"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.
Hurled to the center of the Earth again
The place where it's hot, love
You know it hurts to breathe in
And the watershed you balance on is begging it
Well did he ever know
Will he ever know?
The trees in the moonshine are a dark lattice
So you catalog any angle you notice
In a vacuum you are charged to record this
So you won't make it easy on me
I can't go into this no more
It puts too many thorns on my mind
And the necessary balloon lies a corpse on the floor
We've pissed on far too many sprites
And they're all standing up for their rights
Born on a desert floor you've the deepest thirst
And you came to my sweet shore to indulge it
With the wan and dreaming eyes of an orphan
But there was not enough
There is not enough
Out of a gunnysack fall red rabbits
Into the crucible to be rendered an emulsion
And we can't allow a chance they'd restore themselves
So we can't make it easy on you
Undaunted, you bathed in hollow cries
The boys with swollen sunburnt eyes
A reward for letting nothing under their skin
So help me, I don't know I might
Just give the old dark side a try
Don't cast your whirling eyes on the shore
'Til we even the score
I still owe you for the hole in the floor
And the ghost in the hall
Who decides who paddles over the falls
Yeah, who makes the call
Who makes the call?
Look, I know there's an eventual
Release from every scale of crime
But the necessary balloon lies a corpse on the floor
We've pissed on far too many good intentions
Held by clever sprites
And they're all standing up for their rights
The place where it's hot, love
You know it hurts to breathe in
And the watershed you balance on is begging it
Well did he ever know
Will he ever know?
The trees in the moonshine are a dark lattice
So you catalog any angle you notice
In a vacuum you are charged to record this
So you won't make it easy on me
I can't go into this no more
It puts too many thorns on my mind
And the necessary balloon lies a corpse on the floor
We've pissed on far too many sprites
And they're all standing up for their rights
Born on a desert floor you've the deepest thirst
And you came to my sweet shore to indulge it
With the wan and dreaming eyes of an orphan
But there was not enough
There is not enough
Out of a gunnysack fall red rabbits
Into the crucible to be rendered an emulsion
And we can't allow a chance they'd restore themselves
So we can't make it easy on you
Undaunted, you bathed in hollow cries
The boys with swollen sunburnt eyes
A reward for letting nothing under their skin
So help me, I don't know I might
Just give the old dark side a try
Don't cast your whirling eyes on the shore
'Til we even the score
I still owe you for the hole in the floor
And the ghost in the hall
Who decides who paddles over the falls
Yeah, who makes the call
Who makes the call?
Look, I know there's an eventual
Release from every scale of crime
But the necessary balloon lies a corpse on the floor
We've pissed on far too many good intentions
Held by clever sprites
And they're all standing up for their rights
Lyrics submitted by heyheyhey111, edited by boywithdreams
Red Rabbits Lyrics as written by James Mercer
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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@[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.
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I think much like another song “Anti-Matter” (that's also on the same album as this song), this one is also is inspired by a horrifying van crash the band experienced on Nov 3, 2022. This, much like the other track, sounds like it's an extension what they shared while huddled in the wreckage, as they helped frontman Garrett Russell stem the bleeding from his head wound while he was under the temporary effects of a concussion. The track speaks of where the mind goes at the most desperate & desolate of times, when it just about slips away to all but disconnect itself, and the aftermath.
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Ed Sheeran shares a short story of reconnecting with an old flame on “American Town.” The track is about a holiday Ed Sheeran spends with his countrywoman who resides in America. The two are back together after a long period apart, and get around to enjoying a bunch of fun activities while rekindling the flames of their romance.
Page
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There aren’t many things that’ll hurt more than giving love a chance against your better judgement only to have your heart crushed yet again. Ed Sheeran tells such a story on “Page.” On this track, he is devastated to have lost his lover and even more saddened by the feeling that he may never move on from this.
This song is too involved for a single post. So I'll just add comments from time to time that highlight interesting aspects to consider:
What does Red Rabbits mean?
From about 1930 to 1960 there was a pregnancy test called the "Rabbit Test." A woman's urine was injected into a live rabbit. After a few days, the rabbit was dissected and its ovaries were inspected. The presence of the pregnancy hormone hCG in the woman's urine would cause the rabbit's ovaries to swell. "The rabbit died" became a euphemism for a woman getting pregnant. Of course, the rabbit actually always died for the test!
With this in mind, I think we can confidently say "gunnysack" refers to either the woman's bladder or her uterus.
"Into the crucible to be rendered an emulsion" could be referring to the pregnancy test. In this case, Mercer probably misunderstood the exact nature of the Rabbit Test because the rabbit ovaries were inspected through a microscope and not emulsified. On the other hand, he could be referring to the most common form of abortion called vacuum aspiration. Given the nature of the method, there is a sort of emulsification that happens.
With all the references to pregnancy and abortion, it's pretty safe to interpret "sprites" as sperm and "the necessary balloon lies a corpse on the floor" as a broken condom.