"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.
When we were young, we could piss up the boys' bog wall
A black expanse of pitch, or tar, or whatever it was
It doesn't matter much anymore
And tussles with the girls before the advent of pubescent awe
and confusion
Knickers thick, pasty in the roar of adolescence's dawn
How innocent and cruel
Ran the gauntlet of first stirrings in the changing rooms of May
Where are you now? Don't answer that
I'm still ugly
You're still fat
I've still got spots
I'm still afraid
Our parents made us what we are
Or was it God?
Who gives a fuck, it's never really over
A black expanse of pitch, or tar, or whatever it was
It doesn't matter much anymore
And tussles with the girls before the advent of pubescent awe
and confusion
Knickers thick, pasty in the roar of adolescence's dawn
How innocent and cruel
Ran the gauntlet of first stirrings in the changing rooms of May
Where are you now? Don't answer that
I'm still ugly
You're still fat
I've still got spots
I'm still afraid
Our parents made us what we are
Or was it God?
Who gives a fuck, it's never really over
Lyrics submitted by runi215, edited by Kiwimartin
When We Were Young Lyrics as written by Roger Waters
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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"we could piss up the boys boat wall" this makes no sense. however this does: "we could piss up the boys bog wall"
bog is English schoolboy slang for toilet and the line describes the upmanship games played by boys when they are young. The next section captures the unease and expectation of puberty.
"Where are you now?" Roger asks of the boy who bullied him at college. "I'm still afraid" "Who gives a fuck, it's never really over." This poignantly expresses the lasting damage bullying has on its victim. This ring true to me.
@Kiwimartin nice catch with the bog wall. Boat wall makes no sense.<br /> <br /> What makes you say "Where are you now?" is directed to a boy who bullied him at college? <br /> <br /> <br /> I interpret "Ran the gauntlet of first stirrings in the changing rooms of May"<br /> (after having read wikipedia's article on "running the gauntlet"), <br /> as boys running back and fourth between the girl changing rooms (to peek?)