"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.
Me veo colgado de un gancho de ropa
Escuchando música, alucinando con tu boca
Ella dice, eso es, bájalo un poquito más
Ya no quiere más hablar, es mejor olvidarlo
(Pump it up) When you don't really need it
(Pump it up) Until you can feel it
Abajo donde hay placer
El cielo y el infierno ves
Se pone el mundo al revés
Mentiras en mis ojos ves
No hay un misterio que no pueda resolver
(Pump it up) When you don't really need it
(Pump it up) Until you can feel it
!Hey!
Aroma de tabaco, condimento químico
Tratas de decirle stop, ¿eres un narcótico?
Te hace alucinar, reir y volar
Todo los puedes perder, cuando esto empiece a arder
(Pump it up) Until you can feel it
(Pump it up) When you don't really need it
Ella tiene su show
Pero su energia en low
Ella pone la pasión
Yo le doy corazón
No hay sumisión
Vengo a relajarme
Tentación sin remordiendo
(Pump it up) When you don't really need it
(Pump it up) Until you can feel it
(Pump it up) Until you can feel it
(Pump it up) When you don't really need it
(Pump it up) When you don't really need it
(Pump it up) Until you can feel it
Don't really need it
No quiero que te olvides
Don't really need it
No quiero que te olvides
Don't really need it
No quiero que te olvides
Escuchando música, alucinando con tu boca
Ella dice, eso es, bájalo un poquito más
Ya no quiere más hablar, es mejor olvidarlo
(Pump it up) When you don't really need it
(Pump it up) Until you can feel it
Abajo donde hay placer
El cielo y el infierno ves
Se pone el mundo al revés
Mentiras en mis ojos ves
No hay un misterio que no pueda resolver
(Pump it up) When you don't really need it
(Pump it up) Until you can feel it
!Hey!
Aroma de tabaco, condimento químico
Tratas de decirle stop, ¿eres un narcótico?
Te hace alucinar, reir y volar
Todo los puedes perder, cuando esto empiece a arder
(Pump it up) Until you can feel it
(Pump it up) When you don't really need it
Ella tiene su show
Pero su energia en low
Ella pone la pasión
Yo le doy corazón
No hay sumisión
Vengo a relajarme
Tentación sin remordiendo
(Pump it up) When you don't really need it
(Pump it up) Until you can feel it
(Pump it up) Until you can feel it
(Pump it up) When you don't really need it
(Pump it up) When you don't really need it
(Pump it up) Until you can feel it
Don't really need it
No quiero que te olvides
Don't really need it
No quiero que te olvides
Don't really need it
No quiero que te olvides
Lyrics submitted by magicnudiesuit
Pump It Up Lyrics as written by Elvis Costello
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Universal Music Publishing Group, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
Add your thoughts
Log in now to tell us what you think this song means.
Don’t have an account? Create an account with SongMeanings to post comments, submit lyrics, and more. It’s super easy, we promise!
More Featured Meanings
Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman
Mental Istid
Ebba Grön
Ebba Grön
This is one of my favorite songs. https://fnfgo.io
Bron-Y-Aur Stomp
Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin
This is about bronies. They communicate by stomping.
Son Şansın - Şarkı Sözleri
Hayalperest
Hayalperest
This song seemingly tackles the methods of deception those who manipulate others use to get victims to follow their demands, as well as diverting attention away from important issues. They'll also use it as a means to convince people to hate or kill others by pretending acts of terrorism were committed by the enemy when the acts themselves were done by the masters of control to promote discrimination and hate. It also reinforces the idea that these manipulative forces operate in various locations, infiltrating everyday life without detection, and propagate any and everywhere.
In general, it highlights the danger of hidden agendas, manipulation, and distraction, serving as a critique of those who exploit chaos and confusion to control and gain power, depicting a cautionary tale against falling into their traps. It encourages us to question the narratives presented to us and remain vigilant against manipulation in various parts of society.
