"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.
I am angry, I am ill and I'm as ugly as sin
I don't know what keeps me alive and kicking
I know the meaning of life it doesn't help me a bit
I know beauty and I know a good thing when I speak it
This is a song from under the floorboards
Here is a song from where the wall is cracked
My force of habit?
I am an insect
And I must confess I'm very proud of that
I have known the highest and I've known the best
I accord death all of its due respect
But the brightest jewel inside of me
Glows with pleasure at my own stupidity
This is a song from under the floorboards
Here is a song from where the wall is cracked
My force of habit?
I am an insect
And I must confess I'm very proud of that
I used to make phantoms I could later chase
Images of all that could be desired
Then I got tired of counting all of these so called blessings
And then I just got tired
This is a song from under the floorboards
Here is a song from where the wall is cracked
My force of habit?
I am an insect
And I must confess I'm very proud of that
This is a song from under the floorboards
Here is a song from where the wall is cracked
My force of habit?
I am an insect
And I must confess I'm very proud of that
Habit, habit, habit
Habit, habit
I don't know what keeps me alive and kicking
I know the meaning of life it doesn't help me a bit
I know beauty and I know a good thing when I speak it
This is a song from under the floorboards
Here is a song from where the wall is cracked
My force of habit?
I am an insect
And I must confess I'm very proud of that
I have known the highest and I've known the best
I accord death all of its due respect
But the brightest jewel inside of me
Glows with pleasure at my own stupidity
This is a song from under the floorboards
Here is a song from where the wall is cracked
My force of habit?
I am an insect
And I must confess I'm very proud of that
I used to make phantoms I could later chase
Images of all that could be desired
Then I got tired of counting all of these so called blessings
And then I just got tired
This is a song from under the floorboards
Here is a song from where the wall is cracked
My force of habit?
I am an insect
And I must confess I'm very proud of that
This is a song from under the floorboards
Here is a song from where the wall is cracked
My force of habit?
I am an insect
And I must confess I'm very proud of that
Habit, habit, habit
Habit, habit
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More Featured Meanings
Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman
Holiday
Bee Gees
Bee Gees
@[Diderik:33655] "Your a holiday!" Was a popular term used in the 50s/60s to compliment someone on their all around. For example, not only are they beautiful, but they are fun and kind too ... just an all around "holiday".
I think your first comment is closer to being accurate. The singer/song writers state "Millions of eyes can see, yet why am i so blind!? When the someone else is me, its unkind its unkind". I believe hes referring to the girl toying with him and using him. He wants something deeper with her, thats why he allows himself to be as a puppet (even though for her fun and games) as long as it makes her happy. But he knows deep down that she doesnt really want to be serious with him and thats what makes him.
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,
Punchline
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran sings about missing his former partner and learning important life lessons in the process on “Punchline.” This track tells a story of battling to get rid of emotions for a former lover, whom he now realized might not have loved him the same way. He’s now caught between accepting that fact and learning life lessons from it and going back to beg her for another chance.
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.
This song is a Magazine cover. There are a few lyric changes, for example "I'm very proud of that" was originally "I'm proud as hell of that fact" and Devoto sings "my irritability keeps me alive and kicking".
It's about Notes From Undergorund by Fyodor Dostoevsky. Wonder if Moz knows that. Probably
Apparently HD wrote it in Manchester, whilst living in a real s**t hole with insects under the floorboards... When Moz snag it at the Apollo he told his home audience that it was about 'Newton Street'(???) and they all cheered, so maybe the houses down there haven't changed that much...
At first I was a bit put out that Moz changed some of HD's lyrics... But then I thought how with him, even his own songs aren't sacred, so I guess it's just second nature to him to amend lyrics until they fit him!
The changes don't alter the meaning much. Then again, the irritability is quite important in NFU, so yeah, wtf Morrissey
I sure we can all agree that Moz reads alot.
Throughout his lyrics, he has constantly dropped sublte references & sometimes blatant knowledge of some great books he's read. I am however, going to politely disagree with "Yer Ma". I will agree about the use of the word "underground" in both the book and song title. I'm sorry, but I have read "Notes From the Underground"(I am an avid Dostoevsky reader)& find no more obvious similarities. I found the lyrics above (especially when Moz mentions being an insect) more akin to Kafka's "Metamorphosis". When Kafka wrote the story, it was rumored that he was gay. Back then buggery was a crime, and when he wrote "Metamorphosis", turning into an insect and being ostrasized by his family, was a metaphor. The metaphor is obvious. He most likely was writing about the horrible abuse, dishonor, often confinement in prison, & isolation many Gays (Like O. Wilde) endured. Now, back to Mr. Morrissey. His affirmation, and joyous proclamation of being proud of his insect self is something Franz Kafka didn't really do. That theory aside, the lyrics are much more than just a pplay on words/writers. I think the song is about growth/acceptance/rebellion, after enduring self-loathing for being born gay, uh, I mean an insect. I think Morrissey is chanting, "I'm Queer, I'm I'm Here, I'm Proud...Get used to it!"
You're wrong "frankenchristie". The opening line of this song is almost identical to that of Notes from Underground as is the title. In fact if translators called the book Notes from Under the Floorboards it would stop readers from conflating 'underground' with 'anti-establishment' or 'outside society's norms' when in fact its meaning is much more literal. I agree that it also references Metamorphosis but am a bit dubious about this being a reference to homosexuality. I'm glad to hear that Morrissey didn't write this since the Dostoyevsky and Kafka references smack of intellectual pretension which he doesn't normally fall prey to. PS if your username is a reference to Dead Kennedys...props!