"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.
Did you hear mother?
Saying I'm wrong but I know I'm right.
Did you hear father?
Calling my name into the night.
Saying I'll never be what I am now.
Telling me I'll never find what I've already found.
It was they who were wrong,
And for them here's a song.
Did you hear baby
Come back and tell you the things he's seen.
Did it surprise you
To be picked up at eight in a limousine?
Doing the things he's accustomed to do.
Which at one time it seemed like a dream
Now it's true.
And unknowing
You made it all happen this way.
Did you hear mother
Saying I'm wrong but I know I'm right.
Did you hear father?
Calling my name into the night.
Saying I'll never be what I am now.
Telling me I'll never find what I've already found.
It was they who were wrong
And for them here's a song.
Saying I'm wrong but I know I'm right.
Did you hear father?
Calling my name into the night.
Saying I'll never be what I am now.
Telling me I'll never find what I've already found.
It was they who were wrong,
And for them here's a song.
Did you hear baby
Come back and tell you the things he's seen.
Did it surprise you
To be picked up at eight in a limousine?
Doing the things he's accustomed to do.
Which at one time it seemed like a dream
Now it's true.
And unknowing
You made it all happen this way.
Did you hear mother
Saying I'm wrong but I know I'm right.
Did you hear father?
Calling my name into the night.
Saying I'll never be what I am now.
Telling me I'll never find what I've already found.
It was they who were wrong
And for them here's a song.
Lyrics submitted by ikesdarkdays
For a Thousand Mothers Lyrics as written by Ian Anderson
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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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.
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Great version of a great song,
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Even though it seems Ian Anderson is lashing at his parents through this song, and for much of it he is, I can't help but think that when he sings "And unknowing you made it all happen this way.", he's thanking them in a way.
Regardless, this is a fantastic song by an absolutely world class band. Tull are truly gods.