No Surprises
Radiohead
Radiohead
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.
but in a way, aren't all songs about masturbation?
Pumpkinhed - only if you're Freud.
I've studied Freud, however briefly, and though some are fairly straightforward in naming, some can be twisted just enough to make them dirty by certain idiots.....like me.
THIS SONG IS NOT ABOUT MASTURBATION, YOU FUCTARD!!
Yes, it is
I'm fairly sure it's about having a wank, mate.
However, what's wrong with that? Self-love is the purest, and safest kind of love
Coming from a second-hand source, Elvis once said that the song's about a night out with a bit of "assisted insomnia"
(Best drug euphemism ever, by the by)
Ramones were great, so is Elvis C. ILoveLife full of hate for someone using Love in their name...and by the way, Ramones excelled at their instruments.
Elvis Costello is more punk than anybody ive ever heard. And I still hate the Ramones, because they suck and cant play instruments. Costello is the most talented musician and song writer in punk music.
This song is pretty much just about giving in to the flow and having fun. He deems that hes just been on tender hooks and people look down on him, like his parents (turn it down flat!) and possibly his girlfriend (he bought things for her and tried to please her but she was too smug to give a shit). So, he just listens to music and partys all the goddam time.
I'm writing this to everyone who thinks that Elvis Costello is "punk," "pretty punk" or "very punk." First, EC is one of my all-time favorite artists. But, punk? Are you kidding me? Here are some of my other favorite artists that are PUNK: The Sex Pistols, The Clash, David Johanssen and the New York Dolls, Patti Smith, The Scientists, Dead Kennedys, The Ramones, etc. <br /> <br /> Punk began in the mid 1970s in the U.K (protopunk began in the 1960s). It was very political and did not have a mainstream audience, though there was a subculture of punk fans here in the U.S. This was mainly among diaffected and disillusioned young people. It was rebellious and it had an anti-government feel. Because punk wasn't mainstream, it didn't really catch on here until the 2000s. Sadly, many people missed out and believe to this day that new wave artists like Elvis Costello were punk, which they were not.
Punk actually started in the mid seventies in New York at CBGB's. Malcolm McClaren got the Idea for the Sex Pistols from Richard Hell when he saw their style.<br /> <br /> It came out in England around 76 to 77 with the Sex Pistols and The Clash and like bands. When it came out in the UK it was much more political because of the climate their.<br /> <br /> The Ramones predates Never Mind the Bullocks and the first Clash album. The New York Dolls predate the UK punk movement as well.
You are right, Shoshana, that Elvis Costello isn't really punk. He did ride the Coat tails of the new punk movement though to get his career going. He originally was on Stiff Records which was a DIY label for many punk artists.<br /> <br /> Elvis is really a singer/songwriter.
What are tender hooks?
@ILOVELIFE This is for all you know nothing millennial twats who get your opinions from magazines and blogs and others who have little more than a passing knowledge of the topic. Anyone who thinks punk is defined by one's image, their 'look', or by music that is little more than loud three chord songs played in 4/4/ and sung by some grimey mug with spittle hanging from his gob needs to get a clue. The lyrics, subject matter, and mix of anger, repression, and a sense of revenge was a real and 'punk' as most any of his contemporaries. Hell, those 1st two albums were more punk that a lot of so-called 'punk' bands. And robsun, if you think Costello is merely a singer/songwriter, then you know next to nothing about his early recordings.This song is
@ILOVELIFE <br /> All the replies in this thread are wrong. Music is music and labels are labels. I do not own the copyright to any words expressed
@ILOVELIFE <br /> All the replies in this thread are wrong. Music is music and labels are labels. I do not own the copyright to any words expressed
HOW can you hate Ramones? I agree that Costello is pretty punk, but your sterotyping the ramones into the beginning of their career.
Well, I did once have a cello masterclass with Phillip Sheppard, who claimed that all music is about sex or death...
(more on that story later)