"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.
People think that we don't understand
What it takes to want to be a man
I don’t care much for that
I don’t know why
Just a fight or just a waste of time
Hiding things that no one wants to find
I don’t know much of that
I don’t care why
Goin’ against your mind (16x)
When I was a kid I saw a light
Floating high above the trees one night
Thought it was an alien
Turned out to be just God
If you’re not sure who not to believe
Who has better reasons to deceive
They're really good at it
That's all they do
Goin’ against your mind (16x)
And he was there
No he was there
What it takes to want to be a man
I don’t care much for that
I don’t know why
Just a fight or just a waste of time
Hiding things that no one wants to find
I don’t know much of that
I don’t care why
Goin’ against your mind (16x)
When I was a kid I saw a light
Floating high above the trees one night
Thought it was an alien
Turned out to be just God
If you’re not sure who not to believe
Who has better reasons to deceive
They're really good at it
That's all they do
Goin’ against your mind (16x)
And he was there
No he was there
Lyrics submitted by Dramamine01, edited by trinitone
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More Featured Meanings
Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman
Bron-Y-Aur Stomp
Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin
This is about bronies. They communicate by stomping.
Gentle Hour
Yo La Tengo
Yo La Tengo
This song was originally written by a guy called Peter Gutteridge. He was one of the founders of the "Dunedin Sound" a musical scene in the south of New Zealand in the early 80s. From there it was covered by "The Clean" one of the early bands of that scene (he had originally been a member of in it's early days, writing a couple of their best early songs). The Dunedin sound, and the Clean became popular on american college radio in the mid to late 80s. I guess Yo La Tengo heard that version.
Great version of a great song,
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.
Plastic Bag
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
“Plastic Bag” is a song about searching for an escape from personal problems and hoping to find it in the lively atmosphere of a Saturday night party. Ed Sheeran tells the story of his friend and the myriad of troubles he is going through. Unable to find any solutions, this friend seeks a last resort in a party and the vanity that comes with it.
“I overthink and have trouble sleepin’ / All purpose gone and don’t have a reason / And there’s no doctor to stop this bleedin’ / So I left home and jumped in the deep end,” Ed Sheeran sings in verse one. He continues by adding that this person is feeling the weight of having disappointed his father and doesn’t have any friends to rely on in this difficult moment. In the second verse, Ed sings about the role of grief in his friend’s plight and his dwindling faith in prayer. “Saturday night is givin’ me a reason to rely on the strobe lights / The lifeline of a promise in a shot glass, and I’ll take that / If you’re givin’ out love from a plastic bag,” Ed sings on the chorus, as his friend turns to new vices in hopes of feeling better.
Goin' against your mind is the perspective of a person who has come to the realisation that the actual truth is something other than what his mind informs him. This is something you can realise by meditation, by taking certain drugs or by experiencing mental illness. Our perceptions are always limited in several ways, but a huge number of people are under the delusion that what we perceive is actual reality. They do not realise that what we are fed by our minds at any moment, is just a small, selected part of a mirror image of reality, that our mind has created for us using various mental systems. If we could perceive actual reality, we would all agree about most things, but since our minds warp it for us, we get different perspectives and biases. To "go against your mind" is to try to see through the veil of delusion to find truth and actual reality. It could be about a particular drug trip or episode of mental illness, too. The perception of the 'unknown' differs between cultures and ages. Now that God/gods are going out of fashion, people who experience unexplainable stimuli will more often interpret them as aliens rather than as fairies, gods or demons.
thats why built to spill is so great, their lyrics are so much more simple and unpretentious than the other indie rock bands..they don't try to be philosophical and it turns out great
(off upcoming unreleased album that was leaked)
What an awesome new song for this band
love the instumentals
its not leaked, its on myspace, and many indie radio stations....
good song, much anticipated album..april...
(When you hear the early leaked album you will soon despise Mike Jones.)
WHO'S MIKE JONES?!?!
i don't know, who is mike jones!!!!!????? fucking song sampling.
When I was a kid I saw a light Floating high above the trees one night
Thought ‘twas an alien Turned out just god
awesome, just awesome
And he was there No he was there
god was there....
Turned out to be just god...
i love this song! can't wait for the new album! there's another track from the new album (conventional wisdom) on myspace.com/built to spill !!