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Big Black Car Lyrics
You were a phonograph, I was a kid
I sat with an ear close, just listening
I was there when the rain tapped her way down you face
You were a miracle…i was just holdin' your space
Well time has a way of throwing it all in your face
The past, she is haunted, the future is laced
Heartbreak, ya know, drives a big black car
Swear I was in the back seat, just minding my own
And through the glass, the corn crows come like rain
They won’t stay, they won’t stay
For too long now
This could be all that we know
Of love and all
Well you were a dancer, I was a rag
The song in my head, well was all that I had
Hope was a letter I never could send
Love was a country we couldn’t defend
And through the carnival we watch them go round and round
All we knew of home was just a sunset and some clowns
Well you were a magazine, I was a plain jane
Just walking the sidewalks all covered in rain
Love to just get into one of your stories
Just me and all of my plane jane glory
I sat with an ear close, just listening
I was there when the rain tapped her way down you face
You were a miracle…i was just holdin' your space
The past, she is haunted, the future is laced
Heartbreak, ya know, drives a big black car
Swear I was in the back seat, just minding my own
They won’t stay, they won’t stay
For too long now
Of love and all
The song in my head, well was all that I had
Hope was a letter I never could send
Love was a country we couldn’t defend
All we knew of home was just a sunset and some clowns
Just walking the sidewalks all covered in rain
Love to just get into one of your stories
Just me and all of my plane jane glory
Add your song meanings, interpretations, facts, memories & more to the community.
i think its about him being in love with a girl who he sees as more than a person. he describes himself as just being a kid, while she is music. she's a dancer, he's a rag. she is glossy and perfect like a magazine and he's plane. she's a miracle and he's just holding space.
he's sort of the trail to her comet, just following around never initiating anything. sitting in the back seat of the car, never driving.
it reminds me a lot of the book "looking for alaska" where pudge sees alaska as this beautiful, amazing person who he can never compare to.
"but i lacked the courage and she had a boyfriend and i was gawky and she was gorgeous and i was hopelessly boring and was endlessly fascinating. so i walked back to my room and collapsed on the bottom bunk, thinking that if people were rain i was a drizzle and she was a hurricane."
@dododo2 Hi, it's the 22nd of September, 2023. Precisely 11 years after you've written your comment. I've just now discovered this song, and I just wanted to say that your comment is beautiful. It resonates my current life chapter, but I won't really get into how that works. Anyway, I just can't seem to wrap my head around our (well, me and your comment) meeting here, if it's a mere coincidence or something else. The same date? The same month? Regardless, I loved your comment. Please be well.
@dododo2 Hi, it's the 22nd of September, 2023. Precisely 11 years after you've written your comment. I've just now discovered this song, and I just wanted to say that your comment is beautiful. It resonates my current life chapter, but I won't really get into how that works. Anyway, I just can't seem to wrap my head around our (well, me and your comment) meeting here, if it's a mere coincidence or something else. The same date? The same month? Regardless, I loved your comment. Please be well.
This song plays well versed picture. The song suits a void within the character's heart. The inevitable failure of his loving relationship, is characterized by an unworthy sensitivity. He remembers himself listening to her with passion characterizing her as his "miracle", while he was "holdin', her "space".
The next verse leads associating "space", with "time". He holds dramatic remorse for this abrupt and certain heartbreak. "The future is laced", foreshadows the end of all contact, for "The past, she is haunted."
Big Black Car is symbolic of death, in this case the death within his heart. He claims he "was in the back seat", meaning he was not unaware of the situations that lead to this tragic heartbreak.
Now peering through the backseat window of the Big Black Car, "the corn crows come like rain." The season is over, however the crows are symbolic of all the idiosyncratic places reminding his lost harvest in love.
"They won't stay, they won't stay". His future is also laced, he knows that these reminders will come to pass. He knows this process is long, however not "For too long now".
He is optimistic despite the pain of thinking, "this could be all that we know of love?" All he feels is the heartbreak.
In comparison to the dancer she was, he knows he was the rag. Symbolized to blister his useless presence. The song playing in his head numbs his realization of noticing anything wrong at all. Love being the country "we" couldn't defend is instating his mind in present state. Much like speaking from the 3rd person. It is out of his mind and control.
The ending verses come simply as a show. The writer empathizes with anyone joining this carnival of love, always hearing of that perfect love is just a joke.
He knows her future is destined, he wishes he could be a part in her journey. Maybe she will remember him, only from the good times of his glory.
Ahhh your responce is amazing, made me appreciate the song even more! Thank you :)
Ahhh your responce is amazing, made me appreciate the song even more! Thank you :)
This is one of the most gorgeous songs I've ever heard. Speaks to me with great depths. Its about, to me anyways, standing in someone's constant light, and wanting their light to be a part of your own. I can relate, respectively, to these lyrics. It's also, to me, about losing innocence to the dark face of the real world, after reaching adulthood. It's gorgeous, so gorgeous. I want to say so much more, I could talk for hours about this song. Absolutely beautiful.
I agree. It's just an incredibly beautiful and special track. Due to its title, I would have never looked it up via YouTube if I had not found it on this site first.
I agree. It's just an incredibly beautiful and special track. Due to its title, I would have never looked it up via YouTube if I had not found it on this site first.
I heard this song in a McDonald's ad around Christmas time and I was really surprised they used such an amazing song in one of their advertisements. I 'shazam'ed it and haven't stopped listening to it since. Just such a beautiful and amazing sounding song with so much meaning. Love it :)
I heard this song in a McDonald's ad around Christmas time and I was really surprised they used such an amazing song in one of their advertisements. I 'shazam'ed it and haven't stopped listening to it since. Just such a beautiful and amazing sounding song with so much meaning. Love it :)
Agree this song is amazing. I believe the second-to-last line is "Love to just get into some of your stories" though.
Agree this song is amazing. I believe the second-to-last line is "Love to just get into some of your stories" though.
This is so beautiful.
Fixed the lyrics!:)
An absolutely beautiful song. I think it's supposed to be "plain jane", not "plane jane". I guess it's should be left as-is, though, since his website uses "plane".
I love this song so much, that I've made a video of my friends throughout the years showing memories since i first met them with this song in the background and it fits so nicely. It actually kind of made me tear u a bit of how far we have come since we first met and the song really adds to it. anyways, we graduate Wednesday as part of the class of 2022, and I'm going to give it to them then. I really hope they like it, we won't see each other as much and I hope it isn't a parting gift but if it is the end. I think it's a nice way to remember the memories we have made together
I love this song so much, that I've made a video of my friends throughout the years showing memories since i first met them with this song in the background and it fits so nicely. It actually kind of made me tear u a bit of how far we have come since we first met and the song really adds to it. anyways, we graduate Wednesday as part of the class of 2022, and I'm going to give it to them then. I really hope they like it, we won't see each other as much and I hope it isn't a parting gift but if it is the end. I think it's a nice way to remember the memories we have made together