"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 think I like where I'm standing
I think I hate it too
'Cause it's safe on the side of caution
But baby, it's so far away from you
And if I try my best, I still can't find a way to let it go
And it's so much work pretending to move on
I can't if I'll never know (walk in the rain)
In love and pain (on and on)
'Til we find a new beginning
Hey, hey, this is dangerous
I've buried all my dreams but the ones of us
I think I never knew you when I knew you before
And every time we meet
It's like you're breaking my heart all over
Give me peace, give me trust, give me something real
Let me know when it's safe to begin to feel
All the things I knew before, I need something to fight for
Talk it out, all these hours, almost every day
Still you fill my lungs (still I walk in grace)
Until I've unlearned everything, except to trust
I can't if I'm too afraid of love and pain (is that so wrong?)
Tell me that I'm gaining something
Hey, hey, this is dangerous
I've buried all my dreams but the ones of us
I think I never knew you when I knew you before
And every time we meet
It's like you're breaking my heart all over
Hey, hey, this is dangerous
I'm writing all the songs that I'll play for us
I'm crossing off the reasons why I couldn't believe
That peace of mind was something that I'd ever achieve
Come on, come on
Nothing to be lost or won
Come on, come on
I feel as if we've just begun
I'm standing here alone
Come on, come on
Nothing ever seemed so clear
Come on, come on
And still I don't know how to feel
I walk this road alone
Come on, come on
Listen to the sound of the rain
Come on, come on
Can it take me home again?
Take me home again to your arms
Hey, hey, this is dangerous
Waste the night away with us
Even if we never find a way back to love
The desperate and the faithful are the ones we can trust
Hey, hey, this is dangerous
I've buried all my dreams but the ones of us
I think I never knew you when I knew you before
And every time we meet
It's like you're breaking my heart all over
Come on, come on
Nothing to be lost or won
Even if we never find our way back to love
Take me home again
I think I hate it too
'Cause it's safe on the side of caution
But baby, it's so far away from you
And if I try my best, I still can't find a way to let it go
And it's so much work pretending to move on
I can't if I'll never know (walk in the rain)
In love and pain (on and on)
'Til we find a new beginning
Hey, hey, this is dangerous
I've buried all my dreams but the ones of us
I think I never knew you when I knew you before
And every time we meet
It's like you're breaking my heart all over
Give me peace, give me trust, give me something real
Let me know when it's safe to begin to feel
All the things I knew before, I need something to fight for
Talk it out, all these hours, almost every day
Still you fill my lungs (still I walk in grace)
Until I've unlearned everything, except to trust
I can't if I'm too afraid of love and pain (is that so wrong?)
Tell me that I'm gaining something
Hey, hey, this is dangerous
I've buried all my dreams but the ones of us
I think I never knew you when I knew you before
And every time we meet
It's like you're breaking my heart all over
Hey, hey, this is dangerous
I'm writing all the songs that I'll play for us
I'm crossing off the reasons why I couldn't believe
That peace of mind was something that I'd ever achieve
Come on, come on
Nothing to be lost or won
Come on, come on
I feel as if we've just begun
I'm standing here alone
Come on, come on
Nothing ever seemed so clear
Come on, come on
And still I don't know how to feel
I walk this road alone
Come on, come on
Listen to the sound of the rain
Come on, come on
Can it take me home again?
Take me home again to your arms
Hey, hey, this is dangerous
Waste the night away with us
Even if we never find a way back to love
The desperate and the faithful are the ones we can trust
Hey, hey, this is dangerous
I've buried all my dreams but the ones of us
I think I never knew you when I knew you before
And every time we meet
It's like you're breaking my heart all over
Come on, come on
Nothing to be lost or won
Even if we never find our way back to love
Take me home again
Lyrics submitted by aaron_kaump
Dangerous Lyrics as written by Collin Rigsby Aaron James Babcock
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Capitol CMG Publishing
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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Fast Car
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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."
