"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.
Is this the real life?
Is this just fantasy?
Caught in a landslide
No escape from reality
Open your eyes
Look up to the skies and see
I'm just a poor boy
I need no sympathy
Because I'm easy come, easy go
Little high, little low
Any way the wind blows doesn't really matter to me, to me
Mama, just killed a man
Put a gun against his head
Pulled my trigger, now he's dead
Mama, life had just begun
But now I've gone and thrown it all away
Mama, ooh
Didn't mean to make you cry
If I'm not back again this time tomorrow
Carry on, carry on
As if nothing really matters
Too late, my time has come
Sends shivers down my spine
Body's aching all the time
Goodbye everybody, I've got to go
Gotta leave you all behind and face the truth
Mama, ooh (any way the wind blows)
I don't wanna die
I sometimes wish I'd never been born at all
I see a little silhouetto of a man
Scaramouche, Scaramouche, will you do the Fandango?
Thunderbolt and lightning very very frightening me
Gallileo, Gallileo
Gallileo, Gallileo
Gallileo Figaro, magnifico
I'm just a poor boy, nobody loves me
He's just a poor boy from a poor family
Spare him his life from this monstrosity
Easy come easy go, will you let me go?
Bismillah! No, we will not let you go (let him go)
Bismillah! We will not let you go (let him go)
Bismillah! We will not let you go (let me go)
Will not let you go (let me go)
Never, never, never, never let me go
No, no, no, no, no, no, no
Oh, mama mia, mama mia
Mama mia, let me go
Beelzebub has a devil put aside for me
For me
For me
So you think you can stone me and spit in my eye?
So you think you can love me and leave me to die?
Oh, baby
Can't do this to me, baby
Just gotta get out, just gotta get right outta here
Ooooh, ooh yeah, ooh yeah
Nothing really matters
Anyone can see
Nothing really matters
Nothing really matters to me
Any way the wind blows
Is this just fantasy?
Caught in a landslide
No escape from reality
Open your eyes
Look up to the skies and see
I'm just a poor boy
I need no sympathy
Because I'm easy come, easy go
Little high, little low
Any way the wind blows doesn't really matter to me, to me
Mama, just killed a man
Put a gun against his head
Pulled my trigger, now he's dead
Mama, life had just begun
But now I've gone and thrown it all away
Mama, ooh
Didn't mean to make you cry
If I'm not back again this time tomorrow
Carry on, carry on
As if nothing really matters
Too late, my time has come
Sends shivers down my spine
Body's aching all the time
Goodbye everybody, I've got to go
Gotta leave you all behind and face the truth
Mama, ooh (any way the wind blows)
I don't wanna die
I sometimes wish I'd never been born at all
I see a little silhouetto of a man
Scaramouche, Scaramouche, will you do the Fandango?
Thunderbolt and lightning very very frightening me
Gallileo, Gallileo
Gallileo, Gallileo
Gallileo Figaro, magnifico
I'm just a poor boy, nobody loves me
He's just a poor boy from a poor family
Spare him his life from this monstrosity
Easy come easy go, will you let me go?
Bismillah! No, we will not let you go (let him go)
Bismillah! We will not let you go (let him go)
Bismillah! We will not let you go (let me go)
Will not let you go (let me go)
Never, never, never, never let me go
No, no, no, no, no, no, no
Oh, mama mia, mama mia
Mama mia, let me go
Beelzebub has a devil put aside for me
For me
For me
So you think you can stone me and spit in my eye?
So you think you can love me and leave me to die?
Oh, baby
Can't do this to me, baby
Just gotta get out, just gotta get right outta here
Ooooh, ooh yeah, ooh yeah
Nothing really matters
Anyone can see
Nothing really matters
Nothing really matters to me
Any way the wind blows
Lyrics submitted by kevin, edited by bucketzombie, SpongeBobForPresident2016, brae114620, nna10617, SuperAlly77, Redleader4044, LHGL
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Want my overanalyzed take? It's pretentious, silly and yes, overanalyzed, and completely destroys the entire song! It turns a cool song into another piece of dirt and manages to be glaringly wrong in the way!
Okay, let's make it the classic stages of acceptance after a shock. He just killed someone. Duh. It's in the lyrics.
First comes shock. Note the 'is this the real life / is this just fantasy' it opens with and the dreamlike tune it's in.
(from this point on, it's all within his head. All of it.)
Note also the 'I need no sympathy' melodramatic nobleness he takes on in a play to get sympathy.
He comes back to the world, and immediately tries to turn to the childhood source of sympathy, his mother. He tries again to act like a hero, telling her 'nothing really matters' (in his mind, of course. it's all in his mind.)
The chill of what he has just done rips across him, and at the first glimpse of pain he immediately goes into the classic 'I wish I was never born!'-type complete theatrical show, hoping once again for sympathy.
Now comes the weird (albeit exceedingly cool) part.
The trial.
First his 'judges' (representing the severity and harsh reality of the consequences) come forth, half-threatening him with taunts of "scaramouche / scaramouche / will you do the Fandango" (it's defined above)
He crumples, first expressing shock. Then, he twists his earlier defeated hero's claims to say "I'm just a poor boy, nobody loves me" in a direct appeal to reality.
His other side, however, rushes in to try to save him from himself, begging the judges to release him.
He appeals, and is rejected.
His consul appeals several times in turn to allow him to stay in his own dreamlike state of deconnectedness.
The judges continue to strike down his pleas, growing more and more forceful, until he finally realizes that he has lost. First is a generic "well, I lost. I'm going to hell, and I've got a demon with my name on it" first realization.
