"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.
Hide the petals underneath that bedroom floorboard
and they will wither without fail or success.
Put the people in the hollow box they crafted,
bolt the doors and watch them perish.
Its a cautious descent, so polite and pensive at first.
But the only truth is change, have patience
(every hundredth year, a single breath and then its over...)
Even if only for a minute for a minute its over.
Even if only for a minute.
So brave in the face of all those roots that ruin,
to stand so tall when in fact in ruins.
To face that corner of the box and dive in,
just the sound alone of its humble breath.
A murmur from the ruins echoes softly as the roots undo, and the branch becomes...
and they will wither without fail or success.
Put the people in the hollow box they crafted,
bolt the doors and watch them perish.
Its a cautious descent, so polite and pensive at first.
But the only truth is change, have patience
(every hundredth year, a single breath and then its over...)
Even if only for a minute for a minute its over.
Even if only for a minute.
So brave in the face of all those roots that ruin,
to stand so tall when in fact in ruins.
To face that corner of the box and dive in,
just the sound alone of its humble breath.
A murmur from the ruins echoes softly as the roots undo, and the branch becomes...
Lyrics submitted by Darth_Squirrel
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"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."
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-so how did it end? can you describe those final days? broken windows, and resting eyes. -can you tell us what happened here? they finally got sick of it all, they just gave up on accepting fate. that was the loophole, they found the achilles heel and managed to strike it down. at the feet of the ruins is a dormant structure. dormant but breathing, still breathing. the wind sweeps through its hallways, echoing at the establishment of their caretakers. an exhaltation of cold premonition.
-can you describe what took place? the shock, sounds from a hollow box. a corner to dive in. i touched their misery, he just went to sleep. an exhalation of cold breath. -the kind of breath you could see? the shock, the terror. behold the riddle of the ruins. when a door is not a door. behold the riddle of the ruins, adore. -describe the feeling when you knew it all would end. in those final days. he gave up. behold a branch will continue to grow -how did it all end that night? last night ,did they? fear, and a touch of their misery -and he just stopped breathing? it was a single lesson, he just layed down, sounds from a hollow box just went to sleep. dormant, dormant but still breathing. took a final breath. he just went to sleep and just stopped breathing. a single lesson will be taught we will all be taught. behold the final breath. when they knew it all would end. still breathing and he just stopped. stopped breathing. we will all be taught, taught how to swallow bark.
i could NOT stop the shivers from going all up and down my spine the entire time i read this..<br /> incredible.<br /> i've always tried to figure it out..<br /> it was deleted from ctts' blog when i looked it up about 2 or 3 years ago<br /> and here it is..<br /> thank you...
same this is spectacular
a friend committed suicide today and i feel like i can relate it to him.
Hide the petals underneath that bedroom floorboard and they will wither without fail or success. (if you keep something hidden away, it will never achieve its full potential.) Put the people in the hollow box they crafted, bolt the doors and watch them perish. (the old riddle: the person who makes it sells it. the one who buys it never uses it. the one who uses it never knows he's using it. what is it? a coffin.)
Its a cautious descent, so polite and pensive at first. But the only truth is change, have patience (every hundredth year, a single breath and then its over...) Even if only for a minute for a minute its over. Even if only for a minute. (the end of everything living) So brave in the face of all those roots that ruin, to stand so tall when in fact in ruins. (facing suicide) To face that corner of the box and dive in, (going for it. the box, the coffin.) just the sound alone of its humble breath. A murmur from the ruins echoes softly as the roots undo, and the branch becomes... (the murmur of memories, the roots undo the chemicals that keep us living.)
oh god.
i like to think someone is sorting through legos.
Ahaha. That's always what I've thought too!
Great song. So deep.
Oh god. I finally checked out CTTS, and I'm obsessed. Completely, irrefutably obsessed. This is the sound I've been looking for.
When I heard "Face the corner of the box and dive in", I thought of Pandora's Box, not a coffin. Was I the only one..?
It sounds like someone is digging through lego and glass at the start. Absolutely Incredible song.
I ADORE the fact I can actually hear every syllable, interplay, harmonization, voice crack, and shout/whisper on every inch of this album. The vocals make it more than I could ever have hoped for. And I can actually HEAR what they are saying...every word. Stunning.
I believe this is a song about the people standing in the way of progress, or maybe their OWN progress. "Look at these funny people making a nice box for themselves...let's put them in it and hope they get bored of their silly new ideas" (These people are "The roots that ruin") "Hide the pretty petals...we're happy with the ugly old tree" (The "Roots" again)
But the branch grows...and new petals form and change eventually arises. "So brave, in face of all the roots that ruin" (People are trying to break free) "But the only truth is change, have patience" (Again, change/progress I believe is the theme of the song)
But ultimately the song is a hopeless one...as with the "Breath" of new life, it is only a "single breath, and then it is over", and nothing remained changed.
That is until... "A murmur from the ruins echoes softly as the roots undo, and the branch becomes..."
The roots UNDO...and everything is able to grow free? We'll never know...the song is open ended, just like life. We're all along for the ride.
such a fantastic song. this and n.o.p.o.k beautiful tracks...the meaning behind the tracks on the album are to do with a journey of self discovery x
"Hide the petals underneath that bedroom floorboard and they will wither without fail or success." - IS a refference/inspired by Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe (I asked the male singer billy/bobby something along those lines)