"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.
Spiders are singing in the salty breeze
Spiders are filling out tax returns
Spinning out webs of deductions and melodies
On a private beach in Michigan
Why can't they wish their kisses good
Why do they miss when their kisses should
Fly like winging birds fighting for the keys
On a private beach in Michigan
This recent rash of kidsmoke
All these telescopic poems
It's good to be alone
Why can't they say what they want
Why can't they just say what they mean
Come clean, listen and talk
Hello private callers, IDs blocked
The sun will rise, we'll climb into cars
The future has a valley and a shortcut around
Who will wear the crown of drowning award
Hold a private light on a Michigan shore
You fool me with a kiss of kidsmoke
From a microscopic home
It's good to be alone
I'll be in my bed
You can be the stone
That raises from the dead
And carries us all home
There's no blood on my hands
I just do as I am told
Spiders are filling out tax returns
Spinning out webs of deductions and melodies
On a private beach in Michigan
Why can't they wish their kisses good
Why do they miss when their kisses should
Fly like winging birds fighting for the keys
On a private beach in Michigan
This recent rash of kidsmoke
All these telescopic poems
It's good to be alone
Why can't they say what they want
Why can't they just say what they mean
Come clean, listen and talk
Hello private callers, IDs blocked
The sun will rise, we'll climb into cars
The future has a valley and a shortcut around
Who will wear the crown of drowning award
Hold a private light on a Michigan shore
You fool me with a kiss of kidsmoke
From a microscopic home
It's good to be alone
I'll be in my bed
You can be the stone
That raises from the dead
And carries us all home
There's no blood on my hands
I just do as I am told
Lyrics submitted by eastcidskl
Spiders (Kidsmoke) Lyrics as written by Jeff Tweedy
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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I'd say this sounds less like Devo and more like Stereolab, but that's just me.
Or Can/Neu/some other Krautrock. Devo?
..."nope."( I intended to answer my own question re: "Devo" before hitting 'submit')
i think this song is about chaotic harmony. what is the function of a spider? they exist and allow us not to be over run with insects. they are unpleasant to look at but serve a valuable function. much of our society exists in this world. we could not function without economists, business men, lawyers, etc. they are a neccesary evil. this concept even exists within the guitar being played. the notes sound chaotic and are certainly played wildly but they form a pattern. my ideas anyway. loads more to this song no doubt.
I like your spider analysis, but not your commentary on professionals. There is a need for each listed above. Most of us have used at least one in order for us to manage our own lives. Just because people earn money (a great deal of it) does not make them bad. Each of us was born with (and/or developed) talent for something and improved on it through hard work and education. Each of us CHOSE what we would be in life (often through our decisions regarding education; saving money; investing money; putting off having families; etc). If we were all the same, life would be very boring. It takes all of us (all professions and economic levels) to make the wheel of life turn. Sorry for the lecture, but one of my pet peeves (other than our mass yellow media) is the jealousy shown toward those of means. (And I am not saying your comment is related to jealousy)
i didnt like this song at first, i didnt hear the melody in it. but every time i hear it now, it gets better. i think i was listening too hard to it before. the song is so rock and roll, so rebelous and different than anything else.
I actually think some of this song is a response to school shootings. This explains the "recent rash of kidsmoke." The second verse seems an attempt at coaxing a teenager to talk about their issues, and offers a sort of weird hope with "the sun will rise, we'll climb into cars/The future has a valley and a shortcut around." The last part about the stone rising reminds me of the easter story, as does a lot of the record. But I think the most telling part of the entire song is "there's no blood on my hands, I just do as I'm told." This was the most common defense of ordinary Germans turned into Nazis, and I think Tweedy is commenting on American dastardly complacency in response to such issues, particularly why American children are so violent. "It's not my problem, there's no blood on my hands," etc.
This is an awesome concept song. It's all about the building up of all those noises and tensed up guitar grinds into a glorious explosion. Brilliant, I love this song and go crazy when I listen to it.
oh man...i have a strange story behind me discovering this song. so i heard this awesome long song on kvsc (a college radio station in MN) and i was like awesome, but they have such long sets and i was never in my car when i heard the dj say who it was. i just loved this song from the first time i heard it, incompletely of course. i won a ghost is born from another radio station that is less college... but anyway i didn't listen to it v. well... only the song #s that my sister told me were worth it.
about two months after i got the cd i heard spiders on kvsc again and this time i DID hear it announced. i was like, 'no way!' i've been in love w/ this song for months and i finally find out that i have the cd. i'm such a moron. anyway. this song makes me v. focused for some reason or another. sorry about the stupid story. just shows how stupid i've been.
I think the lines
"This recent rash of kidsmoke All these telescopic poems It's good to be alone"
May be a bit of a jab at the quality (or lack of) in music today.
sounds like devo...
in fact our you sure Mark Mothersburg didn't do the synth?
wtf are you on, that's the most annoyingly pretentious thing i've ever read
our=are
This song is a lot like Muzzle of Bees, the next song on the album, in structure. It dilly-dallies for a few minutes, then lets loose.
I have a really short attention span for songs, but for some reason I have no problem waiting for this song to build up.
Heh, WeedMan, you're such a stereotype...