| Lagwagon – Move The Car Lyrics | 13 years ago |
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Total shot in the dark here, but here's my guess: It seems to be about trying to follow a life of prescribed ideology but constantly "slipping up" and being unable to follow the belief system that others do. Eventually the narrator either gets kicked out of the ideological group or realizes he or she will die while the ideology itself lives on. Think of the race car as a metaphor for an ideological belief. The race car is the vehicle, just as religion/ideology can be a vehicle for achieving things in life. Most religions are old stories ("the story it grows older"), and most don't appear to be ending anytime soon ('and there's no sign of it ending"). The "race car driver" is the person (antagonist) who is able to follow and carry on the ideology. The driver has power in that having a prescribed way of life makes things easier for him (he's "on the [guest?] list at every door," and yet he's "superficial: and not particularly exceptional at anything, whether it be something as skillful as racing cars or even anything as mundane as bowling). The narrator recognizes the absurdity/unfairness of embracing the ideology/belief system while simultaneously recognizing how alluring it is because of the benefits bestowed on the race car driver (the idealogy is "appealing yet appalling") and so the narrator figures he "might as well" go to the "church." It's interesting that the line says "the church where you reside," and not "the church you attend" or something of the like. This supports the idea that the antagonist (race car driver) resides or lives (mentally/emotionally) in the belief system or "church." So, seeing the benefit of the prescribed life, the narrator tries to take the wheel of the ideological vehicle. He's "eating [his] words" and following something he knows, on some level, he does not believe. He moves the belief system forward by partaking in it ("I move their car"). He even achieves some mental ease ("for a moment it [life?] makes sense"). Ultimately, however, he keeps "falling" (from grace?), and cannot carry on the ideology (keep driving the car) and fails all the actual believers ("I fail them in the end"). Eventually, in his old age ("in the arms of old age", the narrator realizes there's no point in trying to pretend to support the belief system he doesn't believe in ("there's nothing more to hide"). He feels like a fraud for doing so and considers others a fraud for following the idiology ("consider life a forgery" and "admit to fraudulence" [following that belief system is, to the narrator, itself as fake as a forgery]). The narrator is sick of the ideology and all that follow it "gagging on your scene"). Getting behind the wheel of the ideology has driven him to this conclusion ("driven to this thought"). The last line, "death is certain faith is not," again illustrates the narrators valuation of things certain. Faith is not "certain," and hence it is unreliable. Like I said, total shot in the dark, but some food for thought. And now...discuss. |
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