"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.
Snow is falling all around
Seven o'clock and the roads are blocked
So I walk downtown
There's no-one around
I walk in a bar and immediately
I sense danger
You look at me girl, as if I was some kind of a
A total stranger
(Where) where did you get that blank (blank)
Expression on your face?
(Where) where did you get that blank (blank)
Expression on your face?
The streets are dark, and there's no
One about
I wander home and all the
The lights are out, I keep wondering
(Where) where did you get that blank (blank)
Expression on your face?
(Where) where did you get that blank (blank)
Expression on your face?
(Where) where did you get that blank (blank)
Expression on your face?
Where did you get that blank
Expression on your face?
Where did you get that blank
Expression on your face?
Where did you get that blank
Expression on your face...
Seven o'clock and the roads are blocked
So I walk downtown
There's no-one around
I walk in a bar and immediately
I sense danger
You look at me girl, as if I was some kind of a
A total stranger
(Where) where did you get that blank (blank)
Expression on your face?
(Where) where did you get that blank (blank)
Expression on your face?
The streets are dark, and there's no
One about
I wander home and all the
The lights are out, I keep wondering
(Where) where did you get that blank (blank)
Expression on your face?
(Where) where did you get that blank (blank)
Expression on your face?
(Where) where did you get that blank (blank)
Expression on your face?
Where did you get that blank
Expression on your face?
Where did you get that blank
Expression on your face?
Where did you get that blank
Expression on your face...
Lyrics submitted by BeautifulDisaster
Blank Expression Lyrics as written by John Bradbury Jerry Dammers
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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I think much like another song “Anti-Matter” (that's also on the same album as this song), this one is also is inspired by a horrifying van crash the band experienced on Nov 3, 2022. This, much like the other track, sounds like it's an extension what they shared while huddled in the wreckage, as they helped frontman Garrett Russell stem the bleeding from his head wound while he was under the temporary effects of a concussion. The track speaks of where the mind goes at the most desperate & desolate of times, when it just about slips away to all but disconnect itself, and the aftermath.
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This song was originally written by a guy called Peter Gutteridge. He was one of the founders of the "Dunedin Sound" a musical scene in the south of New Zealand in the early 80s. From there it was covered by "The Clean" one of the early bands of that scene (he had originally been a member of in it's early days, writing a couple of their best early songs). The Dunedin sound, and the Clean became popular on american college radio in the mid to late 80s. I guess Yo La Tengo heard that version.
Great version of a great song,
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This is a sequel to 2001's "Reckless Abandon", and features the band looking back on their clumsy youth fondly.
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my absolute favorite specials song. its most likely (probably definitely) just me but this song is kind of like a "fuck you" to someone. kind of saying they are boring and lifeless/ it only makes sense in my head. i guess there is no point in explaining.
Listen to the entire album and a small number of tracks aside, I've always felt a theme or story in it. Despite songs like 'Too Much, Too Young' being classic ska and reggae recreations, I see much of the album recounting a bitter love affair with a woman that wasn't really all that. We've all had one at some time or another!
It's echoed in this track, Little Bitch, Stupid Marriage, Too Much, Too Young, Nite Club ("all the girls are slags and the beer tastes just like piss" seems an overview of 'that' type of woman and the places they go), You're Wondering Now and Dawning of a New Era. You could even argue that most of the other tracks are relevant to many stereotypical males of the time if you really wanted to make a story of it.
I just don't see where 'Do the Dog' fits in. Or maybe I do!
no comments? Anyway, I have the Specials live cd, and that was the first time i heard this song and i LOVE IT!!!! It sounds so awesome live, I wanna hear the album version
one comment!!! thats shocking. Great song though. n e ideas on meaning?
Alright so this is obviously about someone he knows, and their blank expression pissed him off. maybe she gives it all the time, [that would annoy me too]. she's a sinacle, lifeless person. I think due to his tone it sounds like he's telling this girl the story of how he got there, it was difficult and she didn't even care. Maybe she looks at him like she doesn't know him so he leaves, puzzled.
i think it was jerry dammers deep down having a dig at terry hall....there`s an underlying meaning there lol......think i read it in horance panters book lol!!!!!!
this kind of reminds me of James Joyce's "Araby"
Great one-drop drums - love the reggae rim-shots and skanking guitars together with the winter imagery as the guy walks into the bar. What a classic song.
How does he get that singular rim-shot sound?
How I love this album. Ever seen them live on YouTube (or if you were lucky enough to see them onstage during the 70's -80's?
They look like they are having serious fun.
I was sad to hear about the passing of John Bradbury 3 days after Christmas. His drumming skanked in a serious manner.
I honored him with a few blog posts:
connecthook.wordpress.com/2016/01/08/too-much-too-young/
connecthook.wordpress.com/2016/01/09/stupid-marriage/
connecthook.wordpress.com/2016/01/10/specials-skank-it-up-with-dead-girl/
I'm perturbed by the scattered comments. To me the meaning is obvious. He had a one night stand with this woman. She is not into him so she is ghosting him basically. He was hoping she would embrace the fleeting relationship and was pissed of when she did not. She may have even been date raped by the protagonist