"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.
She says always remember never to trust me
She said that the first night that she met me
She said there's gonna come a time when I'm gonna have to go
With whoever's gonna get me the highest
She said I won't be much for conversation
If we go and do the rest of this
And I ain't never been much for the conservation
I kinda dig these awkward silences
She's got those Bones Brigade videos
She knew them back and forth, she slept with so many skaters
She had the place to herself, she had a couple hundred bucks
And he had nothing but the number
I like the guy who always answers the door
He always knows what you came to his house for
She said I won't be much for all this Humbert Humbert stuff
I've never really done that much of this
And I have to really try so hard not to fall in love
I have to concentrate when we kiss
She mouthed the words along to "Running Up That Hill"
That song got scratched into her soul
And he never heard that song before but he still got the metaphor
Yeah, he knew some people that had switched places before
I like the crowds at the really big shows
People touching people that they don't even know, yo
I guess the heavy stuff ain't quite at its heaviest
By the time it gets out to suburban Minneapolis
We were living up at Nicollet and 66th
With three skaters and some hoodrat chick
Drove the wrong way down 169
Almost died up by Edina High
She said that the first night that she met me
She said there's gonna come a time when I'm gonna have to go
With whoever's gonna get me the highest
She said I won't be much for conversation
If we go and do the rest of this
And I ain't never been much for the conservation
I kinda dig these awkward silences
She's got those Bones Brigade videos
She knew them back and forth, she slept with so many skaters
She had the place to herself, she had a couple hundred bucks
And he had nothing but the number
I like the guy who always answers the door
He always knows what you came to his house for
She said I won't be much for all this Humbert Humbert stuff
I've never really done that much of this
And I have to really try so hard not to fall in love
I have to concentrate when we kiss
She mouthed the words along to "Running Up That Hill"
That song got scratched into her soul
And he never heard that song before but he still got the metaphor
Yeah, he knew some people that had switched places before
I like the crowds at the really big shows
People touching people that they don't even know, yo
I guess the heavy stuff ain't quite at its heaviest
By the time it gets out to suburban Minneapolis
We were living up at Nicollet and 66th
With three skaters and some hoodrat chick
Drove the wrong way down 169
Almost died up by Edina High
Lyrics submitted by SphagnumEsplanade, edited by rhysthuryn2003
Hornets! Hornets! Lyrics as written by Tad Jason Kubler Craig Finn
Lyrics © Reservoir Media Management, Inc.
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i'm pretty sure the 'running up that hill' she's mouthing the words along with is the song by kate bush, which is pretty amazing.
"And if I only could, I'd make a deal with God, And I'd get him to swap our places, Be running up that road, Be running up that hill, With no problems."
Uh, does anyone know why the title is called Hornets! Hornets!? I love the way it sounds, but can't really relate it to the song.
The mascot for Edina High is the hornets, so the title is a high school crowd chanting for their team.
The last line is both hilarious, sad, and absolutely brilliant at the same time. It's kind of like, "Oh, by the way, I almost died last night." You kind of get the idea that it's nothing out of the ordinary, it probably happens every day. The lives that the characters Finn sings about in all his albums are fascinating.
The mascot of Edina High School is the Hornet... in regards to ullberry's comment.
Ah, makes much more sense now. Great song, thanks.
It's pretty reasonable to assume that "Hornets! Hornets!" is meant to set the tone for Holly's misadventures throughout the album and as a contrast to her apparent redemption in the last few songs.
Also: Craig Finn is a Hornet, hailing from Edina.
To be more specific, I read an interview with Craig where he said the title was a reference to Edina High's "amazing virginal cheerleaders" as the embodiment of an innocent feminine ideal in that era of your life right before everything turns sketchy.
@mrbadexample Do you know where I can find this article? It would help me with something I am writing about the Hold Steady. I have been looking and cannot find it, but it would be a great quote to have so if you can help, please do!
"She said i won't be much for all this humbert humbert stuff"
Humbert Humbert is the narrator in Lolita by Nabokov
"I kinda dig these awkward silences."
Story of my life.