"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.
When I'm at the pearly gates
This will be on my videotape, my videotape
Mephistopheles is just beneath
And he's reaching up to grab me
This is one for the good days
And I have it all here
In red, blue, green
In red, blue, green
You are my center
When I spin away
Out of control on videotape
On videotape
On videotape
On videotape
On videotape
On videotape
On videotape
This is my way of saying goodbye
Because I can't do it face to face
So I'm talking to you before
No matter what happens now
You shouldn't be afraid
Because I know today has been
The most perfect day I've ever seen
This will be on my videotape, my videotape
Mephistopheles is just beneath
And he's reaching up to grab me
This is one for the good days
And I have it all here
In red, blue, green
In red, blue, green
You are my center
When I spin away
Out of control on videotape
On videotape
On videotape
On videotape
On videotape
On videotape
On videotape
This is my way of saying goodbye
Because I can't do it face to face
So I'm talking to you before
No matter what happens now
You shouldn't be afraid
Because I know today has been
The most perfect day I've ever seen
Lyrics submitted by black_cow_of_death, edited by Paymaan
Videotape Lyrics as written by Edward John O'brien Colin Charles Greenwood
Lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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how can radiohead keep doing it? as a musician they constantly inspire me yet at the same time make me feel like giving up because i will never be able to write anything as brilliant as this. it's so simple yet so wonderful... please keep writing music like this, i dont know what i would do without it
I completely agree. I hated radiohead at first but after listening to them for a bit, I realised what pure genius they really are. This song is just amazing and makes me wanna cry everytime I listen to it. Mega song, but thats just the norm for radiohead really.
That's nice and all, but can we talk about what the song means than a "Oh my god, I love this song, it's so inspirational" blah blah blah. Name of the website, songMEANINGS!
@Rockfan1468 ... I agree with you too. I may include a quick line about something I enjoy about a song but try to keep it on subject to meanings.<br /> <br /> Saying that though, they have received 14 thumbs up ... so majority rules??