Then comes the anger phase. He strikes back at the world and himself with guitars in the background (note the playing of a much stronger version of the theme from the opening "mama" part) . He then tries to escape outright, claiming he's "just gotta get out / just gotta get right out of here".
However, after a crecendo, he realizes that he's not about to win anything or survive anything, so he simply resigns. It's very similar to the opening sequence--although instead of a dream, he seems much more lucid in this state. He repeats much of what he's said earlier, only now he either believes it or has no choice but to accept it.
There. I think it's an interpretation of the process gone through after a shock. It's quite obviously wrong, but I can't help but thinking it.
Besides, it's my favorite song. Let me warp it however I want ;)
Wow, i think you're right!!! I have never thought of it that way before.
Very good interpretation. And well put too.
Impressive. I would never have thought of THAT. Honestly, I pictured some sort of fallen god or something. Although, looking back, that sounds a little silly. In the broad view, I think that it's one of those songs without a specific meaning, as implied by Freddie's own admission that he, the song's writer, had no clue what the song was about. Anyway, good job.
speaking of overanalyzed takes... <br /> I just thought I'd give you mine :)<br /> <br /> There's something very fantasy-like in this song, be it the music, the lyrics or the ups and downs.<br /> Maybe it's the training on drug prevention I just took, but I have a feeling it's about a battle with drugs.<br /> <br /> "Mama, life has just begun <br /> But now I've gone and thrown it all away"<br /> He may be talking about how he's thrown his life away by using drugs.<br /> He says: "I'm just a poor boy, nobody loves, from a poor family" as if it's his reason for using (ie: a bad, unloved boy from a bad family)<br /> <br /> "Sends shivers down my spine <br /> Body's aching all the time"<br /> which are real important side effects from drug use<br /> <br /> "Mama, oooooooh (Anyway the wind blows) <br /> I don't want to die <br /> Sometimes wish I'd never been born at all"<br /> notice how he keeps calling out to his mother, as if he desperately needs her attention/love/forgiveness. He goes through phases in the song where he regrets his life, then phases where he regrets the ups and downs and withdrawal times.<br /> <br /> "I see a little silhouetto of a man <br /> Scaramouch, Scaramouch, will you do the Fandango <br /> Thunderbolt and lightning, very, very frightening me"<br /> Hallucinations? Bad trips?<br /> it seems real plausible, to me at least.<br /> Then from the high pitched melody to real slow and down :<br /> "I'm just a poor boy nobody loves me <br /> He's just a poor boy from a poor family <br /> Spare him his life from this monstrosity"<br /> <br /> <br /> Then comes the part with all the prayers and such:<br /> "Easy come, easy go, will you let me go? <br /> Bismillah! No, we will not let you go <br /> Let him go"<br /> Notice how "Bismillah! we will not let you go" with the deep, "manly" voices are very devil-like and the other side saying "let him go". As if drugs (=bad) want him to keep using and prayer (=good (because of the calm, angelic voices)) want him to be free from drugs.<br /> <br /> And now comes the part where he takes everything back into his own control:<br /> "So you think you can stone me and spit in my eye <br /> So you think you can love me and leave me to die <br /> Oh, baby, can't do this to me, baby <br /> Just gotta get out, just gotta get right outta here"<br /> <br /> "stone me" speaks for itself<br /> "love me and leave me to die" as in make me feel good but at the same time be killing me<br /> <br /> And finally he goes into the numbness stage saying "nothing really matters to me"<br /> <br /> I don't know if it's plausible or makes sense at all but the highs and downs and melody changes and voice changes and all just make me think of the different states of mind drug users go through when using and after the highs or lows of different drugs.<br /> And the presence of the mother is a cry for help or attention he may not have gotten from his "poor family" and which was the primary reason for his substance use.<br /> <br /> Let me know what you think, though.<br /> <br /> Cheers<br /> <br /> <br /> <br />
T.L.D.R<br /> <br /> lol if u know what that means the reply lol
@pkjun
Yo ure all wrong, you speak as if the lyrics speaks for themselves. Freddie stated in an interview he had 3 songs writing at the same ttime, couldn't finish one so he played with it & put all 3 together & CREATED this song. True???? Idk I heard him say that..his life, his way/meaning of the song. Hell, who knows, maybe has NO meaning. But to put that song in so many different types of "music" or sounds of music is brilliant & amazing. The man was given many talents & he used em fully 100%. Personally, I agree to an extent hearing from his personal assistant & cpl others who knew him think it was a way for him to "come out w/his sexuality" but the song is from mid '70's, I don't think he yet told gf Mary about his probable sexuality then. They met in very early 70's, song was out '75.they were together 6-7 ys before he told her. Time/dates don't add up. Seeing/following him, seeing & admiring him numerous talents esp song writing, I think a lot of his songs have some to do w/his life in many ways. He's a god to me. Now a days, Queen still f n rocks & Adam in my new found god. Very close to Freddie but I refuse to ever "compare" ANYTHING in life.
@pkjun I like this interpretation, only differences I make are he ran away to his mothers house after the murder, and the cops come to arrest him.
@pkjun Bohemian Rhapsody is about Freddie Mercury\'s initiation into "The Club" at Bohemian Grove in Northern California.\r\nThey get Homeless Men and "Put a Gun Against Their Head" and execute them as a Blood Sacrifice Ritual.\r\nAwesome song! But even better if you understand the meaning. \r\nThank You Freddie for sharing this experience!