"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.
Holy Mother of God
You've got to go faster than that to get to the top.
Dirty old mountain
All covered in smoke, she can turn you to stone
So you better start doing it right
Better start doing it right.
You're halfway up and you're halfway down
And the pack on your back is turning you around.
Throw it away, you won't need it up there, and remember
You don't look back whatever you do.
Better start doing it right.
On your left and on your right
Crosses are green and crosses are blue
Your friends didn't make it through.
Out of the night and out of the dark
Into the fire and into the fight
Well that's the way the heroes go, Ho! Ho! Ho!
Through a crack in Mother Earth,
Blazing hot, the molten rock
Spills out over the land.
And the lava's the lover who licks your boots away. Hey! Hey! Hey!
If you don't want to boil as well.
Be-be-better start the dance
D-D-Do you want to dance with me.
The music's playing, the notes are right
Put your left foot first and move into the light.
The edge of this hill is the edge of the world
And if you're going to cross you better start doing it right
Better start doing it right.
Let the dance begin.
You've got to go faster than that to get to the top.
Dirty old mountain
All covered in smoke, she can turn you to stone
So you better start doing it right
Better start doing it right.
You're halfway up and you're halfway down
And the pack on your back is turning you around.
Throw it away, you won't need it up there, and remember
You don't look back whatever you do.
Better start doing it right.
On your left and on your right
Crosses are green and crosses are blue
Your friends didn't make it through.
Out of the night and out of the dark
Into the fire and into the fight
Well that's the way the heroes go, Ho! Ho! Ho!
Through a crack in Mother Earth,
Blazing hot, the molten rock
Spills out over the land.
And the lava's the lover who licks your boots away. Hey! Hey! Hey!
If you don't want to boil as well.
Be-be-better start the dance
D-D-Do you want to dance with me.
The music's playing, the notes are right
Put your left foot first and move into the light.
The edge of this hill is the edge of the world
And if you're going to cross you better start doing it right
Better start doing it right.
Let the dance begin.
Lyrics submitted by Demau Senae
Dance On a Volcano Lyrics as written by Phil Collins Anthony George Banks
Lyrics © CONCORD MUSIC PUBLISHING LLC
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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This song has always spoken to me about the decision to commit to something big: things that people around you have tried and failed at ("your friends didn't make it through"), things that you might fail at ("if you don't want to boil as well"), things that require supreme effort ("if you're going to cross you better start doing it right"), things that will change your life whether you succeed or fail ("the edge of this hill is the edge of the world"). Or about asking a girl for a dance the first time. I don't know. But I prefer the first interpretation.
i agree with mr freezy
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Seems to be like the title says "Dance on a volcano" but i wonder if in the lyrics there is a hidden lesson for life
''Crosses are green and crosses are blue''
What exactly is the meaning of this line? I've been wondering about this for awhile now.
Maybe the cross in Puerto La Cruz, Venezuela, which, at night, glows between red, green and blue, but all 3 of those colours would have been too many syllables. I don't know if it was glowing in '76, though.
Well, there's a French proverb that, translated, is "Don't dance on a volcano.' The meaning of which is basically the same as Don't Skate on Thin Ice/Don't Tempt the gods/Don't Play with Fire
So mostly the song, to me, is about taking risks, and if you're going to, you better "do it right" or the volcano will get the best of you, as it has some of your friends.
The best lyric in the song though, has to be "the lava's the lover who licks your boots away."
@Domino427 Interestingly, I just saw the phrase mentioned, in a Documentary on Hitler, as a phrase he used to describe the German economy, during the Weimar Republic, before the 1929 crash. Borrowed money from the USA was propping them up and when the crash hit the stockmarket, Germany had their war debt loans called in and they crashed. Since the young Genesis boys probably had heard this and other European folk lore it’s easy to see that your guess as to the meaning of this great song is probably the most accurate. This was the first Genesis song I saw performed live. They opened the show in Kansas City, Mo on Feb 5th 1977 with it. Great music especially the early years.
Based on the comments above, I looked up blue and green crosses. And they were indeed nicknames for two types of gasses used in chemical warfare in WWI. I felt it became really profound based on the French proverb mentioned about "Don't dance on a volcano" being not tempting fate, with the French being involved in trench warfare --- into the fire and into the fight, through a crack / trench in mother earth.
I'm not saying anything definitively. At least for me, that was a "holy crap!" moment. In addition to the allegory, I read this as you have to take risks and dare to do brave things.
I re-read this and it sounds like I'm dinging the French. I think the song celebrates bravery when they dare to dance on the volcano.
Given the time it was written, It could be about Phil Collins becoming the lead singer for Genesis AND Peter Gabriel launching his solo career. Lots of warnings about what lies ahead....Fortunately, they both made it to the top of the volcano and danced the night away, but that wasn't necessarily clear at the time of their first releases.
This is a great example of Genesis' beginning transition from the Gabril era to the Collins era. While the song was written and composed by Banks and Rutherford, it's clear that synth, rather than guitar and "real" drums, were being experimented. The song's not a throwaway, has some very creative elements, and is better than much of the Collins-penned music (I don't hate the guy, but he definitely wanted to take things in the pop direction), it's not the pinnacle of the album either.
I'd love this to be a song purely about someone who wants to dance on a volcano, I mean, hasn't everyone at some stage!
To me though the meaning is all about taking risks to get to a place you really want to be.
I agree. The lyrics seem to imply that if you take wise, calculated risks you will 'get to the top' and achieve your desired goal.V
@proggie but think about it, to dance on a volcano is simply impossible, it's only got one outcome, can't be done, before you even think about your first stop you'd be incinerated beyond identification, and tbh no, I have never thought of dancing on a volcano not even hot coals...