"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.
I walk out to the edge of the lake,
Eyes following the water
As it washes my convictions away.
He stops me when I'm starting to pray.
He says,
"Intuition is awakening suspicion."
He says,
"My tradition is the art of superstition."
I wake up in the light of the fire,
Eyes burning like the ashes
In submission to the heat of desire.
He tells me not to preach to the choir.
He says,
"This condition is a slow decomposition."
He says,
"My religion is the practice of sedition."
He says
He says,
"Intuition is awakening suspicion."
He says,
"My tradition is the art of superstition."
"This condition is a slow decomposition."
He says,
"My religion is the practice of sedition."
Eyes following the water
As it washes my convictions away.
He stops me when I'm starting to pray.
He says,
"Intuition is awakening suspicion."
He says,
"My tradition is the art of superstition."
I wake up in the light of the fire,
Eyes burning like the ashes
In submission to the heat of desire.
He tells me not to preach to the choir.
He says,
"This condition is a slow decomposition."
He says,
"My religion is the practice of sedition."
He says
He says,
"Intuition is awakening suspicion."
He says,
"My tradition is the art of superstition."
"This condition is a slow decomposition."
He says,
"My religion is the practice of sedition."
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I remember Chibi and the band saying in an interview that this album was strongly linked to water imagery in meanings (emotions, drowning in them) and death. It's obvious in the song titles Rain, Oceania (water), The Other Side, Beyond (death) and all the others lyrically as well.
She also said that this song related to her experiences going to a psychiatrist/psychologist (can't remember which one) and that makes a lot of sense, as if she was recalling her thoughts and experiences, maybe with her spiritual insights/visions, only to be told it's basically all fake and an illusion by the psych. It also relates to the water and death theme: "I walk out to the edge of the lake, Eyes following the water, As it washes my convictions away." meaning that shes readily immersing herself in these visions and feelings/thoughts, and the death part meaning that she wanted herself to be reborn into this new 'world' she'd found, but only to be told by the psych that it's wrong, that she's being superstitious, that its 'sedition', etc and not right, that she'd break herself apart (slow decomposition) if she lets herself become her visions.
The fire part.: " I wake up in the light of the fire, Eyes burning like the ashes In submission to the heat of desire." is probably referring to her 'rebirth' like a pheonix being burnt and rising from the ashes. She wants to be reborn into this new 'religion'/belief of hers, but the psych tells her to let it go and not to tell others about it because its all suspicious beliefs, and its a mental illness etc.
It sounds very much like my own experiences with hypomania, where I (and lots of others say this too) had big insights and revelation, only to be told that it was part of my illness and to not envelop myself in it because it was 'just mania'.
I saw no one had posted so I wanted to take my crack at it. This song is pretty simple, in my opinion. It's about questioning faith/religion/etc.
Water imagery is used a lot through out the album, and in this song it represents the inkling once someone begins to question the validity of something. [Eyes following the water / As it washes my convictions away.]
The "he" in the story sees the narrator sitting staring at the lake and notices the narrator's feelings, so he speaks and helps further the process. [He stops me when I'm starting to pray / He says, "Intuition is the awakening of suspicion.]
The third verse implies that "he" used the doubt in the narrator's mind to convince them to do something that was seen as a sin in their faith. The eyes burning means they're either crying or feel like crying at committing this sin. [Eyes burning like the ashes / In submission to the heat of desire.] "He" uses cruel irony in telling the narrator not to lament their sin/consider it wrong when they just committed it. [He tells me not to preach to the choir.]
In the fourth verse, the phrase "slow decomposition" refers to the narrator's faith slowly fading away. "He" is using cruel irony again, claiming sedition ("conduct or speech inciting people to rebel against the authority of a state or monarch; trouble making, rebel inciting, subversion." Totally didn't have to google that.) is his religion.
The final verse sums up the song. Even though the narrator is not "he," I think the title was chosen from his POV, since a lot of people who encourage questioning religion call religion "superstition."
I think the entire album is really great both sound-wise and concept-wise. This song is relatively simple but also has a lot of depth to it. The United States is currently in this state of most everyone questioning the validity of following the rules of religion, so it's cool to have a song relevant to that status.
The song is about realising that religion is false, and the fire burning in the heart of new-born atheism.
The water washing convictions away means the narrators beliefs are wavering. She is tempted to pray on her wavering faith, but "He" (and who "He" is, is completely open to interpretation. It could be the voice of inner-reason, it could be Satan, however you want to interpret it) stops her from being lured back to religion.
He says "Intuition is awakening suspicion", meaning the narrators intuitive nature makes her suspicious of her beliefs and her religion.
He says "My tradition is the art of superstition", meaning the "superstitious" religious beliefs are the foundation of the narrators life, her "tradition".
The narrator "wakes up in the light of the fire" meaning she suddenly sees clearly the falsehood of her religious beliefs. Her "eyes burning like ashes in submission to the heat of the desire" represents her lust for control of her own life, and the shedding of the shackles of religious belief. "He tells me not to preach to the choir" means whoever "He" is, already knows such desires and feelings.
He says "This condition is a slow decomposition." which could mean that losing your faith is a slow process into atheism, or it could be from the opposing point of view that losing your religion is like dying, decomposing.
He says "My religion is the practise of sedition", which clearly means that the narrator's new path is rebellion against the church. The narrator's religion is essentially now atheism.