Cars And Girls

I heard that Bruce Springsteen liked this song, and took it as a compliment rather than an insult, which according to Paddy from Prefab was how it was intended. Was just meant to highlight the differences between singers and their songs.

This song is one of my 'ten of the best'. Prefab Sprout are highly underrated in my opinion.

I'm not a Springsteen fan at all, the new Bob Dylan? who the hell were they trying to kid? I absolutely love the fact that Prefab Sprout were having a little dig at Brucies 'narrow mindedness'. As the title suggests, some things hurt more, much more, than cars and girls.

Nice one Cliff. I agree with much of your interpretation. This song is so powerful. The music sounds like the lyric - by that I mean it makes you feel what the words are saying. And like with so much that Prefab have done, there's a lot more to it than there first appears. Paddy McAloon is a smart and thoughtful man. And respectful. So with regard to Springsteen I interpret Paddy's sentiments towards him like this. I think Paddy would be aware of Bruce's lyrics and understand that the highway for Bruce is where real life happens (Working On The Highway and Highway Patrolman) and also a means of escaping from it (Born To Run). 'Brucie dreams life's a highway' suggests that Paddy feels the optimism in 'Born To Run', for example, may be misplaced, Bruce just dreaming that life could be that way. There is along with this the suggestion that life hasn't brought the opportunities it might have, 'too many roads bypass my way or never begin'. 'Brucie's thoughts - Pretty streamers. Guess this world needs its dreamers. May they never wake up' says this to me: 'Yeah, Bruce's thoughts may be a bit fluffy but if he and others can bring and share that optimism, it's a good thing. And I think that Paddy, realising that his own 'innocence has come to grief', is saying 'good for them!' with an overtone of 'wish I were still able to see it that way'. I don't think it's criticism of Bruce's lyrical subject matter. After all, on a practical note, why would he have a pop at debatably America's most adored working class hero, certainly in 1988, at a time when Prefab would have been trying to have their stuff accepted over there? Then there's the car. I view the car on two levels, the literal level: 'little boy got a hot rod' (can't but delight in the Freud of that!!). Much fun to be had with cars as a youngster. Same can be said for girls! And yes, there are more important things in life to consider than cars and girls, something of which many of us become aware but not until later; ... and then there's the metaphor: 'too many folks feeling car sick, but it never pulls in', the car as the vehicle in which we experience life and make our discoveries, good and bad; 'someone stops for directions', 'something responds deep in our engines', 'we have all been burned', beautiful expressions of how life can treat us; and then how to deal with it - 'quit driving' (as in, let life itself do the driving rather than try to steer it ourselves), 'start counting' (what we have, not what we don't, perhaps, or ask ourselves what really means something now we're older). Add to this the insight of sin (the mistakes we make) robbing us of our 'car' by stealing our innocence and the contrasting hope, albeit uncertain hope, of 'heaven waiting heavenly over the next horizon' (life will get better) and you have here the most astonishing exploration of retrospect ever distilled into four minutes and twenty-five seconds of music. And Paddy was only 31 years old when this was released. I have long believed that if you like the sound of something then it has something to bring you. I have always loved this song but until this morning I have never really applied my own rule of investigating it thoroughly to see what its gift might be. I now have that gift and having recently lost my Mom, I know beyond measure that some things hurt more much more than cars and girls. Paddy, genius, thank you. And you Cliff, since it was your sharing that got me paying attention.

A song against the endless stram of songs in the 80's that focused on girls and cars, mostly against the superfical nonsense of hair metal, with a little dig against Bruce Springsteen.

I've heard this was a subtle dig at Springsteen, but I really think it goes a lot deeper than that. Basically, it's a story of ' life's a bitch ' . A story of how the fun things in life are far too often overshadowed by the bad. The writer tells how he is a realist, looking at life in terms of grim realities and harsh truths, and ends by suggesting that there are those who will ignore these regardless and hopefully they'll never see the truth ( Pretty streamers - guess this world needs its' dreamers, may they never wake up! ) Never fai to be moved to tears by the haunting last verse - Little boy got a hot rod.. etc. So close to the truth it's not funny. Young and indestructible, but ignorant to that harsh reality of life. Perhaps the greatest lyric ever in the history of popular music, by the greatest ever lyricist. Paddy McAloon is a genius.

Had no idea that referred to Bruce Springsteen. I kinda prefer its being just some kid in their room, with a highway they can hear, and only kind of see, in the distance. But, yeah. I don't think it's disparaging to Bruce, nor to songs about cars and girls. Sure, I imagine anyone passed that stage in their life knows there's a bunch of problematic gender stuff packed into that little slice of our popular culture, but... Maybe there isn't a "but" there. But, I think, given that McAloon is associated with "the quest for perfect pop," he's clearly still deeply affected by elements of pop culture, which has had a lot to do with adolescence since, uh, the '50s, I think? Everyone acts like YA books are a millenial thing, but teenagers have been the driving (hey!) force in pop culture for a long time. I think a lot of people like certain pieces of art or culture, in fact, because they so embody feelings they used to have and still occasionally do - I love driving home from work. At some point in there, I am totally just like I was as a kid, the same sense of freedom and exploration, etc., even if it's only temporary - even if it's actually part of a ritualistic fail-safe release valve for the frustrations of daily life in first-world late-capitalism. I don't know, I have mixed feelings about art - it's a consolation, but it's hard to spot the line between "I should console myself about this" and "I should change this, maybe put a stop to it, or at least try to, at least contribute to putting a stop to it." I think the ambiguity of that line is part of why a song like this exists. Not that "ambiguity" should be taken as a permission to inaction. But I think that's a longer topic, and this is already pretty long.

Yeah - i always thought this song was terribly unfair as regards Bruce. I'm not sure the Sprouts ever listened to any of his lyrics.