Gentle Hour
Yo La Tengo
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This song was originally written by a guy called Peter Gutteridge. He was one of the founders of the "Dunedin Sound" a musical scene in the south of New Zealand in the early 80s. From there it was covered by "The Clean" one of the early bands of that scene (he had originally been a member of in it's early days, writing a couple of their best early songs). The Dunedin sound, and the Clean became popular on american college radio in the mid to late 80s. I guess Yo La Tengo heard that version.
Great version of a great song,
When We Were Young
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This is a sequel to 2001's "Reckless Abandon", and features the band looking back on their clumsy youth fondly.
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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.
this is such a good song. HOH needs to put out every song as a single. They're all so good.
I can relate to this song, to me its more along the lines of REALLY liking a girl but she not liking you back or she is playing with you...
this song is about hiding from love and your heart being broken so many times that you can't get close to anyone anymore and only trusing surten people and gettiong close to them because you know they won't hurt you and learning to trust again.
also is about getting right with god and running back to him in that time of hurt in your life instead of running away from him.
This song is definitely about PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder). The entire album is WWII themed, and one of the major issues with any war is that soldiers afterward suffer terribly from PTSD as a result of their experiences. Classic PTSD is shutting down your emotional center, so that you're unable to feel. You become numb so that you do not have to face the pain you're feeling. I don't believe he necessary is broken up with the girl. I believe their relationship is just on the rocks because of the change in his behavior after coming home from the war. If things were over between them, he wouldn't be saying things like "Until we find a new beginning". Believing they would find a new beginning if she had broken up with him would require an unrealistic amount of denial, and its unlikely that's what they meant. Its also bizarre that they would still be meeting so often. The problem is that because he's become numb, he isn't able to be the same companion to her that he was before, and he doesn't know what to do. The line "Cause it's safe on the side of caution, but, baby, it's so far away from you." explains it. He wants to be numb so he doesn't have to deal with all the pain he has experienced from the war ("side of caution"), but the fact that he refuses to feel is pushing her away. This idea of being unable to feel recurs throughout the entire song. Along with blocking out the pain, he's also blocked out his ability to give/receive love. "Let me know when it's safe to begin to feel." Its pretty self explanatory.
It's so amazing how this song deals with every angle of the frustration that the listener can be dealing with.
Regardless of what is "the object" that the song is referring to (a girl, stronger religious connection, job, emotional or financial stability, risking more in life...), you can understand that the singer is expressing a wide range of feelings about the uncomfortable place the 'character' is in of tormenting indecision, and how this is 'dangerous'.
In the first verses, he is very emphatic in stating that he dislikes the middle ground he is in, not being able to completely 'let go' of it or to fully embrace it. The symbolism of the rain here is something that comes and cleanses, washes everything clean, making new beginnings, changing everything, what the author desperately wants, something to point him in the right direction again. "Listen to the sound of the rain, can it take me home again?"
The second verse (after chorus) details a lot of the messy thoughts and emotions going through his mind stopping him to take any stance. He describes the fear of trusting again of what he believes and being hurt, at the same time he reminisces of how it felt good when he actually did trust, even questioning if it's even right to do it (with a sense of guilt), he too unsure and confused.
In the chorus, he is lamenting about how dangerous it is that his mind is in this fractured state. Divided between how he gave up on all of his other aspirations while clinging to this one only wanting this to work; between how he thinks that he knows what will happen if he 'goes for it' but actually not knowing at all the consequences. Every time he has to face these thoughts it's a huge struggle.
He is also very hard striving emotionally and rationally to get out of this tortuous 'comfort trap' of indecision: writing songs about how he will move forward, crossing off reasons that would make him give up, and even trying to convince himself that he will gain something from this decision.
In the end, he exclaims in a calm and tired voice to just "take me home again", to where he should be, to this place of evolution, to the new and right direction. All he wants, in the end, is to achieve Peace of mind.
i think this song is about someone who misses their ex and they want to get back together. Everytime he sees the girl he misses it breaks his heart all over again, and wishes things were different between them i think.