"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.
Does it go from east to west, y'all
Body free and a body less, y'all
Come again just to start afresh and
Once again to find a home
In the moment of the meantime
Dropping in coming through the mesh, y'all
Checking in just to get it blessed, y'all
Hard to leave when it's picturesque and
Find a form that's free to roam
Where you come from, where you going?
Where you come from, where you going?
Do it all then it all again, y'all
Make it up and you make a friend, y'all
Paddle on just around the bend and
Find a place where you can see
All the mamas and the papas
Take a chance on a recommend, y'all
Hard as hell just to comprehend, y'all
Disbelief that I do suspend and
Easy now to find a breeze
Where you come from, where you going?
Where you come from, where you going?
We all want to tell her, tell her that we love her
Venice gets a queen, best I've ever seen
We all want to kiss her, tell her that we miss her
Venice gets a queen, best I've ever
I know you said you don't believe
In God, do you still disagree
Now that it's time for you to leave
G-L-O-R-I-A
Is love, my friend
My friend, my friend
Your stylish mess of silver hair
A woman of your kind is rare
Your uniform returns to air
G-L-O-R-I-A
Is love, my friend
My friend, my friend
And now it's time for you to go
You taught me most of what I know
Where would I be without you, Glo?
G-L-O-R-I-A
Is love, my friend
My friend, my friend
I see you standing by the sea
The waves you made will always be
Your kiss goodbye before you leave
G-L-O-R-I-A
Is love, my friend
My friend, my friend
Body free and a body less, y'all
Come again just to start afresh and
Once again to find a home
In the moment of the meantime
Dropping in coming through the mesh, y'all
Checking in just to get it blessed, y'all
Hard to leave when it's picturesque and
Find a form that's free to roam
Where you come from, where you going?
Where you come from, where you going?
Do it all then it all again, y'all
Make it up and you make a friend, y'all
Paddle on just around the bend and
Find a place where you can see
All the mamas and the papas
Take a chance on a recommend, y'all
Hard as hell just to comprehend, y'all
Disbelief that I do suspend and
Easy now to find a breeze
Where you come from, where you going?
Where you come from, where you going?
We all want to tell her, tell her that we love her
Venice gets a queen, best I've ever seen
We all want to kiss her, tell her that we miss her
Venice gets a queen, best I've ever
I know you said you don't believe
In God, do you still disagree
Now that it's time for you to leave
G-L-O-R-I-A
Is love, my friend
My friend, my friend
Your stylish mess of silver hair
A woman of your kind is rare
Your uniform returns to air
G-L-O-R-I-A
Is love, my friend
My friend, my friend
And now it's time for you to go
You taught me most of what I know
Where would I be without you, Glo?
G-L-O-R-I-A
Is love, my friend
My friend, my friend
I see you standing by the sea
The waves you made will always be
Your kiss goodbye before you leave
G-L-O-R-I-A
Is love, my friend
My friend, my friend
Lyrics submitted by on_a_plain_11
Venice Queen Lyrics as written by John Frusciante Michael Balzary
Lyrics © Hipgnosis Songs Group
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
Add your thoughts
Log in now to tell us what you think this song means.
Don’t have an account? Create an account with SongMeanings to post comments, submit lyrics, and more. It’s super easy, we promise!
More Featured Meanings
Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman
Bron-Y-Aur Stomp
Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin
This is about bronies. They communicate by stomping.
Magical
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
How would you describe the feeling of being in love? For Ed Sheeran, the word is “Magical.” in HIS three-minute album opener, he makes an attempt to capture the beauty and delicacy of true love with words. He describes the magic of it all over a bright Pop song produced by Aaron Dessner.
Punchline
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
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.
Amazing
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran tells a story of unsuccessfully trying to feel “Amazing.” This track is about the being weighed down by emotional stress despite valiant attempts to find some positivity in the situation. This track was written by Ed Sheeran from the perspective of his friend. From the track, we see this person fall deeper into the negative thoughts and slide further down the path of mental torment with every lyric.
Gloria Scott was a Hollywood drug counsellor who Anthony felt an affinity towards and became great friends with (along with the rest of the peppers). However she grew seriously ill with cancer. The Peppers played a benefit for her with Neil Young, Thelonius Monster and Perry Farrell on March 1st 2001 in LA dubbed 'A Night For Gloria'.
She passed away sometime between that gig and the penning of 'Venice Queen'. The song is not about drugs at all, it's a positive, albeit slightly melancholy, way to deal with losing a dear friend.
She obviously helped Anthony a lot through some very dark times 'You taught me most of what I know, Where would I be without you Glo?' and was more or less a mentor figure to him.
As far as the Venice connection goes I'm not sure, perhaps at her behest her ashes were set free down the canals of Venice 'Paddle on just around the bend, find a place where you can see, all the mamas and the papas'. But thats just an assumption.
Anyway, those are some facts but you could adapt this song to help you when your lover breaks up with you... it could mean anything you want it to mean. But that's the story behind the song. And it's the truth... Ruth.
thats what i heard too<br /> except i think venice is referring to venice in california? not sure though
It is referring to Venice Beach in California, because right before she died he had bought a house for her there.
@boozm Thank you for the explanation. This song is so inspirational, and beautiful. How hard it must have been for Anthony to perform it live. <br /> <br /> Anthony is such a talent. I can listen to Stadium Arcadium on an endless loop. Also love the early stuff... Baby Appeal, etc.
Its about a friend of theirs who recently died. They mentioned it in an interview. Anthony said it describes how they feel about not being able to properly say goodbye
Jesus I hate it when people talk out of their ass as if they're speaking facts. No, this song is not about 'some old lady that died, possibly a relative' and it's not about his Italian girlfriend he broke up with. Before you spout shit that you made up, you should at least try to find out what the song really means.
Gloria Scott was Anthony Kiedis's rehab councelor who was an ex-heroine addict. She turned her life around and began to work at Cri-Help, which is one of the rehabs that Kiedis attended. They apparently became friends and she was the sole inspiration that inspired Anthony to really be sober, a track record he's held since December 2000. When Anthony left Cri-Help, he bought a house for Scott on Venice Beach, Los Angeles. Before Scott could move in though, she died of cancer.
Stop being fucking retarded and pretend you know shit about things that you don't.
Great song, definitly one of my favorites on the album
I LOVE THIS SONG! it sooo amazing. i think its great they ended the cd with this song. the new album is so amazingly good.
This song ROCKS!!! I love it! What more can I say???
this song is quality, but i got into a bad habit of forwarding and only listenin to it from 2.42 mins on lol. does my blokes head in heh
This is probably the 2nd best intro i have ever heard(1st is Killing in The Name by Rage Against The Machine).It gives the song an aura about it,like its building up to something special,and the song does not let down the intro.Great Song :)
this song's so good, i so wanted the new album to have another "Road trippin" on it... its not quite as good but still rad as, they played it live when they came here too, that was beyond belief
Damn you Woody87! Now that Rage song will be stuck in my head till I feel like puttin it in my CD player. Wait I'm gonna do that now.
Anyway... I think song is about how Anthony misses heroine. He wants to go back to it, but he can't. So he's telling "her" how much he misses her and that it was the best drug he'd ever taken.
P.S. FLEA OWNS