"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.
At the center where they go on weekdays
It takes hours just to slate that thirst
Heavy heels and a daunting post rate
Bad idea for your blistered toast
To my will well you're getting close
So say adios
The conjecture is reject the rose
Don't stay high on a abuse
Sometimes it feels like the world's stuffed with feathers
Table bottom gum holding it together
A cold son
I am
A cold son
You can chase it but it won't come easy
It's a revelry so silver quick
It gets solid when you're old and hazy
Takes no leverage to make me click
To my will well you're getting close
The tension goes
Defy conjecture and reject the rose
Don't stay high on abuse
Who is that said the world is my oyster
I feel like a nympho trapped in a cloister
A cold son
I am
A cold son
Face plant stumble ahead
Victim of your rival pretensions know me
Face plant stumble ahead
Rival to the bitter pretensions know me
Cold son
I am
Cold son
I am
It takes hours just to slate that thirst
Heavy heels and a daunting post rate
Bad idea for your blistered toast
To my will well you're getting close
So say adios
The conjecture is reject the rose
Don't stay high on a abuse
Sometimes it feels like the world's stuffed with feathers
Table bottom gum holding it together
A cold son
I am
A cold son
You can chase it but it won't come easy
It's a revelry so silver quick
It gets solid when you're old and hazy
Takes no leverage to make me click
To my will well you're getting close
The tension goes
Defy conjecture and reject the rose
Don't stay high on abuse
Who is that said the world is my oyster
I feel like a nympho trapped in a cloister
A cold son
I am
A cold son
Face plant stumble ahead
Victim of your rival pretensions know me
Face plant stumble ahead
Rival to the bitter pretensions know me
Cold son
I am
Cold son
I am
Lyrics submitted by remotehomelife
Cold Son Lyrics as written by Stephen Joseph Malkmus
Lyrics © Hipgnosis Songs Group
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
Mental Istid
Ebba Grön
Ebba Grön
This is one of my favorite songs. https://fnfgo.io
Magical
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
How would you describe the feeling of being in love? For Ed Sheeran, the word is “Magical.” in HIS three-minute album opener, he makes an attempt to capture the beauty and delicacy of true love with words. He describes the magic of it all over a bright Pop song produced by Aaron Dessner.
Blue
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
“Blue” is a song about a love that is persisting in the discomfort of the person experiencing the emotion. Ed Sheeran reflects on love lost, and although he wishes his former partner find happiness, he cannot but admit his feelings are still very much there. He expresses the realization that he might never find another on this stringed instrumental by Aaron Dessner.
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.
I have no clue on the lyrics, and I simply don't give a damn. Terrific song. I discovered this album a few weeks ago and found it great, so "jammy" without being indulgent... Genius!
Some corrections:
[slake] that thirst a daunting [pulse] rate blistered [toes] (as previously mentioned) to my [wheel well] you're getting close the tension [grows] a [reverie] so silver quick 2nd verse - [accept] the rose
The first verse makes me think about mallwalkers. 60-somethings powerwalking through the mall in their sweatsuits, checking their pulses.
i know exactly how table bottom gum holds everything together. you'll see. touch it when you're nervous.
to me
the song is an existential discussion about the physiology of exstacy, It's relationships,
and Desire. consequently, Fear.
Perhaps the eternal return of Desire and consumption are, in and of themselves, not somethings to be avoided.
From this vantage point, intensity is objectified and projected alongside the original Subjects into the future.
In any such projection, we recreate mirror images of ourselves - making real a world of assumption and illusion.
I agree with Universal, it sounds like the resistance of natural feeling and vulnerability in the moment, to force a lifeless facade in competition with your "rival pretensions". I think the "son" part of the title was chosen because it's like a kid resisting his parents' guidance, who know what's best for him but he still tries to be something he's not.
haha i think it's "blistered toes"...
I agree with Santiagof, great jam album. One of the best albums of the year. I think the song is about drug abuse though.
I agree with Santiagof, great jam album. One of the best albums of the year. I think the song is about drug abuse though.
i know exactly how table bottom gum holds everything together. you'll see. touch it when you're nervous.
to me
the song is an existential discussion about the physiology of exstacy, It's relationships,
and Desire. consequently, Fear.
Perhaps the eternal return of Desire and consumption are, in and of themselves, not somethings to be avoided.
From this vantage point, intensity is objectified and projected alongside the original Subjects into the future.
In any such projection, we recreate mirror images of ourselves - making real a world of assumption and illusion.
I agree with bS.O.S. To me this song is about drug abuse. It may not be, but it sure can fit the profile lyrically. "Sometimes it feels like the worlds filled with feathers/table bottom gum holding it together", whatever it may be about, it's not about the best times in life.
Sets up a great trilogy of tunes