"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.
Topanga is hot tonight, the city by the bay
Has movie stars and liquor stores and soft decay
The rumbling from distant shores sends me to sleep
But the facts of life can sometimes make it hard to dream
Life rocked me like Mötley
Grab me by the ribbons in my hair
Life rocked me, ultra-softly
Like the heavy metal that you wear
Flying to the moon again
Dreaming about heroin
Probably gave you everything
And took your life away
I put you on an aeroplane
Destined for a foreign land
My hopes that you come back again
And tell me everything's
Okay
Babe, yeah
Topanga is hot today
Manson's in the air
And all my friends have come
'Cause they still feel him here
I want to leave, I'll probably stay another year
It's hard to live when absolutely nothing's clear
Life rocked me like Motley
Bad beginning to my new year
Life rocked me, ultra-softly
Like the heavy metal that you hear
I'm flying to the moon again
Dreaming about heroin
And how I gave you everything
And took your life away
I put you on an aeroplane
Destined for a foreign land
I thought that you'd come back again
To tell me everything's
Okay
Babe, yeah, yeah
It's fucking hot, hot, winter in the city
Something 'bout this weather made these kids go crazy
It's hot, even for February
Something 'bout this sun has made these kids get scary
Oh, writing in blood on my walls and shit like
Oh, oh my god
Tripping off from the walls into the docks and shit
Oh, oh, oh, oh
I'll be lying if I said I wasn't sick of it
Lead me baby
Come on, come on, come on, come on
I'm flying to the moon again
Dreaming about marzipan
Taking all my medicine
To take my thoughts away
I'm getting on that aeroplane
Leaving my old man again
I hope that I'd come back one day
To tell you that I really changed
Baby
It's hot, hot
Something 'bout the city
Don't know what it is that makes my head get crazy
Oh, oh, oh
Makes me feel like I can change
Oh, oh, oh, oh
All of my evil ways and shit
Hmm, hmm
Oh, oh, oh
I'd be lying if I said I wasn't sick of it
Has movie stars and liquor stores and soft decay
The rumbling from distant shores sends me to sleep
But the facts of life can sometimes make it hard to dream
Life rocked me like Mötley
Grab me by the ribbons in my hair
Life rocked me, ultra-softly
Like the heavy metal that you wear
Flying to the moon again
Dreaming about heroin
Probably gave you everything
And took your life away
I put you on an aeroplane
Destined for a foreign land
My hopes that you come back again
And tell me everything's
Okay
Babe, yeah
Topanga is hot today
Manson's in the air
And all my friends have come
'Cause they still feel him here
I want to leave, I'll probably stay another year
It's hard to live when absolutely nothing's clear
Life rocked me like Motley
Bad beginning to my new year
Life rocked me, ultra-softly
Like the heavy metal that you hear
I'm flying to the moon again
Dreaming about heroin
And how I gave you everything
And took your life away
I put you on an aeroplane
Destined for a foreign land
I thought that you'd come back again
To tell me everything's
Okay
Babe, yeah, yeah
It's fucking hot, hot, winter in the city
Something 'bout this weather made these kids go crazy
It's hot, even for February
Something 'bout this sun has made these kids get scary
Oh, writing in blood on my walls and shit like
Oh, oh my god
Tripping off from the walls into the docks and shit
Oh, oh, oh, oh
I'll be lying if I said I wasn't sick of it
Lead me baby
Come on, come on, come on, come on
I'm flying to the moon again
Dreaming about marzipan
Taking all my medicine
To take my thoughts away
I'm getting on that aeroplane
Leaving my old man again
I hope that I'd come back one day
To tell you that I really changed
Baby
It's hot, hot
Something 'bout the city
Don't know what it is that makes my head get crazy
Oh, oh, oh
Makes me feel like I can change
Oh, oh, oh, oh
All of my evil ways and shit
Hmm, hmm
Oh, oh, oh
I'd be lying if I said I wasn't sick of it
Lyrics submitted by Mellow_Harsher
Heroin Lyrics as written by Rick Nowels Elizabeth Grant
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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Mountain Song
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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.
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"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."
No Surprises
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Same ideas expressed in Fitter, Happier are expressed in this song. We're told to strive for some sort of ideal life, which includes getting a good job, being kind to everyone, finding a partner, getting married, having a couple kids, living in a quiet neighborhood in a nice big house, etc. But in Fitter, Happier the narrator(?) realizes that it's incredibly robotic to live this life. People are being used by those in power "like a pig in a cage on antibiotics"--being pacified with things like new phones and cool gadgets and houses while being sucked dry. On No Surprises, the narrator is realizing how this life is killing him slowly. In the video, his helmet is slowly filling up with water, drowning him. But he's so complacent with it. This is a good summary of the song. This boring, "perfect" life foisted upon us by some higher powers (not spiritual, but political, economic, etc. politicians and businessmen, perhaps) is not the way to live. But there is seemingly no way out but death. He'd rather die peacefully right now than live in this cage. While our lives are often shielded, we're in our own protective bubbles, or protective helmets like the one Thom wears, if we look a little harder we can see all the corruption, lies, manipulation, etc. that is going on in the world, often run by huge yet nearly invisible organizations, corporations, and 'leaders'. It's a very hopeless song because it reflects real life.
Amazing
Ed Sheeran
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Ed Sheeran tells a story of unsuccessfully trying to feel “Amazing.” This track is about the being weighed down by emotional stress despite valiant attempts to find some positivity in the situation. This track was written by Ed Sheeran from the perspective of his friend. From the track, we see this person fall deeper into the negative thoughts and slide further down the path of mental torment with every lyric.
I see this song as a fight between sobriety and addiction. Flying in an aeroplane could be about using but I think it could be about getting away to clean up, come back to tell how you went.. Topanga is a brand on bikinis, maybe this is part a reference to the film clip about the model? life rocked me, is saying abut a hard life. 'gave you everything then took your life away' is you feel so good on Heroin, then it can take everything off you and you wake up with nothing. put on an aeroplane could be about going to detox, then come back to tell her how they went. then she leaves her old man, which could be her drugs.
'writing in blood on the walls' is about not been able to find a vein and blood is everywhere, syringe is congealed and you have just wasted another shot.
another thought is writing in blood on the wall.... could just as easily be about the people that have died.
This song is about a former flame that died due to heroin overdose. Topanga is a city in California not far from L.A. The song is her reconciling loss and how remaining in Topanga serves as a constant reminder of her inability to save him and how he haunts her still.