Turn away
Lyrics submitted by SongMeanings
Turn Away Lyrics as written by Beck Hansen
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management
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
The Night We Met
Lord Huron
Lord Huron
This is a hauntingly beautiful song about introspection, specifically about looking back at a relationship that started bad and ended so poorly, that the narrator wants to go back to the very beginning and tell himself to not even travel down that road. I believe that the relationship started poorly because of the lines:
"Take me back to the night we met:When the night was full of terrors: And your eyes were filled with tears: When you had not touched me yet"
So, the first night was not a great start, but the narrator pursued the relationship and eventually both overcame the rough start to fall in love with each other:
"I had all and then most of you"
Like many relationships that turn sour, it was not a quick decline, but a gradual one where the narrator and their partner fall out of love and gradually grow apart
"Some and now none of you"
Losing someone who was once everything in your world, who you could confide in, tell your secrets to, share all the most intimate parts of your life, to being strangers with that person is probably one of the most painful experiences a person can go through. So Painful, the narrator wants to go back in time and tell himself to not even pursue the relationship.
This was the perfect song for "13 Reasons Why"
Bron-Y-Aur Stomp
Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin
This is about bronies. They communicate by stomping.
Cajun Girl
Little Feat
Little Feat
Overall about difficult moments of disappointment and vulnerability. Having hope and longing, while remaining optimistic for the future. Encourages the belief that with each new morning there is a chance for things to improve.
The chorus offers a glimmer of optimism and a chance at a resolution and redemption in the future.
Captures the rollercoaster of emotions of feeling lost while loving someone who is not there for you, feeling let down and abandoned while waiting for a lover. Lost with no direction, "Now I'm up in the air with the rain in my hair, Nowhere to go, I can go anywhere"
The bridge shows signs of longing and a plea for companionship. The Lyrics express a desire for authentic connection and the importance of Loving someone just as they are. "Just in passing, I'm not asking. That you be anyone but you”
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.
I believe this is about acknowledging and moving beyond past betrayals of self via inaction. The references to events of the past are passive, while the encouragement to speak and turn away are present and active.
@timavers I listen to this song as Beck trying to convince someone not to commit suicide.
For example:<br /> <br /> Verse 1:<br /> <br /> "Turn away from the sound of your own voice" is like saying to someone that they should turn away from the negative feelings they're experiencing, the voice inside their head which is making them feel the lows that they do.<br /> <br /> "Calling no one, just a silence" made me think of the term "suffering in silence." The person who feels this depression goes through it alone.<br /> <br /> "Run to see you at the edge, fall of the avalanche" is like saying that they were too late, and the person let their thoughts take total control and they ended their life in the process...<br /> but the last line "turn away" shows that it hasn't yet happened and there is still some hope for this person. The avalanche didn't totally consume them.<br /> <br />
The first passage feels like there is a helplessness, trying to communicate, a voice calling into an unresponsive silence - unable to stop a tragic event.
The second passage feels more hopeful - hold on to the light - of love - to transcend the walls that divide us. Yet, we turn away, so ultimately fail.
The third passage tells us to unburden ourselves of the past - yet can you? or should you? it’s the devils magic. Once you have spoken, there’s the epiphany that you haven’t changed anyway because your words betray you, you have not changed - turn away
I think this could be about letting go of attachments. Once you have spoken turn away.
Your past is also your present and your future you should never walk away from your past….. your past made you know you are. Your past is part of your soul. Especially if we’re talking about human beings and family I actually do not like this song I think it’s negative
Turn Away – As the scene/song begins Jesus is in the Garden of Gethsemane (surrounded by his disciples who are asleep/resting)…Jesus’ calm demeanor is ‘broken’. He looks up – He knows the ‘pursuit’ has begun -- the screen shows Roman soldiers mounting their horses and setting out to capture Jesus. Jesus looks up for His final conversation with His Father…knowing He has to turn away from God…Jesus sings:
Turn turn away From the sound of your own voice Calling no one Just a silence Learn to see around the edge Fall off the avalanche Turn away
Hold hold the line That fixes you in time Keeps you under Takes you over The wall of love divides Between waking and slumber Turn away
(Song interlude) Jesus knowing His fate…drops to His knees and rubs His forehead – as He looks at His hands He sees blood on them. Then the soldiers – accompanied by Judas – arrive and a chaotic scene begins – as Jesus looks at Judas – everyone freezes (or goes into very slow motion) except Judas who is walking towards Jesus. Jesus looks at Judas and sings:
Turn turn away From the weight of your own verse It’s magic for the devil And betray the lack of change Once you have spoken Turn away
The chaotic scene resumes (everyone starts moving again)…Judas approaches Jesus and kisses Him on the cheek and says ‘Rabbi’…this is the sign to the Roman soldiers that this is Jesus. The Roman soldiers take Jesus. Judas runs away.
We see an outline of a tree…and a person standing on a limb of the tree…the person jumps/hangs himself – coins (30 pieces of silver) fall on the ground.