"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.
Please don't make my wedding dress
I'm too young to marry yet
Can you see my pocket knife?
You can't make me be a wife
How the world just turns & turns
How does anybody learn?
Mummy, put your needle down
How did you feel when you were young?
'cause I feel like I've just been born
Even though I'm getting on
How the world slips by so fast
How does anybody last?
As the world keeps coming
And the bees keep humming
And I'll keep running
Flowers I can do without
I don't wanna be tied down
White material will stain
My pocket knife's gotta shiny blade
I'm not trying to cause a fuss
I just wanna make my own fuck-ups
I'm not trying to break your heart
I'm just trying not to fall apart
I'm too young to marry yet
Can you see my pocket knife?
You can't make me be a wife
How the world just turns & turns
How does anybody learn?
Mummy, put your needle down
How did you feel when you were young?
'cause I feel like I've just been born
Even though I'm getting on
How the world slips by so fast
How does anybody last?
As the world keeps coming
And the bees keep humming
And I'll keep running
Flowers I can do without
I don't wanna be tied down
White material will stain
My pocket knife's gotta shiny blade
I'm not trying to cause a fuss
I just wanna make my own fuck-ups
I'm not trying to break your heart
I'm just trying not to fall apart
Lyrics submitted by hardcor_toonz
The Pocket Knife Lyrics as written by Polly Jean Harvey
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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The more I listen to the song the more I feel as though the main character is begging her mother not to make her get married, and telling us that if she has to wed, she will kill herself.
This song is about the fears of growing up. The lyrics are very profound and metaphorical. I love it.
I don't understand how the symbolism of a blade comes into the song, has anyone got any ideas?
The line "White material will stain" then "My pocket knife's gotta shiny blade" makes me think that she is anticipating using the pocket knife. I assumed that she is about to kill her future husband in order to get away, because as the song says, she just wants to make her own fuck-ups.
She is basically saying she is violently opposed to marriage, because she sees it as a sign on forfeiting her youth. She has too much left to accomplish in life to settle down now.
amy - i think the relevance of the knife might b summit to do with wat i read in her biography....wen she was involved with nick drake, they dueted with a song about a woman who murdered her husband with a pocket knife and threw him down awell, although i may have dreamed that last bit. but this would tie together both the wedding dress theme and knife....maybe its an extension of this song?
i think you mean nick cave
i think you mean nick cave
Huzzah for being single.
i think its about more than just staying single...its about the shock of suddenly having responsibility, but still having people telling you what you should be doing. Shes freaking out about the people telling her what to do and saying that if shes going to fuck up, it should be from her own mistake. Or maybe its just about her wanting to be single...and im just describing my own situation...