"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.
Once upon a time at the foot of a great mountain
There was a town where the people known as happy folk lived
Their very existence a mystery to the rest of the world
Obscured, as it was, by great clouds
Here they played out their peaceful lives
Innocent of the litany of excessive violence that was growing in the world below
To live in harmony with the spirit of the mountain called Monkey was enough
Then one day, strange folk arrived in the town
They came in camouflage, hidden behind dark glasses, but no one noticed them
They only saw shadows you see, without the truth to the eyes
The happy folk were blind
Falling out of aeroplanes and hiding out in holes
Waiting for the sunset to come, people going home
Jump out from behind them and shoot them in the head
Now everybody dancing, the dance of the dead
The dance of the dead, the dance of the dead
In time, the strange folk found their way into the higher reaches of the mountain
And it was there that they found the caves of unimaginable sincerity and beauty
By chance, they stumbled upon the place where all good souls come to rest
The strange folk, they coveted the jewels in these caves above all things
And soon they began to mine the mountain
It's rich seam fueling the chaos of their own world
Meanwhile, down in the town, the happy folk slept restlessly
Their dreams invaded by shadowy figures digging away at their souls
Every day, people would wake and stare at the mountain
Why was it bringing darkness into their lives?
And as the strange folk mined deeper and deeper into the mountain
Holes began to appear
Bringing with them a cold and bitter wind that chilled the very soul of the Monkey
For the first time, the happy folk felt fearful
For they knew that soon the monkey would stir from it's deep sleep
Then there came a sound, distant first, that grew into castrophany so immense
That it could be heard far away in space
There were no screams, there was no time
The mountain called Monkey had spoken
There was only fire, and then
Nothing
Oh little town in USA, the time has come to see
There's nothing you believe you want
But where were you when it all came down on me?
Did you call me out?
There was a town where the people known as happy folk lived
Their very existence a mystery to the rest of the world
Obscured, as it was, by great clouds
Here they played out their peaceful lives
Innocent of the litany of excessive violence that was growing in the world below
To live in harmony with the spirit of the mountain called Monkey was enough
Then one day, strange folk arrived in the town
They came in camouflage, hidden behind dark glasses, but no one noticed them
They only saw shadows you see, without the truth to the eyes
The happy folk were blind
Falling out of aeroplanes and hiding out in holes
Waiting for the sunset to come, people going home
Jump out from behind them and shoot them in the head
Now everybody dancing, the dance of the dead
The dance of the dead, the dance of the dead
In time, the strange folk found their way into the higher reaches of the mountain
And it was there that they found the caves of unimaginable sincerity and beauty
By chance, they stumbled upon the place where all good souls come to rest
The strange folk, they coveted the jewels in these caves above all things
And soon they began to mine the mountain
It's rich seam fueling the chaos of their own world
Meanwhile, down in the town, the happy folk slept restlessly
Their dreams invaded by shadowy figures digging away at their souls
Every day, people would wake and stare at the mountain
Why was it bringing darkness into their lives?
And as the strange folk mined deeper and deeper into the mountain
Holes began to appear
Bringing with them a cold and bitter wind that chilled the very soul of the Monkey
For the first time, the happy folk felt fearful
For they knew that soon the monkey would stir from it's deep sleep
Then there came a sound, distant first, that grew into castrophany so immense
That it could be heard far away in space
There were no screams, there was no time
The mountain called Monkey had spoken
There was only fire, and then
Nothing
Oh little town in USA, the time has come to see
There's nothing you believe you want
But where were you when it all came down on me?
Did you call me out?
Lyrics submitted by adamr, edited by Spacebutters
Fire Coming Out Of The Monkey's Head Lyrics as written by Jamie Hewlett Damon Albarn
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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I like how rhavin thinks GOOD JOB, i didn't think of that one! I like you on page 1
-His Holyness The Drewylama