"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 excuse me but I got to ask
Are you only being nice
Because you want something?
My fairytale arrow pierces
Be careful how you respond
Because you'd not end up in this song
I never gave you an encouragement
And it's doing me in
Doing me in
Doing me in
Doing me in
Doing me in
The more you try to erase me
The more, the more
The more that I appear
The more, the more
The more you try the eraser
The more, the more
The more that you appear
You know the answer so why do you ask?
I am only being nice
Because I want someone, something
You're like a kitten with a ball of yarn
And it is doing me in
Doing me in
Doing me in
Doing me in
Doing me in
The more you try to erase me
The more, the more
The more that I appear
The more, the more
The more I try to erase you
The more, the more
The more that you appear
No, you're wrong, you're wrong
You're wrong, you're wrong
You're wrong, you're wrong
You're wrong
Are you only being nice
Because you want something?
My fairytale arrow pierces
Be careful how you respond
Because you'd not end up in this song
I never gave you an encouragement
And it's doing me in
Doing me in
Doing me in
Doing me in
Doing me in
The more you try to erase me
The more, the more
The more that I appear
The more, the more
The more you try the eraser
The more, the more
The more that you appear
You know the answer so why do you ask?
I am only being nice
Because I want someone, something
You're like a kitten with a ball of yarn
And it is doing me in
Doing me in
Doing me in
Doing me in
Doing me in
The more you try to erase me
The more, the more
The more that I appear
The more, the more
The more I try to erase you
The more, the more
The more that you appear
No, you're wrong, you're wrong
You're wrong, you're wrong
You're wrong, you're wrong
You're wrong
Lyrics submitted by black_cow_of_death, edited by masanbol, BIRDDUDE830, casiopt1
The Eraser Lyrics as written by Thomas Edward Yorke
Lyrics © Springstoff GmbH, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
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Fast Car
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Overall about difficult moments of disappointment and vulnerability. Having hope and longing, while remaining optimistic for the future. Encourages the belief that with each new morning there is a chance for things to improve.
The chorus offers a glimmer of optimism and a chance at a resolution and redemption in the future.
Captures the rollercoaster of emotions of feeling lost while loving someone who is not there for you, feeling let down and abandoned while waiting for a lover. Lost with no direction, "Now I'm up in the air with the rain in my hair, Nowhere to go, I can go anywhere"
The bridge shows signs of longing and a plea for companionship. The Lyrics express a desire for authentic connection and the importance of Loving someone just as they are. "Just in passing, I'm not asking. That you be anyone but you”
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I'm not ruling out that this song could be about politics. I'm just saying that your interpretation of this song requires big, distorted stretches of meaning.
It's true that alot of the songs on The Eraser have political meanings, but that doesn't mean that EVERY song does. You cant just pigeon hole everything on the album into the same category because politics are a theme in a few -or even most- of the songs.
In "Harrowdown Hill" and "And It Rained All Night" there is a direct connection between the lyrics and their meanings. Harrowdown Hill is the name of the place that David Kelly died. It can't be anymore blatent than that.
You really have nothing to go on other than the fact that he says "Arab". Everything else is completley indirect and could be interpreted many other ways without having to reach so much. Thats why I used Queen as an example: to show that by your way of interpreting songs, anything could be about terrorism or the Middle East.