"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.
Well I know that you know
That you've become the target of this hand
With never even asking
Well I know that you know
That you're the only thing that I can stand
So how could your hair
Have the nerve to dance around like that, blowing?
And how could the air
Have the nerve to blow your hair around like that?
I'm waiting for a ninety-mile water wall
To take me out of your home view
I'm looking for a trap door trigger
To drop me out of your home view
Yes I'm listening, I'm listening
I can tell that you are serious
Your looking for that hurt look around my mouth
The look of a steep fall
Oh, well, that's how Hersey put it
So you can make another claim
Well go ahead and make it
So you can make another claim
Well go ahead and make it
I'm just waiting for a ninety-mile water wall
To take me out of your home view
I'm praying for a trap door trigger
I'm just waiting for a ninety-mile water wall
To take me out of your home view
I'm praying for a trap door trigger
Yes I'm listening
I can tell you're serious
That you've become the target of this hand
With never even asking
Well I know that you know
That you're the only thing that I can stand
So how could your hair
Have the nerve to dance around like that, blowing?
And how could the air
Have the nerve to blow your hair around like that?
I'm waiting for a ninety-mile water wall
To take me out of your home view
I'm looking for a trap door trigger
To drop me out of your home view
Yes I'm listening, I'm listening
I can tell that you are serious
Your looking for that hurt look around my mouth
The look of a steep fall
Oh, well, that's how Hersey put it
So you can make another claim
Well go ahead and make it
So you can make another claim
Well go ahead and make it
I'm just waiting for a ninety-mile water wall
To take me out of your home view
I'm praying for a trap door trigger
I'm just waiting for a ninety-mile water wall
To take me out of your home view
I'm praying for a trap door trigger
Yes I'm listening
I can tell you're serious
Lyrics submitted by SomethingClever
90-Mile Water Wall Lyrics as written by Matthew Berninger Aaron Dessner
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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Fast Car
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This is one of my favorite songs. https://fnfgo.io
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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”
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I think it's about someone who is in love with someone else, secretly, and then the other person finds out. This song is about the moment when the other person confronts him about it.
"Well I know that you know that you've become the target of this hand with never even asking Well I know that you know that you're the only thing that I can stand"
He's like, 'I know that you know that I love you, even though you never asked for it.' It's just him being like, 'Oh shit, she knows.'
And the hair part, she's standing there rejecting him, and she looks so beautiful, and it doesn't seem fair.
He's humiliated and kind of ashamed, and just wants to fall through the floor and away from this situation. He prays for anything to come and sweep him away. I always get the image of him looking at the floor, uncomfortable, and she asks if he's listening. "Yes, I'm listening, I'm listening."
"Your looking for that hurt look around my mouth the look of a steep fall"
She knows that she's hurting him, but it's something that she has to do.
@sushishf, I don't think this is a masturbation reference. I think it just means that he's chosen her.
Such a sad, beautiful song.