"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.
Mark out the points, build the pyre
Assemble different drummers, light up the fire
Put on your masks and animal skins
Illumination, illumination
Listen to the drums
Between each beat, each beat of the drum
Oh beloved mother of liberty
Hold me in your arms
Burn burn, burn brightly
Burn burn, burn white heat
Burn burn, burn brightly
Burn burn, burn white heat
And the day will come before the lights go out
Who will you turn to, who will you turn to
Choose the crucifixion or Osiris slain
Recurring themes, time again
Illumination, illumination
Burn burn, burn brightly
Burn burn, burn white heat
Oh, how ingenious the centuries of lies
Ezekiel?s chariots streak across the skies
Holy books and history texts forget because we know
Souls are recycled in the death and resurrection show
Oh beloved mother of liberty, come to me
Everything I'm taught, amounts to not
Everything I learn, the fire shall burn
Notions of myself that I'm not
Whoever I was is now lost
Illumination, illumination
Burn burn, burn brightly
Burn burn, burn white heat
Oh, how ingenious the centuries of lies
Ezekiel?s chariots streak across the skies
Holy books and history texts forget because we know
Souls are recycled in the death and resurrection show
Oh, beloved woman of liberty, come to me
Burn away all my impurities
Hold me in your arms
Burn burn, burn brightly
Burn burn, burn white heat
Burn burn, burn brightly
Burn burn, burn white heat
Oh, how ingenious the centuries of lies
Ezekiel?s chariots streak across the skies
Holy books and history texts forget because we know
Souls are recycled in the death and resurrection show
Oh, beloved woman of liberty
Hold me in your arms
Assemble different drummers, light up the fire
Put on your masks and animal skins
Illumination, illumination
Listen to the drums
Between each beat, each beat of the drum
Oh beloved mother of liberty
Hold me in your arms
Burn burn, burn brightly
Burn burn, burn white heat
Burn burn, burn brightly
Burn burn, burn white heat
And the day will come before the lights go out
Who will you turn to, who will you turn to
Choose the crucifixion or Osiris slain
Recurring themes, time again
Illumination, illumination
Burn burn, burn brightly
Burn burn, burn white heat
Oh, how ingenious the centuries of lies
Ezekiel?s chariots streak across the skies
Holy books and history texts forget because we know
Souls are recycled in the death and resurrection show
Oh beloved mother of liberty, come to me
Everything I'm taught, amounts to not
Everything I learn, the fire shall burn
Notions of myself that I'm not
Whoever I was is now lost
Illumination, illumination
Burn burn, burn brightly
Burn burn, burn white heat
Oh, how ingenious the centuries of lies
Ezekiel?s chariots streak across the skies
Holy books and history texts forget because we know
Souls are recycled in the death and resurrection show
Oh, beloved woman of liberty, come to me
Burn away all my impurities
Hold me in your arms
Burn burn, burn brightly
Burn burn, burn white heat
Burn burn, burn brightly
Burn burn, burn white heat
Oh, how ingenious the centuries of lies
Ezekiel?s chariots streak across the skies
Holy books and history texts forget because we know
Souls are recycled in the death and resurrection show
Oh, beloved woman of liberty
Hold me in your arms
Lyrics submitted by tacitusmercutio, edited by ghd
The Death & Resurrection Show Lyrics as written by Andrew James Dalrymple Gill Walker Kevin
Lyrics © CONCORD MUSIC PUBLISHING LLC
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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More Featured Meanings
Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman
Cajun Girl
Little Feat
Little Feat
Overall about difficult moments of disappointment and vulnerability. Having hope and longing, while remaining optimistic for the future. Encourages the belief that with each new morning there is a chance for things to improve.
The chorus offers a glimmer of optimism and a chance at a resolution and redemption in the future.
Captures the rollercoaster of emotions of feeling lost while loving someone who is not there for you, feeling let down and abandoned while waiting for a lover. Lost with no direction, "Now I'm up in the air with the rain in my hair, Nowhere to go, I can go anywhere"
The bridge shows signs of longing and a plea for companionship. The Lyrics express a desire for authentic connection and the importance of Loving someone just as they are. "Just in passing, I'm not asking. That you be anyone but you”
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.
No Surprises
Radiohead
Radiohead
Same ideas expressed in Fitter, Happier are expressed in this song. We're told to strive for some sort of ideal life, which includes getting a good job, being kind to everyone, finding a partner, getting married, having a couple kids, living in a quiet neighborhood in a nice big house, etc. But in Fitter, Happier the narrator(?) realizes that it's incredibly robotic to live this life. People are being used by those in power "like a pig in a cage on antibiotics"--being pacified with things like new phones and cool gadgets and houses while being sucked dry. On No Surprises, the narrator is realizing how this life is killing him slowly. In the video, his helmet is slowly filling up with water, drowning him. But he's so complacent with it. This is a good summary of the song. This boring, "perfect" life foisted upon us by some higher powers (not spiritual, but political, economic, etc. politicians and businessmen, perhaps) is not the way to live. But there is seemingly no way out but death. He'd rather die peacefully right now than live in this cage. While our lives are often shielded, we're in our own protective bubbles, or protective helmets like the one Thom wears, if we look a little harder we can see all the corruption, lies, manipulation, etc. that is going on in the world, often run by huge yet nearly invisible organizations, corporations, and 'leaders'. It's a very hopeless song because it reflects real life.
Magical
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
How would you describe the feeling of being in love? For Ed Sheeran, the word is “Magical.” in HIS three-minute album opener, he makes an attempt to capture the beauty and delicacy of true love with words. He describes the magic of it all over a bright Pop song produced by Aaron Dessner.
You guys are spot on with the meanings. The first verse is all about the showmanship involved in the death of Jesus, hence the "Show" of Death and Resurrection.
He then moves forward to judgement day.: "And the day will come, Before the lights go out, Who will you turn to, Who will you turn to."
He then points out how the story of Jesus is similar to others in history: "Choose the crucifixion, Or Osiris slain, Recurring themes, time again."
He also points out the lies and deceit of Christianity: "Oh how ingenious the centuries of lies," "Everything im taught, amounts to nought"
In the end he says that all "Souls are recycled in the death and resurrection show."