"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.
I woke, cold and alone
Adrift in an open sea
Caught up in regrets
And tangled in nets
Instead of your arms wrapped around me
And I wept, but my tears are anathema here
Just more water to fill my lungs
I hear someone scream
"God what is it we have done?"
I am drowning in a digital sea
I am slipping beneath the sound
Here my voice goes to ones and zeros
I'm slipping beneath the sound
A song from somewhere below
Deadly and slow begins
Both sickly and sweet
Now picking up speed
Ushering in the world's end
And the ghost of Descartes screams again in the dark
"Oh how could I have been so wrong?"
But above the screams the sirens sing their song
I am drowning in a digital sea
I am slipping beneath the sound
Here my voices goes to ones and zeros
I'm slipping beneath the sound
Here my voice goes to ones and zeros
[Repeat till the end]
Adrift in an open sea
Caught up in regrets
And tangled in nets
Instead of your arms wrapped around me
And I wept, but my tears are anathema here
Just more water to fill my lungs
I hear someone scream
"God what is it we have done?"
I am drowning in a digital sea
I am slipping beneath the sound
Here my voice goes to ones and zeros
I'm slipping beneath the sound
A song from somewhere below
Deadly and slow begins
Both sickly and sweet
Now picking up speed
Ushering in the world's end
And the ghost of Descartes screams again in the dark
"Oh how could I have been so wrong?"
But above the screams the sirens sing their song
I am drowning in a digital sea
I am slipping beneath the sound
Here my voices goes to ones and zeros
I'm slipping beneath the sound
Here my voice goes to ones and zeros
[Repeat till the end]
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Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
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Hayalperest
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Captures the rollercoaster of emotions of feeling lost while loving someone who is not there for you, feeling let down and abandoned while waiting for a lover. Lost with no direction, "Now I'm up in the air with the rain in my hair, Nowhere to go, I can go anywhere"
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When We Were Young
Blink-182
Blink-182
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Head > Heels
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
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I think digital sea is about the dehumanization and loss of individuality created by todays digital age.
The narrator wakes to find himself afloat in the digital sea, instead of in his lovers/friends/families arms. The “God what is it we have done” seems like it could be someone drowning in the digital sea that man has created, i.e. what have we done that now so consumes and drowns us. His voice going to ones and zeroes is a reference to binary, the ‘language’ by which computers think. Descarte is most famous for ‘I think, therefore I am’ I think he is calling himself wrong because, in the digital age, people can think, but the really aren’t, they just float around, or (also possible, and ironic) is that they give themselves internet personalities that think, but aren’t people. Lastly, the siren songs are those of the digital age, which are hard to resist. I wouldn’t view this as a call out against all things digital, but rather against those, who, like the narrator, are ‘tangled in nets’ and are not incapable of setting themselves free, but unwilling because of the strong song of the sirens.
i agree sojurneyman i think it's about how everyone has become more or less the same.. that the love and friendship has faded away into an artificial type world where nothing has the meaning it once did.. this song totally creeps me out haha but it eerieness conveys this meaning of being alone while surrounded by people. which to me brings up the old saying "water water everywhere but not a drop to drink" except in this particular instance the water is a metaphor for the artificial personalities of the people that surround us and that no one has their true individuality... second comment so feel free to critisize :)
I hated this song the first time I heard it. Keep listening though, and the musical layers become more apparent.
I love this line though: "But above the screams still the sirens sing their songs"
The dual meaning is beautiful. Dual probably isn't even the right word because there are probably more .
This could be the best thing thrice has every done, this and flags of dawn.
Here's the official lyrics that Dustin posted at alchemyindex.com
I woke, cold and alone, adrift in the open sea; caught up in regrets, and tangled in nets, instead of your arms wrapped around me. And I wept but my tears are anathema here, just more water to fill my lungs. I hear someone scream, “God what is it we have done?” I am drowning in a digital sea; I am slipping beneath the sound. Here my voice goes, to ones and zeros, I’m slipping beneath the sound. A song from somewhere below, deadly and slow begins. Both sickly and sweet, now picking up speed, and ushering in the world’s end. And the ghost of Descartes screams again in the dark, “Oh how could I have been so wrong?” But above the screams still the sirens sing their song.
So descartes was a french philosopher eh?? Interesting.
yeah, famously qouted "I think, therefore i am" amazing song here my voices goes to ones and zeros dustin always finds a new way to blow me away
as for song meanings, im gunna be the first to give it a stab.
Artificial Intelligence- Descartes, couldn't account for an artificial thinker. the AI's voice is the one made of binary.
"god what is it we have done" and the line about a song rising from the deeps, gives me the impression that some act of man has ruined a civilization and remnants of it are still intact (the song rising up) but all that remains after this great flood (or whatever) is the AI
I think when Dustin says "But above the screams still the sirens sing their songs." I don;t think it's like ambulance sirens but in Greek mythology the Sirens are singers with songs so sweet that it lures in sailors then they sink their ship sending them all to their death. Sojourneyman is right about there being a loss in this digital age. Amazing song though.
i like the ending.. gives it a unique touch
amazing lyrics here
cant wait for this to come out on cd!!!