"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.
So you're Ahrima, collusive dreamer.
I watched the lamps fall, you pushed them over.
They say you're gifted, well I just see a scared kid.
They must have flipped it, your skills are latent.
O, you snuffed the glow. Replaced it with coals.
Threw away the throne. O, you snuffed the glow.
Replaced it with coals. Burnt down my home.
You had a life of privilege, hope and love.
But now that's all gone. Maybe the design's flawed.
So that's why I'm here, to preserve the remainder
Of what chance we have left at an existence.
O, the desolate dirt. The raw, scorched earth.
It's a trophy of your worth. O, the desolate dirt.
The raw, scorched earth. It's a scar of my hurt.
Your cold, wicked soul boasts a foul scent.
No, a stench
The formidable taste of pure contempt.
Every dark corner will soon see the light.
O, so bright.
The beaming flood will pour right through the binds.
My words will tear through the air,
Pierce through the despair,
To find your arrogant, throbbing ears.
If it's too much to bear, or to hear,
Or take, I'll be frank,
Let my inflection be crystal clear.
This mess that you've made, it's a six-foot grave.
It's a home for your lonesome bones that remain.
We'll disappear, but you'll stay here to rot
As The King of The Dark and Forgot.
What have I done? Please make me your son.
What have I become? Destroyed all I love.
O, what have you done?
Disobedient son, you've broken the trust of your father's love.
The arid, fallow earth would be Ahrima's new hearth.
He would remain while he watched his family strain,
And the girl that he loved, vacate to a new place,
To state over on fresh terrain.
And from his desolate throne he watched them compose
A mountainous wall of stone, to separate themselves from him.
A massive, jagged barricade to lock themselves in.
Theirs would be the Light, his would be the Dark.
For a century these halves would wait.
One world, set apart.
Place your hand on mine.
Untie your mind.
We'll just disengage.
Float away.
I watched the lamps fall, you pushed them over.
They say you're gifted, well I just see a scared kid.
They must have flipped it, your skills are latent.
O, you snuffed the glow. Replaced it with coals.
Threw away the throne. O, you snuffed the glow.
Replaced it with coals. Burnt down my home.
You had a life of privilege, hope and love.
But now that's all gone. Maybe the design's flawed.
So that's why I'm here, to preserve the remainder
Of what chance we have left at an existence.
O, the desolate dirt. The raw, scorched earth.
It's a trophy of your worth. O, the desolate dirt.
The raw, scorched earth. It's a scar of my hurt.
Your cold, wicked soul boasts a foul scent.
No, a stench
The formidable taste of pure contempt.
Every dark corner will soon see the light.
O, so bright.
The beaming flood will pour right through the binds.
My words will tear through the air,
Pierce through the despair,
To find your arrogant, throbbing ears.
If it's too much to bear, or to hear,
Or take, I'll be frank,
Let my inflection be crystal clear.
This mess that you've made, it's a six-foot grave.
It's a home for your lonesome bones that remain.
We'll disappear, but you'll stay here to rot
As The King of The Dark and Forgot.
What have I done? Please make me your son.
What have I become? Destroyed all I love.
O, what have you done?
Disobedient son, you've broken the trust of your father's love.
The arid, fallow earth would be Ahrima's new hearth.
He would remain while he watched his family strain,
And the girl that he loved, vacate to a new place,
To state over on fresh terrain.
And from his desolate throne he watched them compose
A mountainous wall of stone, to separate themselves from him.
A massive, jagged barricade to lock themselves in.
Theirs would be the Light, his would be the Dark.
For a century these halves would wait.
One world, set apart.
Place your hand on mine.
Untie your mind.
We'll just disengage.
Float away.
Lyrics submitted by ms_fairypants, edited by thegreatdistress
Toba the Tura Lyrics as written by Thomas Dutton Paul Dutton
Lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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This is one of my favorite songs. https://fnfgo.io
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I can't believe noone has commented on this yet I think this song is amazing Chris's vocals send shivers down my spine. Such a stunning song.
Best track in my opinion. Full of emotion and despair. Chris's vocals are dead on the feel of this part of the musical.
I love chris's vocals in this, one of the best tracks off the album.
This song is my absolute favourite from the album. Because, like, you've got Toba. And he is sent to tell Ahrima, who has just destroyed the home he helped create, to gtfo. And it starts out fairly nice and soft - mocking, but soft. "So you're Ahrima, collusive dreamer" he almost coos. I can almost see him just looking Ahrima up and down, telling him that "they say you're gifted, but I just see a scared kid" and that his skills are latent. And as it goes on further, he slowly works himself into a frenzy. I can't imagine that Toba doesn't just completely and absolutely loathe Ahrima. It starts nice and airy, then just for a split second ("Maybe the designs flawed") he slips, then he's back to soft - but not quite the same. He gets a little more throaty, a little more raw. He gets a little louder, a little more intense - and the entire time, he's telling Ahrima how much of a failure he is. The tone and the anger in this berating climbs and climbs and climbs, and the song approaches its climax: in what seems like a single breath, Toba sings "My words will pierce through the air/Pierce through the despair/To find your arrogant, throbbing ears/If it's too much to bear or to hear or to take, I'll be frank" and then the music cuts out completely, and he almost screams "Let my inflection be crystal clear!" The music returns, but he's still almost screaming, and I can see him just having gotten right up in Ahrima's face, maybe grabbing him by the collar and yelling at him, worked up in his frenzy of hatred towards him: "This mess that you've made is a six-foot grave/It's a home for your lonesome bones that remain/We'll disappear stay right here/To rot as the king of the lost and forgot" and this last word he nearly moans out. Ahrima, now distraught, disbelieving of what he's done in his hasty, reckless jealousy, begins to cry, "What have I done?" over and over again. He repeats this, I believe, four times, and then Toba cuts in - "Oh, what have you done?" He says it in such a way that I think it's not so much an inquiry as an angry rhetorical question. He's saying, I can't believe you're trying to ask for forgiveness after what you did you utter fool. The final piece of the song (before the narration, that is) is Ahrima's verses and Toba's verses ("What have I become? Destroyed all I love"" and "You've broken the trust of your father's love" respectively) melding together, ending on the single same last word: love. Ahrima is moaning it out in an attempt at forgiveness, and Toba is hurling it mockingly. One is filled with sorrow, the other with hate. It's just fantastic.