"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.
One day you're going to have to face
A deep dark truthful mirror
And it's going to tell you things that I still love you too much to say
The sky was just a purple bruise, the ground was iron
And you fell all around the town until you looked the same
The same eyes, the same lips, the same lie
From your tongue trips
Deep dark, deep dark truthful mirror
Deep dark, deep dark truthful mirror
Now the flagstone streets where the newspaper shouts
Ring to the boots of roustabouts
And you're never in any doubt, there's something happening somewhere
Well, you chase down the road 'til your fingers bleed
On a fiberglass tumbleweed
Well, you can blow around the town, but it all shuts down the same
The same eyes, the same lips, the same lie
From your tongue trips
Deep dark, deep dark truthful mirror
Deep dark, deep dark truthful mirror
So you bay for the boy in the tiger-skin trunks
They set him up, set him up on the stool
He falls down, falls down like a drunk
And you drink 'til you drool
Well, it's his story you'll flatter
You'll stretch him out like a saint
But the canvas that he splattered
Will be the picture that you never paint
Deep dark, deep dark truthful mirror
Deep dark, deep dark truthful mirror
A stripping puppet on a liquid stick
Gets into it pretty thick
A butterfly drinks a turtle's tears, but how do you know he really needs it?
'Cause a butterfly feeds on a dead monkey's hand
Jesus wept, he felt abandoned
You're spellbound, baby, there's no doubting that
Did you ever see a stare like a Persian cat?
The same eyes, the same lips, the same lie
From your tongue trips
Deep dark, deep dark truthful mirror
Deep dark, deep dark truthful mirror
Deep dark, deep dark truthful mirror
A deep dark truthful mirror
And it's going to tell you things that I still love you too much to say
The sky was just a purple bruise, the ground was iron
And you fell all around the town until you looked the same
The same eyes, the same lips, the same lie
From your tongue trips
Deep dark, deep dark truthful mirror
Deep dark, deep dark truthful mirror
Now the flagstone streets where the newspaper shouts
Ring to the boots of roustabouts
And you're never in any doubt, there's something happening somewhere
Well, you chase down the road 'til your fingers bleed
On a fiberglass tumbleweed
Well, you can blow around the town, but it all shuts down the same
The same eyes, the same lips, the same lie
From your tongue trips
Deep dark, deep dark truthful mirror
Deep dark, deep dark truthful mirror
So you bay for the boy in the tiger-skin trunks
They set him up, set him up on the stool
He falls down, falls down like a drunk
And you drink 'til you drool
Well, it's his story you'll flatter
You'll stretch him out like a saint
But the canvas that he splattered
Will be the picture that you never paint
Deep dark, deep dark truthful mirror
Deep dark, deep dark truthful mirror
A stripping puppet on a liquid stick
Gets into it pretty thick
A butterfly drinks a turtle's tears, but how do you know he really needs it?
'Cause a butterfly feeds on a dead monkey's hand
Jesus wept, he felt abandoned
You're spellbound, baby, there's no doubting that
Did you ever see a stare like a Persian cat?
The same eyes, the same lips, the same lie
From your tongue trips
Deep dark, deep dark truthful mirror
Deep dark, deep dark truthful mirror
Deep dark, deep dark truthful mirror
Lyrics submitted by southboundpachyderm
Deep Dark Truthful Mirror Lyrics as written by Elvis Costello
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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Mountain Song
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Jane's Addiction vocalist Perry Farrell gives Adam Reader some heartfelt insight into Jane’s Addiction's hard rock manifesto "Mountain Song", which was the second single from their revolutionary album Nothing's Shocking. Mountain song was first recorded in 1986 and appeared on the soundtrack to the film Dudes starring Jon Cryer. The version on Nothing's Shocking was re-recorded in 1988.
"'Mountain Song' was actually about... I hate to say it but... drugs. Climbing this mountain and getting as high as you can, and then coming down that mountain," reveals Farrell. "What it feels to descend from the mountain top... not easy at all. The ascension is tough but exhilarating. Getting down is... it's a real bummer. Drugs is not for everybody obviously. For me, I wanted to experience the heights, and the lows come along with it."
"There's a part - 'Cash in now honey, cash in Miss Smith.' Miss Smith is my Mother; our last name was Smith. Cashing in when she cashed in her life. So... she decided that, to her... at that time, she was desperate. Life wasn't worth it for her, that was her opinion. Some people think, never take your life, and some people find that their life isn't worth living. She was in love with my Dad, and my Dad was not faithful to her, and it broke her heart. She was very desperate and she did something that I know she regrets."
I Can't Go To Sleep
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This song is written as the perspective of the boys in the street, as a whole, and what path they are going to choose as they get older and grow into men. (This is why the music video takes place in an orphanage.) The seen, and unseen collective suffering is imbedded in the boys’ mind, consciously or subconsciously, and is haunting them. Which path will the boys choose? Issac Hayes is the voice of reason, maybe God, the angel on his shoulder, or the voice of his forefathers from beyond the grave who can see the big picture and are pleading with the boys not to continue the violence and pattern of killing their brothers, but to rise above. The most beautiful song and has so many levels. Racism towards African Americans in America would not exist if everyone sat down and listened to this song and understood the history behind the words. The power, fear, pleading in RZA and Ghostface voices are genuine and powerful. Issac Hayes’ strong voice makes the perfect strong father figure, who is possibly from beyond the grave.
No Surprises
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Same ideas expressed in Fitter, Happier are expressed in this song. We're told to strive for some sort of ideal life, which includes getting a good job, being kind to everyone, finding a partner, getting married, having a couple kids, living in a quiet neighborhood in a nice big house, etc. But in Fitter, Happier the narrator(?) realizes that it's incredibly robotic to live this life. People are being used by those in power "like a pig in a cage on antibiotics"--being pacified with things like new phones and cool gadgets and houses while being sucked dry. On No Surprises, the narrator is realizing how this life is killing him slowly. In the video, his helmet is slowly filling up with water, drowning him. But he's so complacent with it. This is a good summary of the song. This boring, "perfect" life foisted upon us by some higher powers (not spiritual, but political, economic, etc. politicians and businessmen, perhaps) is not the way to live. But there is seemingly no way out but death. He'd rather die peacefully right now than live in this cage. While our lives are often shielded, we're in our own protective bubbles, or protective helmets like the one Thom wears, if we look a little harder we can see all the corruption, lies, manipulation, etc. that is going on in the world, often run by huge yet nearly invisible organizations, corporations, and 'leaders'. It's a very hopeless song because it reflects real life.
Elvis wrote the song, but as much in art, and in dream interpretation (or hallucinations) he is not the only one who can explain it, or explain it fully.
The thing his missed is that title and that opening line.
It IS a mirror, after all, and so the meaning we take from this song depends on who we are, and what deep dark truth we have to face about ourselves.
Yes, in this song, the nearly incomprehensible imagery mocks us as we try to decipher it, but it may not be ours to decipher, but the drunk man Elvis spoke of. That mirror is still there, though, if we are brave enough to look at ourselves in it.
What will you see in your deep dark reflection?
What things will it tell you that Elvis still loves you too much to say?
I love you too, believe it or not, and I am telling you, by writing this comment, that you ought to face that mirror sooner, rather than later, and free yourself of self-delusion.
I am no different.
Same eyes...