"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.
Take this banner, hang it upside down
This country's in distress
From the schools to the factories
On the dead edge of town
This dream's a fucking mess
This dream is fucked
Here we go
Our sisters’ and mothers’ rights to choose
And powers determined to fake the news
This poison undertow
The bigot's power grows
When we put our will to sleep
In the radiation of rioting pictures
We let them jail and murder our sisters
Break out
Up on the hill where the road is red
If you look close enough
Down in the valley we're the living dead
While our hands are cracked and rough
For every deception that the papers print
To fortify their lie
Our creativity always wins
From now to the day we die
I see the young revolutionaries changing clothes
Living in condition while the third world grows
Weary of supporting all the costume changes
All right
Anthems for new world disorder
Hammers to the bricks and mortar
Consciousness in crisis
It’s up to you
So what are you gonna do?
When we put our will to sleep
Under the blankets of patriot colors
We let them jail and murder our brothers
Break out
Up on the hill where the road is red
If you look close enough
Down in the valley we're the living dead
While our hands are cracked and rough
For every deception that the papers print
To fortify their lie
Our creativity always wins
From now to the day we die
Take this banner
Hang it upside down
This country's in distress
This country's in distress
From the schools to the factories
On the dead edge of town
This dream's a fucking mess
This dream is fucked
Here we go
Our sisters’ and mothers’ rights to choose
And powers determined to fake the news
This poison undertow
The bigot's power grows
When we put our will to sleep
In the radiation of rioting pictures
We let them jail and murder our sisters
Break out
Up on the hill where the road is red
If you look close enough
Down in the valley we're the living dead
While our hands are cracked and rough
For every deception that the papers print
To fortify their lie
Our creativity always wins
From now to the day we die
I see the young revolutionaries changing clothes
Living in condition while the third world grows
Weary of supporting all the costume changes
All right
Anthems for new world disorder
Hammers to the bricks and mortar
Consciousness in crisis
It’s up to you
So what are you gonna do?
When we put our will to sleep
Under the blankets of patriot colors
We let them jail and murder our brothers
Break out
Up on the hill where the road is red
If you look close enough
Down in the valley we're the living dead
While our hands are cracked and rough
For every deception that the papers print
To fortify their lie
Our creativity always wins
From now to the day we die
Take this banner
Hang it upside down
This country's in distress
Lyrics submitted by punkpirate
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This has been on my brain all day today.
very catchy parts. excellent DEAD FM rocks
one of the best song on the album pretty hard to pick a favorite though "Up on the hill where the road is red If you look close enough Down in the valley we're the living dead" anyone know what hes talking about? Maybe like we are see ourselves dead before we know it i donno
Great song, very catchy, great message, except that i cringe at the line "right to choose". despite going from conservative republican to liberal democrat, I've never been able to understand why abortion is a good thing. It seems like a fascist copout to kill someone just because they came into being at an inconvenient time. anyway, I do like the rest of the lyrics, how partisan media is destroying America.
"Up on the hill where the road is red If you look close enough Down in the valley we're the living dead While our hands are cracked and rough"
This part actually means that the "rulers" are above and the roads are red there because all the sufferings and wars and they are responsible for that, while "Down in the valley we're the living dead" means the ordinary people who are like slaves, aka zombies.