"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.
Little birds born without a mother or a father
I can feel their feathers forming in the running water
Now there is another in the middle of my mouth
A hundred altogether inside of me now
Little birds, little birds, come into my body
Mother, they're within me every moment I'm awaking
Bodies multiplying till they finally overtake me
Put your ears up to my mouth and you can hear them singing
Put your hands within me and you'll know what I am feeling
I just want to swallow up and promise to protect them
Daddy, come towards me, I could see his hands are shaking
Put his hands against me, he could feel their bodies breaking
Pushed me to the floor and put his hands up for a beating
"I don't want to hear it anymore" he kept repeating
"Do you really want the burning hell to come and get you?"
"Did you see the burning hell? It took your baby brother?
Did you see how far he fell and how he made us suffer?
Another boy in town at night, he took him for his lover
And deep in sin they held each other
So I took a hammer, nearly beat his little brains in
Knowing God in heaven no could never could forgive him
So I took a hammer, nearly beat his little brains in"
Little boy born without a mother or a father
Taken to the river and then pushed into the water
And the priests are singing that the hell was getting hotter
La, la-la la la
Father, Son and Holy Ghost, the only ones to save him
From the thing he loves the most but we know will betray him
Father, Son and Holy Ghost, the only ones to save him
And here beneath the water
I can see how the light
Distorts so strange
And this is how
I would like to leave my body
And start again
I can feel their feathers forming in the running water
Now there is another in the middle of my mouth
A hundred altogether inside of me now
Little birds, little birds, come into my body
Mother, they're within me every moment I'm awaking
Bodies multiplying till they finally overtake me
Put your ears up to my mouth and you can hear them singing
Put your hands within me and you'll know what I am feeling
I just want to swallow up and promise to protect them
Daddy, come towards me, I could see his hands are shaking
Put his hands against me, he could feel their bodies breaking
Pushed me to the floor and put his hands up for a beating
"I don't want to hear it anymore" he kept repeating
"Do you really want the burning hell to come and get you?"
"Did you see the burning hell? It took your baby brother?
Did you see how far he fell and how he made us suffer?
Another boy in town at night, he took him for his lover
And deep in sin they held each other
So I took a hammer, nearly beat his little brains in
Knowing God in heaven no could never could forgive him
So I took a hammer, nearly beat his little brains in"
Little boy born without a mother or a father
Taken to the river and then pushed into the water
And the priests are singing that the hell was getting hotter
La, la-la la la
Father, Son and Holy Ghost, the only ones to save him
From the thing he loves the most but we know will betray him
Father, Son and Holy Ghost, the only ones to save him
And here beneath the water
I can see how the light
Distorts so strange
And this is how
I would like to leave my body
And start again
Lyrics submitted by subverted0, edited by danzase6, kirkweigensber, putainan
Little Birds [Demo - 1998] Lyrics as written by Jeff Mangum
Lyrics © ROUGH TRADE PUBLISHING
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This is a rare neutral milk hotel song that i found out about at a site (knerd.com/~sashwap/). it's available for download in the sounds page. its only available live as far as i know. jeff offers and explanation before playing, but i feel that there is more to the song. a boy is born into a christian family, and begins doing something that they view wrongfully as evil. the boys father threatens him with the christian concept of "hell." the parts that mention "the burning hell that took your baby brother" seem to be about the boy's brother, who was a homosexual, and commited suicide by jumping from a high place, because his family couldn't accept him. the second last paragraph involves a forced baptism, and the family's strong belief in their holy righteousness. "here beneath the water i can see how the light distorts so strange" may be a reference that through the eyes of a christian, he sees things don't make sense. an ironic reference to suicide and reincarnation by drowning ends the song. i don't mean to offend christians. this is the song as i see it. i apologize for the long entry. by the way, i don't know what i'm talking about.