"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.
Coming out of my cage
And I've been doing just fine
Gotta gotta be down
Because I want it all
It started out with a kiss
How did it end up like this?
It was only a kiss, it was only a kiss
Now I'm falling asleep
And she's calling a cab
While he's having a smoke
And she's taking a drag
Now they're going to bed
And my stomach is sick
And it's all in my head
But she's touching his chest now
He takes off her dress now
Let me go
And I just can't look, it's killing me
And taking control
Jealousy, turning saints into the sea
Swimming through sick lullabies
Choking on your alibis
But it's just the price I pay
Destiny is calling me
Open up my eager eyes
'Cause I'm Mr. Brightside
I'm coming out of my cage
And I've been doing just fine
Gotta gotta be down
Because I want it all
It started out with a kiss
How did it end up like this?
(It was only a kiss), it was only a kiss
Now I'm falling asleep
And she's calling a cab
While he's having a smoke
And she's taking a drag
Now they're going to bed
And my stomach is sick
And it's all in my head
But she's touching his chest now
He takes off her dress now
Let me go
'Cause I just can't look, it's killing me
And taking control
Jealousy, turning saints into the sea
Swimming through sick lullabies
Choking on your alibi
But it's just the price I pay
Destiny is calling me
Open up my eager eyes
'Cause I'm Mr. Brightside
I never
I never
I never
I never
And I've been doing just fine
Gotta gotta be down
Because I want it all
It started out with a kiss
How did it end up like this?
It was only a kiss, it was only a kiss
Now I'm falling asleep
And she's calling a cab
While he's having a smoke
And she's taking a drag
Now they're going to bed
And my stomach is sick
And it's all in my head
But she's touching his chest now
He takes off her dress now
Let me go
And I just can't look, it's killing me
And taking control
Jealousy, turning saints into the sea
Swimming through sick lullabies
Choking on your alibis
But it's just the price I pay
Destiny is calling me
Open up my eager eyes
'Cause I'm Mr. Brightside
I'm coming out of my cage
And I've been doing just fine
Gotta gotta be down
Because I want it all
It started out with a kiss
How did it end up like this?
(It was only a kiss), it was only a kiss
Now I'm falling asleep
And she's calling a cab
While he's having a smoke
And she's taking a drag
Now they're going to bed
And my stomach is sick
And it's all in my head
But she's touching his chest now
He takes off her dress now
Let me go
'Cause I just can't look, it's killing me
And taking control
Jealousy, turning saints into the sea
Swimming through sick lullabies
Choking on your alibi
But it's just the price I pay
Destiny is calling me
Open up my eager eyes
'Cause I'm Mr. Brightside
I never
I never
I never
I never
Lyrics submitted by Linger:, edited by ipseudonym, daster96, jamietags
Mr. Brightside Lyrics as written by Dave Brent Keuning Brandon Flowers
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
Add your thoughts
Log in now to tell us what you think this song means.
Don’t have an account? Create an account with SongMeanings to post comments, submit lyrics, and more. It’s super easy, we promise!
More Featured Meanings
Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman
The Night We Met
Lord Huron
Lord Huron
This is a hauntingly beautiful song about introspection, specifically about looking back at a relationship that started bad and ended so poorly, that the narrator wants to go back to the very beginning and tell himself to not even travel down that road. I believe that the relationship started poorly because of the lines:
"Take me back to the night we met:When the night was full of terrors: And your eyes were filled with tears: When you had not touched me yet"
So, the first night was not a great start, but the narrator pursued the relationship and eventually both overcame the rough start to fall in love with each other:
"I had all and then most of you"
Like many relationships that turn sour, it was not a quick decline, but a gradual one where the narrator and their partner fall out of love and gradually grow apart
"Some and now none of you"
Losing someone who was once everything in your world, who you could confide in, tell your secrets to, share all the most intimate parts of your life, to being strangers with that person is probably one of the most painful experiences a person can go through. So Painful, the narrator wants to go back in time and tell himself to not even pursue the relationship.
This was the perfect song for "13 Reasons Why"
When We Were Young
Blink-182
Blink-182
This is a sequel to 2001's "Reckless Abandon", and features the band looking back on their clumsy youth fondly.
Head > Heels
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
“Head > Heels” is a track that aims to capture what it feels like to experience romance that exceeds expectations. Ed Sheeran dedicates his album outro to a lover who has blessed him with a unique experience that he seeks to describe through the song’s nuanced lyrics.
Page
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
There aren’t many things that’ll hurt more than giving love a chance against your better judgement only to have your heart crushed yet again. Ed Sheeran tells such a story on “Page.” On this track, he is devastated to have lost his lover and even more saddened by the feeling that he may never move on from this.
I think this song is about a flirty girl who keeps sending him mixed signals. She just wants to have fun, but he kisses her and now he can't stop thinking about her. Now he doesn't just want fun, he wants her: "Gotta gotta be down Because I want it all."
He trys to reassure himself by the repetition of, "it was only a kiss, it was only a kiss" and he was trying to grasp whether and how it meant nothing to this girl so he should stop thinking about her.
"Now I'm falling asleep And she's calling a cab While he�s having a smoke And she's taking a drag"
This verse shows how she can just quickly move on to other men, with the 'cab''
Then we had the vivid imagery that haunts him as he pictures this girl with other men which she just hooks up and has fun with. In the video clip, we can see that he's 'tired of playing games' and being led on from this girl through her semi-transperant image of her overshowing the chess game he's playing with the other man that wants her. By throwing it, it signals that he's sick of playing games and he's just going to get over her.
With the addition of the other men in the clip, we can see that Flowers is not the only man she's led on in this way. The other man see's Flowers with the girl and after the fireworks scene, rejects her.
This is where he 'looks on the brightside' "But it's just the price I pay" for kissing and opening his heart to a girl which he knew was flirty.
"Destiny is calling me/ Open up my eager eyes/ 'Cause I'm Mr Brightside" - he's optimistic and makes the most out of this situation. Everything happens for a reason, this was fate telling him to open up his eyes and lower his naivety.
In the end, the girl's environment is silent and dull as Flowers walks away juxtaposing the commotion previously entailing the scenes. This shows that all the men got sick and tired of her mixed signals and this was The Killer's way of exemplifying that consequently, she was left with no one (and got what she deserved).
The only thing I cannot figure out (which is probably really straight forward), are what the apples in the video clip represent.
A great song I'm sure most people can relate to no matter how you interpret it.
driaxx, my take is that you're spot on. Apples are known as the forbidden fruit - it's a biblical reference to the Garden of Eden, I think. The apple is a symbol of temptation.
<br /> THANK YOU. My God, I'm open to interpretation toward song lyrics, but some of these song interpretations from these users are so random that I had to double-check to see if I was on the right song. lol its always fun reading them though.<br /> <br /> Everyone's entitled to their own interpretation, but personally I think yours was 110% spot on and it was nice to read how you explained it. <br /> <br />