"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.
Green hills and enemies
These things they make us sentimental inside
Your words are gelignite
Or just another sentimental aside
We're catching bullets in our teeth
And though it's easy when you know how it's done
They split the secret up six ways before they gave it to us just before dawn
And now we don't remember
Our blood and guts are out
We spread our bones across the table at night
We cut our fingers off
To give ourselves those little extra insights
We're catching bullets in our teeth
And though they try hard not to say how it's done
They always do
They spill the secret out six ways
And beg for our forgiveness
Just before dawn
And now we don't remember
We're catching bullets in our teeth
It's hard to do but they're so sweet
And if they take a couple out
We try to work things out
We catching bullets with our
Heads and hearts and all the darkest parts of us
It's strange to find such light
In such endless night
So sweet to lose a friend
You leave the church and taste
The air in your lungs
Old lies and fireflies
Carve angels on your eyes
And all is undone
You whisper prayers into the dark
Up to a god in whom you've never believed
You always do
You split the secret up six ways
But it won't make it any easier to see
And now we don't remember
We're catching bullets in our teeth
Its hard to do but they're so sweet
And if they take a couple out
We try to work things out
We're catching bullets with our
Heads and hearts and all the darkest parts of us
It's strange to find such light
In such endless night
We're catching bullets in our backs
We sent the undertaker back
Into the garden in the drought
To try to work things out
We're catching bullets with the best resources that we've got
We're happy then again we're not
We shout through the endless doubt
These things they make us sentimental inside
Your words are gelignite
Or just another sentimental aside
We're catching bullets in our teeth
And though it's easy when you know how it's done
They split the secret up six ways before they gave it to us just before dawn
And now we don't remember
Our blood and guts are out
We spread our bones across the table at night
We cut our fingers off
To give ourselves those little extra insights
We're catching bullets in our teeth
And though they try hard not to say how it's done
They always do
They spill the secret out six ways
And beg for our forgiveness
Just before dawn
And now we don't remember
We're catching bullets in our teeth
It's hard to do but they're so sweet
And if they take a couple out
We try to work things out
We catching bullets with our
Heads and hearts and all the darkest parts of us
It's strange to find such light
In such endless night
So sweet to lose a friend
You leave the church and taste
The air in your lungs
Old lies and fireflies
Carve angels on your eyes
And all is undone
You whisper prayers into the dark
Up to a god in whom you've never believed
You always do
You split the secret up six ways
But it won't make it any easier to see
And now we don't remember
We're catching bullets in our teeth
Its hard to do but they're so sweet
And if they take a couple out
We try to work things out
We're catching bullets with our
Heads and hearts and all the darkest parts of us
It's strange to find such light
In such endless night
We're catching bullets in our backs
We sent the undertaker back
Into the garden in the drought
To try to work things out
We're catching bullets with the best resources that we've got
We're happy then again we're not
We shout through the endless doubt
Lyrics submitted by bugoff, edited by dodgerblue
Bullets Lyrics as written by Edward Owen Lay Christopher Dominic Urbanowicz
Lyrics © Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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i always had a feeling this song was dark. but after watching the episode of weeds with this song, it actually makes sense to think about it as someone being interrogated/tortured: "We're catching bullets in our teeth It's hard to do but they're so sweet" could mean pulling teeth physically out of the mouth/getting shot in the mouth
"And if they take a couple out We try to work things out" the person is willing to cooperate since pulling teeth is painful. can also be pulling teeth in the metaphorical sense to get an answer.
"We catching bullets with our Heads and hearts and all the darkest parts of us" being shot at
"We're catching bullets in our teeth And though they try hard not to say how it's done They always do They spill the secret out six ways And beg for our forgiveness" they try hard not to give in but they always do. and then they try to beg for their lives.
the whole so sweet to lose a friend, one of their partners may have been captured/killed and they are now at the funeral. cutting off fingers to get extra insight, to persuade them to remember/tell what they know.
im really hopping this isnt what was in mind when the song was written, but it fits pretty well. it's probably a more broad meaning like trying to get the truth out of a friend and how there are arguments and fights and what not while trying to do so. it's just one of those "i'm in a dark place" songs for me.