"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've dragged my feet across the seat
And jumped out the passenger side
The only thing worth looking for
Is what you find inside
But that had not yet appeared
Lost, invisible, here
Tel Aviv and Agadir
Taroudant and Olomouc
Before I learned to see
The vanishing point appear
I looked for you and everywhere
I looked for you and everywhere
There is a calm I haven't come to yet
I spend half my life figuring what comes next
I telescoped in
I'll finally win
I'll finally win the prize
That now my eyes see
A comic's perfect timing squeezed
I'm headfirst fighting everything
The crushing force of memory
Erasing all I've been
The vanishing point appears
I looked for you and everywhere
I looked for you and everywhere
Tell me why you're here
I came to disappear
Look at this face
Can you believe it?
Am I living in a beautiful vacuum?
Because I can't see it
The vanishing point appears
I looked for you and everywhere
I looked for you and everywhere
Tell me why you're here
I came to disappear
Tell me why you're here
I came to disappear
I came to disappear
And jumped out the passenger side
The only thing worth looking for
Is what you find inside
But that had not yet appeared
Lost, invisible, here
Tel Aviv and Agadir
Taroudant and Olomouc
Before I learned to see
The vanishing point appear
I looked for you and everywhere
I looked for you and everywhere
There is a calm I haven't come to yet
I spend half my life figuring what comes next
I telescoped in
I'll finally win
I'll finally win the prize
That now my eyes see
A comic's perfect timing squeezed
I'm headfirst fighting everything
The crushing force of memory
Erasing all I've been
The vanishing point appears
I looked for you and everywhere
I looked for you and everywhere
Tell me why you're here
I came to disappear
Look at this face
Can you believe it?
Am I living in a beautiful vacuum?
Because I can't see it
The vanishing point appears
I looked for you and everywhere
I looked for you and everywhere
Tell me why you're here
I came to disappear
Tell me why you're here
I came to disappear
I came to disappear
Lyrics submitted by xpankfrisst, edited by DennisA
Disappear Lyrics as written by Michael Mills Peter Buck
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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Fast Car
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This is a song not about finding someone but trying to lose everyone. Think about it. It is Michael Stipe talking about trying to escape media and celebrity even if it means going abroad, "Lost, invisible here, Tel Aviv and Agadir". The line "Tell me why you're here - I came to disappear" is saying that someone is following him or taking pictures wherever he goes
this is one of the songs i feel i can relate to the most. a sense of utter hopelessness, almost completely defeated, but finding someone unexpectedly at your side when you had given up hope: "... i looked for you and everywhere / tell me why you're here / i came to disappear ..."
it sounds to me someone wants to disappear into space where no one will find them.But then michael stipe finds them or he wants to disappear too. BRILLIANT song.
This song has a deeper spiritual meaning about the impermanence of life... (I came to disappear) and the urgency to make the most out of it (Tell me why you're here), which you came to realise on your last day in this life (The vanishing point appears):
I've dragged my feet across the seat and jumped out the passenger side. the only thing worth looking for is what you find inside. (true happiness is not found externally) but that had not yet appeared. lost, invisible, here. tel aviv and agadir, taroudant or olomouc before i learned to see the vanishing point appear (what you realised on your last day of this life)
I looked for you and everywhere. I looked for you and everywhere. (searching for the truth)
there is a calm I haven't come to yet (restlessness) I spent half my life figuring what comes next I telescoped in. I'll finally win, I'll finally win the prize. that now my eyes see (enlightened, awakening) a comic's perfect timing squeezed. I'm headfirst fighting everything the crushing force of memory erasing all I've been (the process of dying) the vanishing point appears
I looked for you and everywhere. I looked for you and everywhere. tell me why you're here (what is your life purpose?) I came to disappear. (life is impermanent, we all die one day)
look at this face. can you believe it? am I living in a beautiful vacuum? (the perfect bliss of a pure heart) because I can't see it (the ignorance preventing to see the ultimate truth) the vanishing point appears.
I looked for you and everywhere. I looked for you and everywhere. tell me why you're here I came to disappear tell me why you're here I came to disappear I came to disappear