"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.
Vultures in my garden
Figures that I know them
And it is what it is
You were good once
Now you’re filled with bitterness
And it is what it is
I cannot forget that he can’t forget
or that some friends just change like the seasons
Take me back to the fact that you’re still blaming,
but I am not the reason you are not David Bowie
Now you want to steal the thoughts
that I have been deep in thought
and it is what it is
How ’bout your soulmate pact with the Devil
and needs a date with the surgeon
and it is what it is
I cannot forget that he can’t forget
or that some friends just change like the seasons
Take me back to the fact that you’re still blaming,
but I am not the reason you are not David Bowie
You forgot to value
what all of us have done for you
and it is what it is
You swore you were concious
not a champagne spiritualist
and it is what it is
I cannot forget that he can’t forget
or that some friends just change like the seasons
Take me back to the fact that you’re still blaming,
but I am not the reason you are not David Bowie
Figures that I know them
And it is what it is
You were good once
Now you’re filled with bitterness
And it is what it is
I cannot forget that he can’t forget
or that some friends just change like the seasons
Take me back to the fact that you’re still blaming,
but I am not the reason you are not David Bowie
Now you want to steal the thoughts
that I have been deep in thought
and it is what it is
How ’bout your soulmate pact with the Devil
and needs a date with the surgeon
and it is what it is
I cannot forget that he can’t forget
or that some friends just change like the seasons
Take me back to the fact that you’re still blaming,
but I am not the reason you are not David Bowie
You forgot to value
what all of us have done for you
and it is what it is
You swore you were concious
not a champagne spiritualist
and it is what it is
I cannot forget that he can’t forget
or that some friends just change like the seasons
Take me back to the fact that you’re still blaming,
but I am not the reason you are not David Bowie
Lyrics submitted by BlackDahlia
Not David Bowie Lyrics as written by Tori Ellen Amos
Lyrics © Downtown Music Publishing
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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I've heard its about Steve Caton, they had a fall out apparently and thats why he hasnt toured with her since 1998.
I'm pretty sure it's about Steve Caton also.
No comments? This song is AWESOME.
I agree with the first comment. I remember reading about this song before I heard it, and feeling a connection to it immediately. It's definitely about a man who is narcissistic, and blames a woman from his past for his problems (Been there, done that). I've heard that it's about her first husband, Eric, but I don't have a source to back that up.
I think you are right, and the very specific problem he blames on her is that he isn't famous. Maybe he was someone she worked with musically, and they never achieved the level of fame she did. Now he looks at the time he spent working on her music and tries to blame her, saying that if he had been concentrating on his own stuff he'd have been as famous as her? I have no idea who this person is, and I know Tori has worked with a lot of people over the years. It just sounds like he's 'filled with bitterness' - all Tori tells him is that 'it is what it is' - she got the success because she deserved it, and he has to move on or he'll never get it himself. 'Take me back to the fact that you still blame me, but I am not the reason you are not David Bowie'. This guy had dreams about being as big as Bowie, being out there centre stage, and he never quite achieved it. All he feels now is resentment towards those who were successful.
Yep, I agree with the above stuff. It seems like a story about a man who was trying to latch onto her fame and make it big himself and when he failed he deserted the people who tried to help him in the first place and threw the blame on them.
i don't see this at a "dig" at Canton. He was not a "champagne spiritualist" as that implies someone of greater wealth. I think this was about her relationship with Trent Reznor. Canton never would be David Bowie - he was never a front man or star. Reznor was and had ambitions of being the next Bowie.