"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.
I'm living on a land-mine
My body's ticking away, my cartoon eyelids
And my skin, a sickly grey
And if I waited by the 'phone line
I'd wait a couple of days so I'm here lying
On my bed, until I fade
I flick the channels one to one, I flick them through again
And all the time I'm dreaming better days
CHORUS:
And now I see no sun, I see no life behind my one-track mind
Here I need no fun, I need no time to find a new design
Move along I'm working on my 3-D TV tan
Softso KO - I need another show
Softso KO - it's just a part of the plan
Softso KO - there's only me and my TV Tan
Some day maybe I'll call you
I'll see whenever I'm free.. maybe Tuesday, when there's nothing on TV
20 Regal and a 4-pack
I guess I'm set for the night and anti-social, to keep in shape, thin and white
I light a smoke, and in'tween tokes, consult the TV guide
The bible for the pig who stays inside
CHORUS
Thinning, I'm thinning and insanely grinning
And fools peering
Out of my TV try hard to be funny
Unfortunate for me
They start to entertain ye
I'm living on a land-mine, the kind that never ignites
And I'm here waiting, here for nothing...
CHORUS
My body's ticking away, my cartoon eyelids
And my skin, a sickly grey
And if I waited by the 'phone line
I'd wait a couple of days so I'm here lying
On my bed, until I fade
I flick the channels one to one, I flick them through again
And all the time I'm dreaming better days
CHORUS:
And now I see no sun, I see no life behind my one-track mind
Here I need no fun, I need no time to find a new design
Move along I'm working on my 3-D TV tan
Softso KO - I need another show
Softso KO - it's just a part of the plan
Softso KO - there's only me and my TV Tan
Some day maybe I'll call you
I'll see whenever I'm free.. maybe Tuesday, when there's nothing on TV
20 Regal and a 4-pack
I guess I'm set for the night and anti-social, to keep in shape, thin and white
I light a smoke, and in'tween tokes, consult the TV guide
The bible for the pig who stays inside
CHORUS
Thinning, I'm thinning and insanely grinning
And fools peering
Out of my TV try hard to be funny
Unfortunate for me
They start to entertain ye
I'm living on a land-mine, the kind that never ignites
And I'm here waiting, here for nothing...
CHORUS
Lyrics submitted by GodHatesACoward
TV Tan Lyrics as written by David Leslie Walls
Lyrics © CONEXION MEDIA GROUP, INC., Downtown Music Publishing
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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More than likely about a couch potato - this song is my anthem!
'I like to smoke, and in 'tween tokes, consult the tv guide',
Heh heh, spot on. I love this song
About someone who wastes their life by doing nothing instead of getting out there and living!
I seem to remember Ginger commenting that it should be 'So-So KO', as in overdose of the ordinary. Cracking song, love it.