"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.
They went down to the river
On a warm summer night
The air was thick with the
Smell of temptation
When he said "Why don't we lay in the water
Let the water run over me"
And she grinned and she said
And she said
Now she said
"Now that's a good idea"
She said, she said
"Now that's a good idea"
She said, she said
"Now that's a good idea"
She said, she said
"Now that's a good idea"
She said, he said
He held her head high in his hands
He held her down deep in the stream
He saw the bubbles and matted hair
Mixed in with seaweed
He started to scream
Was it something I said
Was it something I said
And she said and she said
And she said, she said
"Now that's a good idea" she said, she said
"To be alone with you" she said, she said
"I've been waiting for years
And I'd rather be dead"
"That's a good idea" he said, he said
He held her down in the river
He held her down in the water
Another river of mud
Wash away those tears
He said and he said
"Now that's a good idea"
He said, "Now that's a good idea"
He said, "Now that's a good idea"
He said, "Now that's a good idea"
I saw them from the ocean
She didn't seem to mind
Didn't fight at all
She didn't fight it at all
Some things are best left alone
Sometimes I'm best left alone
And sometimes I see you in the water
At night, at night, at night
"That's a good idea" she said, she said
"Want to feel you in the water
With your hands on my head"
Push her down into the water
She said she said
"Now that's a good idea" she said, she said
"Now that's a good idea, that's a good idea"
She said, she said
Now she said, now she said
"That's a good idea, that's a good idea
That's a good idea"
She said, she said
"That's a good idea"
She said, she said
"I want to feel you in the water
With your hands on my head"
Push her down into the water
She said, she said
"That's a good idea"
She said, she said
"That's a good idea"
She said, she said
"That's a good idea"
She said, she said
"That's a good idea"
She said, she said
"That's a good idea"
She said, she said
"That's a good idea"
She, said
"That's a good idea"
She said, she said
"That's a good idea"
She said, she said
"That's a good idea"
She said, she said
"That's a good idea"
On a warm summer night
The air was thick with the
Smell of temptation
When he said "Why don't we lay in the water
Let the water run over me"
And she grinned and she said
And she said
Now she said
"Now that's a good idea"
She said, she said
"Now that's a good idea"
She said, she said
"Now that's a good idea"
She said, she said
"Now that's a good idea"
She said, he said
He held her head high in his hands
He held her down deep in the stream
He saw the bubbles and matted hair
Mixed in with seaweed
He started to scream
Was it something I said
Was it something I said
And she said and she said
And she said, she said
"Now that's a good idea" she said, she said
"To be alone with you" she said, she said
"I've been waiting for years
And I'd rather be dead"
"That's a good idea" he said, he said
He held her down in the river
He held her down in the water
Another river of mud
Wash away those tears
He said and he said
"Now that's a good idea"
He said, "Now that's a good idea"
He said, "Now that's a good idea"
He said, "Now that's a good idea"
I saw them from the ocean
She didn't seem to mind
Didn't fight at all
She didn't fight it at all
Some things are best left alone
Sometimes I'm best left alone
And sometimes I see you in the water
At night, at night, at night
"That's a good idea" she said, she said
"Want to feel you in the water
With your hands on my head"
Push her down into the water
She said she said
"Now that's a good idea" she said, she said
"Now that's a good idea, that's a good idea"
She said, she said
Now she said, now she said
"That's a good idea, that's a good idea
That's a good idea"
She said, she said
"That's a good idea"
She said, she said
"I want to feel you in the water
With your hands on my head"
Push her down into the water
She said, she said
"That's a good idea"
She said, she said
"That's a good idea"
She said, she said
"That's a good idea"
She said, she said
"That's a good idea"
She said, she said
"That's a good idea"
She said, she said
"That's a good idea"
She, said
"That's a good idea"
She said, she said
"That's a good idea"
She said, she said
"That's a good idea"
She said, she said
"That's a good idea"
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Ed Sheeran
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They were playing around and he ended up killing her. She consented but it went too far.
I don't think they were playing around.
I think she asked him to kill her and he obliged:
"I've been waiting for years And I'd rather be dead"
"I saw them from the ocean She didn't seem to mind Didn't fight at all She didn't fight it at all"
This is one of the those songs you love until you understand the lyrics - now I just think it's very depressing.
i love this song, but yeah knowing the lyrics makes it a lil depressing. oh and the main riff is taken from 'debaser' by the pixies witch i find cool
Definitely a Pixies homage; not only is the main riff borrowed from "Debaser", but the bass tone is pretty Kim Deal-esque, the solo sounds pretty Joey Santiago-influenced, and Bob Mould even seems to be trying to imitate Frank Black vocally a bit (notice the way he intones "temptation!" and "she didn't fight it at all"). Even the depressing or creepy lyrics/ happy uptempo music dichotomy is something The Pixies tend to do (see "Wave Of Mutilation").
Pretty damn good slightly underlooked band by the way. Maybe less influential than Mould's other band Husker Du, but I do kind of see their fingerprints all over the likes of The Foo Fighters, Weezer, and other more well-known "alt-pop" type bands. On a good day you can probably grab all 3 of their albums out of a used bin for around $14, and I definitely reccomend doing so.
thers also i gargaling noise comes out your left speaker that i noticed the other day, its kinda odd
This is one of my favourite songs from Sugar's first album.
However, I still find elements of it confusing or unclear.
It's clear that she wanted to die (see lyrics famous mortimer cited). Yet, she screamed. Why? Was she expecting to die? Scream of joy? I get the impression that maybe he wanted to murder her and she wanted him to do it.
It's also clear that there are three people here: the girl, the guy that kills her and the persona. So what's the involvement of the persona besides watching? Or is that part of the whole creepy Black Francis aspect of things?
I think he murdered her--she was a long-time object of his desire. He was able to get her to spot where he had complete control over her and the "temptation" to make sure she was his forever was too much to fight. She was screaming because she was fighting what he was doing. After the deed was done he began to run the scenario through his head and repeating that "she said" it was a good idea, he was justifying that he murdered her. So it becomes something she asked for in his own mind, the third person view was him again, seeing it from afar, again he justifies what was done by saying she didn't fight it. This isn't true because we are told she was screaming; what ever angle he takes on the situation, he'll make sure he blames her for what happened.
That's my take on it at least :) I just heard this song again after years and years. I remember buying the cassette when it first came out and I almost wore it out from replay. It would be nice to hear what Bob Mould has to say about it :)
This is a f'ed up lovesong as water is referred to love. Sometimes we all drown in it.
This is something of a acknowledgement of an homage to an homage both of and from the pixies...... Confused yet?
Bob mould is arguably the most influential alternative artist of all time his work is stamped all over REM, Meat puppets, Weezer Sonic Youth Dinosaur Jr and the bands they inspired such as Nirvana Live and so on and among his biggest fans were the pixies who took a lot of the musical styling of Husker DU and bob moulds work to make their own sound.
The pixies are AWESOME and their unhinged upbeat songs about murder sex and quirkiness are incredibly influential too.
So Bob mould wrote a song that's basically a pixies song. its his way of acknowledging his influence on them and their using of what he did in husker Du but also paying tribute to one of the great bands of all time.
So if you are going to do a pixies style song you play like the pixies hence the "fun upbeat song about killing somebody possibly while on an trip" lyrics driving melodic bass and bizzare guitar half chords.
Bob drowned his anima - now she speaks through him through his lyrics