"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.
The last word
Is the lost word
Why don't you say so?
Say so
I sleep light
On these shores tonight
I live light on these shores
Elevation, don't go to my head
Elevation, don't go to my head
Elevation, don't go to my head
Now you give me no trouble
And you give me no help
It is the clown
That works so well
I sleep light on these shores tonight
I live light on these shores
Elevation, don't go to my head
Elevation, don't go to my head
Elevation, don't go to my head
Our lips are sealed, our breath is burning
These cold wild seas have left us turning
But I sleep light on these shores tonight
I live light on these shores
Elevation, don't go to my head
Elevation, don't go to my head
Elevation, don't go to my head
Is the lost word
Why don't you say so?
Say so
I sleep light
On these shores tonight
I live light on these shores
Elevation, don't go to my head
Elevation, don't go to my head
Elevation, don't go to my head
Now you give me no trouble
And you give me no help
It is the clown
That works so well
I sleep light on these shores tonight
I live light on these shores
Elevation, don't go to my head
Elevation, don't go to my head
Elevation, don't go to my head
Our lips are sealed, our breath is burning
These cold wild seas have left us turning
But I sleep light on these shores tonight
I live light on these shores
Elevation, don't go to my head
Elevation, don't go to my head
Elevation, don't go to my head
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More Featured Meanings
Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman
The Night We Met
Lord Huron
Lord Huron
This is a hauntingly beautiful song about introspection, specifically about looking back at a relationship that started bad and ended so poorly, that the narrator wants to go back to the very beginning and tell himself to not even travel down that road. I believe that the relationship started poorly because of the lines:
"Take me back to the night we met:When the night was full of terrors: And your eyes were filled with tears: When you had not touched me yet"
So, the first night was not a great start, but the narrator pursued the relationship and eventually both overcame the rough start to fall in love with each other:
"I had all and then most of you"
Like many relationships that turn sour, it was not a quick decline, but a gradual one where the narrator and their partner fall out of love and gradually grow apart
"Some and now none of you"
Losing someone who was once everything in your world, who you could confide in, tell your secrets to, share all the most intimate parts of your life, to being strangers with that person is probably one of the most painful experiences a person can go through. So Painful, the narrator wants to go back in time and tell himself to not even pursue the relationship.
This was the perfect song for "13 Reasons Why"
Mental Istid
Ebba Grön
Ebba Grön
This is one of my favorite songs. https://fnfgo.io
Dreamwalker
Silent Planet
Silent Planet
I think much like another song “Anti-Matter” (that's also on the same album as this song), this one is also is inspired by a horrifying van crash the band experienced on Nov 3, 2022. This, much like the other track, sounds like it's an extension what they shared while huddled in the wreckage, as they helped frontman Garrett Russell stem the bleeding from his head wound while he was under the temporary effects of a concussion. The track speaks of where the mind goes at the most desperate & desolate of times, when it just about slips away to all but disconnect itself, and the aftermath.
Mountain Song
Jane's Addiction
Jane's Addiction
Jane's Addiction vocalist Perry Farrell gives Adam Reader some heartfelt insight into Jane’s Addiction's hard rock manifesto "Mountain Song", which was the second single from their revolutionary album Nothing's Shocking. Mountain song was first recorded in 1986 and appeared on the soundtrack to the film Dudes starring Jon Cryer. The version on Nothing's Shocking was re-recorded in 1988.
"'Mountain Song' was actually about... I hate to say it but... drugs. Climbing this mountain and getting as high as you can, and then coming down that mountain," reveals Farrell. "What it feels to descend from the mountain top... not easy at all. The ascension is tough but exhilarating. Getting down is... it's a real bummer. Drugs is not for everybody obviously. For me, I wanted to experience the heights, and the lows come along with it."
"There's a part - 'Cash in now honey, cash in Miss Smith.' Miss Smith is my Mother; our last name was Smith. Cashing in when she cashed in her life. So... she decided that, to her... at that time, she was desperate. Life wasn't worth it for her, that was her opinion. Some people think, never take your life, and some people find that their life isn't worth living. She was in love with my Dad, and my Dad was not faithful to her, and it broke her heart. She was very desperate and she did something that I know she regrets."
I think it might be about someone's personal relationship that is stagnating or is about to come to an end. "The last word is the lost word/Why don't you say so?" sounds like two people are having an argument and one person is like let's just admit that this conversation is going nowhere. The second verse sounds like the two people are together because it "works so well," maybe they are just using each other or it is practical, but really the relationship is pretty shallow because they don't give each other trouble or help. The whole situation is kind of ridiculous like a clown. "Our lips are sealed" could mean there's nothing left to say. "These cold wild seas have left us turning" conveys a general feeling of being lost. Similarly, "I sleep light on these shores tonight/I live light..." means not being very settled or not anchoring anywhere because when you sleep light you are ready to get up and go at anytime and the shore is like where you leave from on a journey, it's at the edge of the unknown. "Elevation, don't go to my head" could be trying to remain grounded like Rocas said. I think that might be extra important when you are neither here nor there like what the person in the song may be experiencing.
I can't believe I'm getting first comment on any song from "Marquee Moon." Anyone who likes the arty side of punk and doesn't own this strange, beautiful and hypnotic album .... well, I feel sorry for you! I feel sorry for myself for not hearing it sooner.
@Boss Man Don\'t feel sorry Boss, you were the first to comment.
The Chorus is amazing - espcially when it goes "Elevation (Dan) Dont Go to my Head (Daan)" The second "Daan" or chord is hit so fast and so out of time It's amazing!
exactly, that my favourite part too, the second '`Daan' chord!
it sounds like it's about about trying to escape fame by lying back and not letting it affect you.
and as a note to bkat004, the second chord is hit a 16th note after the downbeat. if you listen it closely, it hits on the exact same point in the measure every time
I think it can be applied to life in general, like trying to escape, or at least recognising, the eternal recurrence of things, not drifting to far from your own groundings due to arrogance or over-confidence. I perhaps he just really likes elevators, i dunno, the elevator did "call him up" after all.
I love - I really LOVE Television, but what the hell do they sing about?
It sounds like he's saying, "Television, don't go to my head," and I wonder if the broken relationship is between Verlaine and ousted bassist Richard Hell.
hear hear Boss Man. Everyone has a Velvet Underground album in their collection, but cool people have a Television album too. (And also New York Dolls, Replacements)
it is one of my favorite albums now so if you dont own it go get it now
The coolest song on the album in my appinion but i really dont know what it's about.
Maybe a man who confronts his problems with humor and see's thinks that its the way to go but realises that no body really knows him.