"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.
Day one I played with her blood
Day two left her face bruised and we called it making love
Day three her blood played with me
Dirty talk caught me off guard
Had to nerve to ask if I thought she was crazy
Baby you don't know where my mind has been
Fell off the bike more than twice
But it's time to ride again
This time I learned from my past falls
Old wounds may re-open soon
Burn 'em in alcohol
I heard that last call
It was a close one
Road runners
Know which direction to go when snow comes
Now we're coasting
Extra traction on radial tires
Having sex in the back wrapped in radial wires
Self abusive
Stuck in a bad place
Head full of bruises and scratched face
I've bled profusely
Stirred in my juices
So you can taste me
Put my neck in a noose
And swung to safety
Found a land mine planted in the sole of my foot
I can't find santcum in the holes of input
I keep diggin'
Covered in earth
I undress
They run tests
I leave the dirt to the experts
White coats and shiny objects
I jump their lifeboat science project
We got a floater
Guinea pig overboard
Stone sober hillbilly kid with open sores
We rip vocal chords
Tearing them out
A mutant manifesto that you'll probably never hear about
Weirded out about my wearabouts
Swears pierce my mouth
A bearded medicine man who wears a pouch
Keeps diggin' me
And I'm swimmin' uphill
I'm fightin' the tide of mudslide and blood spilled
Until I got a shirt off my back
And a girl on attack
On top
With a curled lip
The world matches our bedsheet
We shared geography now
I explore virgin territory
Squeeky seats acting as a mating call
Nothing on me but her
And didn't feel naked at all
Ever feel the need
To keep it so real you feed
Yourself into her hunger and don't care if she bleeds
Askin' all these questions
Ain't highly recommended
They'll eventually get answered
If you put time in the friendship
That is if what you're doin' is helping
And it's not like you'll know until you ah-
Reach the ending
She wanted my
Agony agony agony
In her body
(Repeat x4 then continues throughout hook)
Day one I played with her blood
Day two left her face bruised and we called it making love
Day three her blood played with me
Dirty talk caught me off guard
Had to nerve to ask if I thought she was crazy
She was crazy
I need more holes to breathe from
Went under the knife
I contemplated freedom
Put it all out on the operating table
Clutching onto rubber ducks
I played double dutch with some jumper cables
And I broke like the water
It started rushing
All of a sudden
There she was gone
I'm the fall guy
She's a sight for sore eyes
I'm in labor all night till a new day is born
Her blow brocades like high rolled dice
Her exposing one eighty when I look into her snake eyes
I'm not afraid of dying
Pieces of me die all the time
I keep digging (I keep digging)
I leave the dirt to the experts
Who push the boundaries of pleasure till the sex hurts
I hold today with a death grip
And play hard to get with tomorrow
So as not to look so fucking desperate
Face sweaty
Hands unsteady
Blood pressure off the charts
My heart hangs heavy
Untreated wounds
Through repeated moons
I seem to have developed through your needy womb
Your feeble ill cocoon
I don't breathe for many people
I don't mourn the pieces killed in you
My injection must of been lethal
Pick up the shovel love
You got some diggin' to do
Agony agony agony
(repeat x4)
She wanted my
Agony agony agony
(repeats as sage says the following:)
Day one I played with her blood
Day two left her face bruised and we called it making love
Day three her blood played with me
Dirty talk caught me off guard
Had to nerve to ask if I thought she was crazy
Day two left her face bruised and we called it making love
Day three her blood played with me
Dirty talk caught me off guard
Had to nerve to ask if I thought she was crazy
Baby you don't know where my mind has been
Fell off the bike more than twice
But it's time to ride again
This time I learned from my past falls
Old wounds may re-open soon
Burn 'em in alcohol
I heard that last call
It was a close one
Road runners
Know which direction to go when snow comes
Now we're coasting
Extra traction on radial tires
Having sex in the back wrapped in radial wires
Self abusive
Stuck in a bad place
Head full of bruises and scratched face
I've bled profusely
Stirred in my juices
So you can taste me
Put my neck in a noose
And swung to safety
Found a land mine planted in the sole of my foot
I can't find santcum in the holes of input
I keep diggin'
Covered in earth
I undress
They run tests
I leave the dirt to the experts
White coats and shiny objects
I jump their lifeboat science project
We got a floater
Guinea pig overboard
Stone sober hillbilly kid with open sores
We rip vocal chords
Tearing them out
A mutant manifesto that you'll probably never hear about
Weirded out about my wearabouts
