"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.
Take this love
I will make you
I will starve the pain within
I will crave you
I will learn to hate again
I will drain you
I will make you whole again
I will blame you
I will lay beside the dead
'Cause I don't want to live inside this hell
Tame the fire from within
You won't break me
Love will tie the tourniquet
And suffocate me
I won't save you
I won't starve the hope within
I won't change you
I won't fight the pain within
I won't fail you
I won't let your light descend
I won't play you
I won't face your fate again
'Cause I am born to live inside this hell
Tame the fire from within
You won't break me
Love will tie the tourniquet
And suffocate me
Tame the fire from within
You won't take me
Love will tie the tourniquet
And suffocate me
Let the calm rise up
So graceful
Every wasted word
So faithful
Tame the fire from within
You won't break me
Love will tie the tourniquet
And suffocate me
Tame the fire from within
You won't take me
Love will tie the tourniquet
And suffocate me
Suffocate me
Suffocate me
I will make you
I will starve the pain within
I will crave you
I will learn to hate again
I will drain you
I will make you whole again
I will blame you
I will lay beside the dead
'Cause I don't want to live inside this hell
Tame the fire from within
You won't break me
Love will tie the tourniquet
And suffocate me
I won't save you
I won't starve the hope within
I won't change you
I won't fight the pain within
I won't fail you
I won't let your light descend
I won't play you
I won't face your fate again
'Cause I am born to live inside this hell
Tame the fire from within
You won't break me
Love will tie the tourniquet
And suffocate me
Tame the fire from within
You won't take me
Love will tie the tourniquet
And suffocate me
Let the calm rise up
So graceful
Every wasted word
So faithful
Tame the fire from within
You won't break me
Love will tie the tourniquet
And suffocate me
Tame the fire from within
You won't take me
Love will tie the tourniquet
And suffocate me
Suffocate me
Suffocate me
Lyrics submitted by Mellow_Harsher
Tourniquet Lyrics as written by Benjamin Burnley Aaron Bruch
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, CONCORD MUSIC PUBLISHING LLC, Songtrust Ave
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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I'm not too sure behind the meaning of this song, but in my opinion it's about either loving someone who has a difficult personality OR loving someone who has a lot of problems to deal with(and you really cannot help too well but you're trying to.)
Verses bring out the part where you're trying to help but it's hard to. Chorus continues it and "Love will tie the tourniquet. And suffocate me" shows how you're suffering with your loved one.
This is just how I see it.
I think it's about love, especially a failed love. The lyrics saying 'tame the fire from within' means that you should tame that anger of losing love & when they say 'you wont break me', it means that you can't let a failed love bring you down.
I think it’s about loving something like heroine...you tie off your arm with a tourniquet before you shoot up. And those who are helplessly addicted to something they “love” let that love tie the tourniquet so they can get that high again. Even though his addiction suffocates him, he cannot let go of it.
@csharky I agree with you. To me its about addiction, maybe not necessarily heroine but some sort of addiction. knowing Ben is a recovering alcoholic and has many phobias so I think its about that. I am a recovering addict (Opiates) with many phobias myself and that's how I interpret this song.
@csharky I agree with you on this also. I am a recovering addict (heroin) and it does hit home. But I like how he says you won't break me , that's how I have kept it for years I would never let it or the phobias break me .
I think that it is about facing your demons and your inner thoughts and keeping them in check because you have to be strong for someone else.
A lot of us have one or two people that we love but we also know are dangerous to us emotionally. A relationship that is powerful, but volatile and painful. You can try to get away from it. I see this song as an emotional In Case Of Emergency Break Glass type relationship. It is always an option. It will keep you alive, but it will have a severe cost, so choose carefully. Like a tourniquet. Might save you, and you'll live, but an important part of you will die, and it won't be coming back.