"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 gotta move
(I gotta move)
I had a taste
(I had a taste)
I gotta move
(I gotta move)
I gotta get me off her face
Like Peter Radiator
I heard that he got bashed
Yeah, he got sainted
You know it wasn't for the cash, yeah, yeah
I gotta move
(I gotta move)
I had a taste
(I had a taste)
I gotta move
(I gotta move)
I gotta get me off her face
He told me in heaven
That every, everything is fine
Well, that would make a good movie, huh
Well, that would make a good record, huh
I gotta move
(I gotta move)
I had a taste
(I had a taste)
I gotta move
(I gotta move)
I gotta get me ?cross the lake
And then he stopped to say
Before he went down
This is the worst place in the sun
I gotta move
(I gotta move)
I had a taste
(I had a taste)
I gotta move
(I gotta move)
I gotta get me off her face
Yeah, there was a Jack who coiffed it
He came from my home town
He was a prophet
Some kids they put him in the ground, yeah
Got coffee, got donuts, got wasted
Erased head and what do they say?
He's not afraid of the present tense
And talking back is a bad defense
I gotta move
(I gotta move)
I had a taste
(I had a taste)
I gotta move
(I gotta move)
I gotta get me ?cross the lake, yeah, yeah
I gotta move
(I gotta move)
I gotta move
(I gotta move)
I gotta move
(I gotta move)
I gotta move
(I gotta move)
And then he stopped to say
Before he went down
This is the worst place in the sun
I gotta move
(I gotta move)
I gotta move
(I gotta move)
I gotta move
(I gotta move)
I gotta move
(I gotta move)
(I gotta move)
I had a taste
(I had a taste)
I gotta move
(I gotta move)
I gotta get me off her face
Like Peter Radiator
I heard that he got bashed
Yeah, he got sainted
You know it wasn't for the cash, yeah, yeah
I gotta move
(I gotta move)
I had a taste
(I had a taste)
I gotta move
(I gotta move)
I gotta get me off her face
He told me in heaven
That every, everything is fine
Well, that would make a good movie, huh
Well, that would make a good record, huh
I gotta move
(I gotta move)
I had a taste
(I had a taste)
I gotta move
(I gotta move)
I gotta get me ?cross the lake
And then he stopped to say
Before he went down
This is the worst place in the sun
I gotta move
(I gotta move)
I had a taste
(I had a taste)
I gotta move
(I gotta move)
I gotta get me off her face
Yeah, there was a Jack who coiffed it
He came from my home town
He was a prophet
Some kids they put him in the ground, yeah
Got coffee, got donuts, got wasted
Erased head and what do they say?
He's not afraid of the present tense
And talking back is a bad defense
I gotta move
(I gotta move)
I had a taste
(I had a taste)
I gotta move
(I gotta move)
I gotta get me ?cross the lake, yeah, yeah
I gotta move
(I gotta move)
I gotta move
(I gotta move)
I gotta move
(I gotta move)
I gotta move
(I gotta move)
And then he stopped to say
Before he went down
This is the worst place in the sun
I gotta move
(I gotta move)
I gotta move
(I gotta move)
I gotta move
(I gotta move)
I gotta move
(I gotta move)
Lyrics submitted by dragonflower44
I Gotta Move Lyrics as written by Charles Thompson
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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Fast Car
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"'Mountain Song' was actually about... I hate to say it but... drugs. Climbing this mountain and getting as high as you can, and then coming down that mountain," reveals Farrell. "What it feels to descend from the mountain top... not easy at all. The ascension is tough but exhilarating. Getting down is... it's a real bummer. Drugs is not for everybody obviously. For me, I wanted to experience the heights, and the lows come along with it."
"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."
Mountain Song
Jane's Addiction
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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.
"'Mountain Song' was actually about... I hate to say it but... drugs. Climbing this mountain and getting as high as you can, and then coming down that mountain," reveals Farrell. "What it feels to descend from the mountain top... not easy at all. The ascension is tough but exhilarating. Getting down is... it's a real bummer. Drugs is not for everybody obviously. For me, I wanted to experience the heights, and the lows come along with it."
"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."
Blue
Ed Sheeran
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“Blue” is a song about a love that is persisting in the discomfort of the person experiencing the emotion. Ed Sheeran reflects on love lost, and although he wishes his former partner find happiness, he cannot but admit his feelings are still very much there. He expresses the realization that he might never find another on this stringed instrumental by Aaron Dessner.
Punchline
Ed Sheeran
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Ed Sheeran sings about missing his former partner and learning important life lessons in the process on “Punchline.” This track tells a story of battling to get rid of emotions for a former lover, whom he now realized might not have loved him the same way. He’s now caught between accepting that fact and learning life lessons from it and going back to beg her for another chance.
This song references the deaths of two performers associated with the film ERASERHEAD, both in the Los Angelos area. "Peter Radiator" is Peter Ivers, a singer/songwriter/TV host who composed the song "In Heaven" for David Lynch's first feature film (sung by the "Girl In The Radiator" in the movie), a song covered by The Pixies. The "Jack who coiffed it" is Jack Nance who was the star of ERASERHEAD. Although the two men died 14 years apart, both deaths were the result of beatings that were never fully explained. I suspect Frank is literally singing about wanting to move away from the neighborhood or city that harbors such random violence.
Other allusions in the lyrics:
"He got sainted" - In one of his album covers, Peter Ivers was shown with an arrow stuck in his chest much like Saint Sebatian.
"There was a Jack who coiffed it" - Nance's appearance is ERASERHEAD is notable for his outrageous hairstyle.
"He came from my home town" - Jack Nance was from Boston as was Frank Black.
"He was a prophet" - In one of his earliest stage successes, Jack Nance portrayed early American Thomas Paine, generally considered to be an American prophet.