Swears pierce my mouth
A bearded medicine man who wears a pouch
Keeps diggin' me
And I'm swimmin' uphill
I'm fightin' the tide of mudslide and blood spilled
Until I got a shirt off my back
And a girl on attack
On top
With a curled lip
The world matches our bedsheet
We shared geography now
I explore virgin territory
Squeeky seats acting as a mating call
Nothing on me but her
And didn't feel naked at all
Ever feel the need
To keep it so real you feed
Yourself into her hunger and don't care if she bleeds
Askin' all these questions
Ain't highly recommended
They'll eventually get answered
If you put time in the friendship
That is if what you're doin' is helping
And it's not like you'll know until you ah-
Reach the ending
She wanted my
Agony agony agony
In her body
(Repeat x4 then continues throughout hook)
Day one I played with her blood
Day two left her face bruised and we called it making love
Day three her blood played with me
Dirty talk caught me off guard
Had to nerve to ask if I thought she was crazy
She was crazy
I need more holes to breathe from
Went under the knife
I contemplated freedom
Put it all out on the operating table
Clutching onto rubber ducks
I played double dutch with some jumper cables
And I broke like the water
It started rushing
All of a sudden
There she was gone
I'm the fall guy
She's a sight for sore eyes
I'm in labor all night till a new day is born
Her blow brocades like high rolled dice
Her exposing one eighty when I look into her snake eyes
I'm not afraid of dying
Pieces of me die all the time
I keep digging (I keep digging)
I leave the dirt to the experts
Who push the boundaries of pleasure till the sex hurts
I hold today with a death grip
And play hard to get with tomorrow
So as not to look so fucking desperate
Face sweaty
Hands unsteady
Blood pressure off the charts
My heart hangs heavy
Untreated wounds
Through repeated moons
I seem to have developed through your needy womb
Your feeble ill cocoon
I don't breathe for many people
I don't mourn the pieces killed in you
My injection must of been lethal
Pick up the shovel love
You got some diggin' to do
Agony agony agony
(repeat x4)
She wanted my
Agony agony agony
(repeats as sage says the following:)
Day one I played with her blood
Day two left her face bruised and we called it making love
Day three her blood played with me
Dirty talk caught me off guard
Had to nerve to ask if I thought she was crazy
Lyrics submitted by ScottXcore
Agony in Her Body Lyrics as written by Sage Francis
Lyrics © Wixen Music Publishing
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
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Dreamwalker
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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.
Mountain Song
Jane's Addiction
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Jane's Addiction vocalist Perry Farrell gives Adam Reader some heartfelt insight into Jane’s Addiction's hard rock manifesto "Mountain Song", which was the second single from their revolutionary album Nothing's Shocking. Mountain song was first recorded in 1986 and appeared on the soundtrack to the film Dudes starring Jon Cryer. The version on Nothing's Shocking was re-recorded in 1988.
"'Mountain Song' was actually about... I hate to say it but... drugs. Climbing this mountain and getting as high as you can, and then coming down that mountain," reveals Farrell. "What it feels to descend from the mountain top... not easy at all. The ascension is tough but exhilarating. Getting down is... it's a real bummer. Drugs is not for everybody obviously. For me, I wanted to experience the heights, and the lows come along with it."
"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."
Mountain Song
Jane's Addiction
Jane's Addiction
Jane's Addiction vocalist Perry Farrell gives Adam Reader some heartfelt insight into Jane’s Addiction's hard rock manifesto "Mountain Song", which was the second single from their revolutionary album Nothing's Shocking. Mountain song was first recorded in 1986 and appeared on the soundtrack to the film Dudes starring Jon Cryer. The version on Nothing's Shocking was re-recorded in 1988.
"'Mountain Song' was actually about... I hate to say it but... drugs. Climbing this mountain and getting as high as you can, and then coming down that mountain," reveals Farrell. "What it feels to descend from the mountain top... not easy at all. The ascension is tough but exhilarating. Getting down is... it's a real bummer. Drugs is not for everybody obviously. For me, I wanted to experience the heights, and the lows come along with it."
"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."
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.
"Put my neck in a noose / And swung to safety" Gods, I love that line. Every time we try save ourselves, or do something to help we end up getting injured on the way.