"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.
Somewhere in the end of all this hate
There's a light ahead that shines into this grave
That's in the end of all this pain
In the night ahead, there's a light upon this house on a hill
Living, living still, their intention is to kill and they will, they will
But the children are doing fine, I think about them all the time
Until they drink the wine and they will, they will, they will
Somewhere in the end we're all insane
To think that light ahead will save us from this grave
That's in the end of all this pain
In the night ahead, there's a light upon this house on a hill
Living, living still, their intention is to kill and they will, they will
But the children are doing fine, I think about them all the time
Until they drink the wine and they will, they will, they will
I am not afraid, I won't burn out in this place
My intention is to fade and I will, I will
In this house on a hill
The dead are living still, their intention is to kill and they will, they will
Keep your children safe inside, out of pocket, out of mind
Until they drink the wine and they will, they will, they will
There's a light ahead that shines into this grave
That's in the end of all this pain
In the night ahead, there's a light upon this house on a hill
Living, living still, their intention is to kill and they will, they will
But the children are doing fine, I think about them all the time
Until they drink the wine and they will, they will, they will
Somewhere in the end we're all insane
To think that light ahead will save us from this grave
That's in the end of all this pain
In the night ahead, there's a light upon this house on a hill
Living, living still, their intention is to kill and they will, they will
But the children are doing fine, I think about them all the time
Until they drink the wine and they will, they will, they will
I am not afraid, I won't burn out in this place
My intention is to fade and I will, I will
In this house on a hill
The dead are living still, their intention is to kill and they will, they will
Keep your children safe inside, out of pocket, out of mind
Until they drink the wine and they will, they will, they will
Lyrics submitted by EmilySophieRose, edited by buachaille
House On a Hill Lyrics as written by Taylor Momsen Ben Phillips
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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Fast Car
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The Night We Met
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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.
Mountain Song
Jane's Addiction
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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."
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."
Straightforward: I think this is a song bout the damage Protestant Christianity causes.
"House on a Hill" sounds Eerily like the phrase "City upon a hill" coined by Jesus Christ, then used time and time again by protestants to emphasize the importance of their ends, from John Winthrop to Ronald Reagan. That said, I think this song twists this idea onto its head, rather than describing a place of wonder for all being a beacon of destruction for all the confused souls lost in the dark.
Who are these lost souls in the dark? Well, I think it's the children. All of us are born ignorant. All of us begin life in the dark. To keep with the Christian metaphor, born into sin, and to stick with the twist on a head, this is why they are fine. They haven't yet been killed by the house the hill.
Which brings me to wine, or as it is called in the church, communion. During communion Christians eat bread and drink wine, calling it the body and blood of Christ. Though not all churches the this seriously, the apostle Paul outright says that those who are unworthy who drink of the cup drink damnation upon themselves ("For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body," 1 Corinthians 29). For this reason I think drinking the wine is meant to signify communion as the point in which the child-like Christian becomes the adult follower of christ. When the child embraces the Light in the House on the Hill, becoming the bigot. It is at this point that their darkness, their innocence, is killed.
Near the end of the song comes the theme of fading, which I believe to be stepping away from the light. Stepping away from religion. Fading into the darkness, and no longer being one with the body of Christ.
And finally, beyond the lyrics of the song itself, you can't throw a stone in a Taylor Momsen song without hitting some kind of religious imagery that's been spun in some way. One of her songs is literally about going to hell for living a life Christians spurn. I don't think it's dangerous for me to speculate that judgment from Protestant Christians has been a part of her life, and to me this song represents the pain such judgment can cause when it is allowed to be used to indoctrinate the innocent.