"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 you sure didn't look like you were having any fun,
with that heavy-metal gaze they'll have to measure in tons.
And when you look up at the sky,
all you see are zeros,
and all you see are zeros and ones.
You took my hand and led me down to watch a kewpie doll parade,
And we let the kittens lick our hair and drank our chalky lemonade.
It's not that I just didn't care, I must admit I was afraid.
And I'm awfully glad my finger's resting gently on the masterfade.
The masterfade,
I coulda played along.
The masterfade,
I coulda played Mah Jongg,
but it just takes too long,
and I just can't remember
which way the east wind blows?
Does it matter?
If we're all matter,
what's it matter?
Does it matter,
if we're all matter when we're done
when the sky is full of zeros and ones?
I saw you standing all alone in the electrostatic rain.
I thought at last I'd found a situation you can't explain.
With GPS you know it's all just a matter of degrees.
Your happiness won't find you underneath that canopy of trees.
If the green grass is 6, and the soybeans are 7,
the junebugs are 8, the weeds and thistles are 11.
And if the 1s just hold thier place, the 0s make a smiley face
when they come floating down from the heavens.
You took my hand and lead me down to watch a papillon parade.
We let the kittens lick our hair and drank our chalky lemonade.
You squeezed my hand and told me softly that I shouldn't be afraid,
'cause all the while your finger's resting gently on the masterfade.
The masterfade,
I coulda played along.
The masterfade,
I coulda played Mah Jongg,
but it just takes too long,
and who the hell can remember
which way the east wind blows,
when your lying on the ground
staring up at that inverted compass?
I mean, Christ, who Knows?
with that heavy-metal gaze they'll have to measure in tons.
And when you look up at the sky,
all you see are zeros,
and all you see are zeros and ones.
You took my hand and led me down to watch a kewpie doll parade,
And we let the kittens lick our hair and drank our chalky lemonade.
It's not that I just didn't care, I must admit I was afraid.
And I'm awfully glad my finger's resting gently on the masterfade.
The masterfade,
I coulda played along.
The masterfade,
I coulda played Mah Jongg,
but it just takes too long,
and I just can't remember
which way the east wind blows?
Does it matter?
If we're all matter,
what's it matter?
Does it matter,
if we're all matter when we're done
when the sky is full of zeros and ones?
I saw you standing all alone in the electrostatic rain.
I thought at last I'd found a situation you can't explain.
With GPS you know it's all just a matter of degrees.
Your happiness won't find you underneath that canopy of trees.
If the green grass is 6, and the soybeans are 7,
the junebugs are 8, the weeds and thistles are 11.
And if the 1s just hold thier place, the 0s make a smiley face
when they come floating down from the heavens.
You took my hand and lead me down to watch a papillon parade.
We let the kittens lick our hair and drank our chalky lemonade.
You squeezed my hand and told me softly that I shouldn't be afraid,
'cause all the while your finger's resting gently on the masterfade.
The masterfade,
I coulda played along.
The masterfade,
I coulda played Mah Jongg,
but it just takes too long,
and who the hell can remember
which way the east wind blows,
when your lying on the ground
staring up at that inverted compass?
I mean, Christ, who Knows?
Lyrics submitted by beastiefreak00
Masterfade Lyrics as written by Andrew Wegman Bird
Lyrics © Wixen Music Publishing
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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I think this song is about absurdism, nihilism, and existentialism.
The first verse seems to paint a picture of someone who is struggling with the worry that their world may not be real. If the "zeros and ones" are meant to be binary code, than this could be a reference to the theory that our reality may just be a computer program, hence not real. simulation-argument.com/
I'm not fully sure about the second verse. I think its about someone trying to live their life as if there is meaning in the world though their unsure. I like pinstripesandpedals' idea that masterfade is a reference to part of a mixing deck that let's you fade everything to silence. In this case, the masterfade could represent the ability to imagine the world as unreal, or 'silence reality'. "And I'm awfully glad my finger's resting gently on the masterfade" - this particular line makes me think of a time when I used to consider my disbelief in reality as enlightenment. I was fairly arrogant in this mind set.
"Does it matter if we're all matter when we're done When the sky is full of zeros and ones" - This again seems to talk about the possibility that our reality is infact unreal, while bringing into question whether or not this is even worth worrying about.
"With GPS you know it's all just a matter of degrees" - I think the GPS represents blindly following religion. Choosing faith over rationality is one way people cope with the Absurd. Like a GPS, religion maps out a single life path to follow, and right and wrong is measured in objective 'degrees'.
"Your happiness won't find you underneath that canopy of trees" - Again, I think this is about religion. Trying to force yourself to have blind faith, like hiding from the binary code sky under a canopy of trees, is only a superficial solution.
"If the green grass is 6 and the soybeans are 7 The junebugs are 8 the weeds and thistles are 11" - I think this line is about trying to impose absolute values on the world.
"And if the 1s just hold their place the 0s make a smiley face When they come floating down from the heavens" - This line is about assigning personal meaning to the world.