"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.
In the lobby of the LRC
Well, I knew I'd find something
A hundred stories sittin' there to read
I got my focals out, I put 'em on
And all is calm, all is calm
There's a doggie coming here to eat now
Which dated back to 1993
I don't care what the people say 'cause
That dog, he don't come around here anymore
No, no the dog is gone, the dog is gone
No, no the dog is gone, the dog is gone
The town is so small
How could anybody not
Look you in the eyes?
The way that you drive by
The world is such a wonderful place
The world is such a wonderful
I see everyone before me, there was birthday sex and sleep
Some weren't getting along
Nobody's outside trying to murder
Nobody's outside, there's no one really at all
What the hell I saw, the hell I saw
The hell I saw, the hell I saw
The town is so small
How could anybody not
Look me in the eyes?
The way that I drive by
The world is such a wonderful place
The world is such a wonderful place
The world is such a wonderful place
The world is such a wonderful place
La-dee-dah, la-dee-dah, la-dee-dah, la-dee-dah
Well, I knew I'd find something
A hundred stories sittin' there to read
I got my focals out, I put 'em on
And all is calm, all is calm
There's a doggie coming here to eat now
Which dated back to 1993
I don't care what the people say 'cause
That dog, he don't come around here anymore
No, no the dog is gone, the dog is gone
No, no the dog is gone, the dog is gone
The town is so small
How could anybody not
Look you in the eyes?
The way that you drive by
The world is such a wonderful place
The world is such a wonderful
I see everyone before me, there was birthday sex and sleep
Some weren't getting along
Nobody's outside trying to murder
Nobody's outside, there's no one really at all
What the hell I saw, the hell I saw
The hell I saw, the hell I saw
The town is so small
How could anybody not
Look me in the eyes?
The way that I drive by
The world is such a wonderful place
The world is such a wonderful place
The world is such a wonderful place
The world is such a wonderful place
La-dee-dah, la-dee-dah, la-dee-dah, la-dee-dah
Lyrics submitted by Cortez_08, edited by everestdesign, somnus01
Ode to LRC Lyrics as written by Creighton Barrett Benjamin Bridwell
Lyrics © Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
Add your thoughts
Log in now to tell us what you think this song means.
Don’t have an account? Create an account with SongMeanings to post comments, submit lyrics, and more. It’s super easy, we promise!
More Featured Meanings
Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman
Holiday
Bee Gees
Bee Gees
@[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.
Dreamwalker
Silent Planet
Silent Planet
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.
Mountain Song
Jane's Addiction
Jane's Addiction
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."
Plastic Bag
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
“Plastic Bag” is a song about searching for an escape from personal problems and hoping to find it in the lively atmosphere of a Saturday night party. Ed Sheeran tells the story of his friend and the myriad of troubles he is going through. Unable to find any solutions, this friend seeks a last resort in a party and the vanity that comes with it.
“I overthink and have trouble sleepin’ / All purpose gone and don’t have a reason / And there’s no doctor to stop this bleedin’ / So I left home and jumped in the deep end,” Ed Sheeran sings in verse one. He continues by adding that this person is feeling the weight of having disappointed his father and doesn’t have any friends to rely on in this difficult moment. In the second verse, Ed sings about the role of grief in his friend’s plight and his dwindling faith in prayer. “Saturday night is givin’ me a reason to rely on the strobe lights / The lifeline of a promise in a shot glass, and I’ll take that / If you’re givin’ out love from a plastic bag,” Ed sings on the chorus, as his friend turns to new vices in hopes of feeling better.
Finally found out what the song is about straight from the horse's mouth (no pun intended):
Actually, LRC stands for Little Red Caboose, which is a train car that's been turned into a getaway resort in the state of Washington. Ben stayed there and wrote the song based on the "logbook" at the LRC, which I also mistook as "lobby" when I first listened to the song...So the logbook had stories about a dog who kept showing up for food but stopped showing up in 1993, etc...I thought it was about the library as well, until Ben set me straight at a show...
CASE CLOSED
LRC is indeed "Little Red Caboose" as others have stated. It is explained by Ben here:
jambase.com/Articles/11672/Band-of-Horses-Running-Deep/2
"Bridwell has carried his simple yet deep songwriting from the debut into Cease. His songs are never crystal clear. They're shaded in reverb and left open to interpretation, capable of meaning all things to all men. Take "Ode to LRC," the second track on the album. "LRC" stands for "Little Red Caboose," a lodge of sorts that Bridwell stayed at by the beach in the middle of nowhere with no light, no cell reception and not much of anything. "I found these journal books that had documented people staying in there for maybe 20, 25 years or something like that of people coming to this caboose and going through personal hardships and why they came to the caboose. It's almost like a pilgrimage that some people took with this place. [Some] would come multiple times to just get out in nature or some of them had been going through hard times in their life, whether it was people with diseases who were dying or families breaking up and shit like that," says Bridwell. "I got a personal glimpse into what these people were going through while they stayed at this Little Red Caboose." What's so interesting is the refrain that Bridwell came up with for the song. Instead of dark sadness he sings, "The world is such a wonderful place," and the beauty is we believe him. And it's not in some hippie-dippie rainbow way. It's with the understanding that even with the pains and struggles and death we live with, they're all beautiful and it's all part of our shared experience as people right here, right now. "
Thanks for demonstrating how conspiracy theories are made, Nates. ;)
Wow, I'm no genius by any means but I'm the only person who figured this out.. and had it confirmed by being at their show in Tampa. He says "IF the world is such a wonderful place".... I picked it up every so faintly like the 3rd or 4th time I listened to the song, and realized that wow, if he's saying "IF" the world is such a wonderful place it COMPLETELY changes the outlook of the song. It's funny I've seen several reviewers talk about the optimistic viewpoint when unless I'm wrong it's just the opposite. At the concert I obviously was training my ear to catch the "if" and he practically yelled it!! Then at the end when he says "la de da" he drops an "f---ing" in front of it! quite a different story
Hate to do this, but there is a big little word missing from most people's understanding of this song. I didn't like it when I fond it, but it's there (at least on this version youtube.com/watch) ...
IF the world is such a wonderful place..... how can nobody look me in the eye etc.
Yes, this is true. Also confirmed by this live version: youtube.com/watch
Isn't it :
The town is so small how could anybody not look me in the eyes and wave as I drive by
Great song!
this is such a great song, it makes me love small town life. and just being alive, really.
and henneby, i think you're right about the wave as you/i drive by part.
I really love this song, my favorite from the new cd
Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm Loveeeeeeeeeeee
the world is such a wonderful place
i love this song. it is one of the best off band of horses. i think they make the world a much more wonderful place. i have to see them live. like NOW!