"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.
My heart became a drunken runt
On the day I sunk in this shunt
To tap me clean
Of all the wonder
And the sorrow I have seen
Since I left my home
My home, on the old milk lake
Where the darkness does fall so fast
It feels like some kind of mistake
Just like they told you it would
Just like the tulgeywood
When I came into my land
I did not understand
Neither dry rot, nor the burn pile
Nor the bark-beetle, nor the dry well
Or the black bear
But there is another
Who is a little older
When I broke my bone
He carried me up from the riverside
To spend my life in spitting-distance
Of the love that I have known
I must stay here, in an endless eventide
And if you come and see me
You will upset the order
You cannot come and see me
For I set myself apart
But when you come and see me
In California
You cross the border of my heart
Well, I have sown untidy furrows across my soul
But I am still a coward
Content to see my garden grow
So sweet and full of someone else's flowers
Sometimes I can almost feel the power
Sometimes I am so in love with you
Like a little clock that trembles on the edge of the hour
Only ever calling out "cuckoo"
When I called you, you, little one
In a bad way
Did you love me?
Do you spite me?
Time will tell
If I can be well
And rise to meet you rightly
While, moving across my land
Brandishing themselves
Like a burning branch
Advance the tallow-colored, walleyed deer
Quiet as gondoliers
While I wait all night, for you
In California
Watching the fox pick off my goldfish
From their sorry, golden state
And I am no longer afraid of anything
Save the life that, here, awaits
I don't belong to anyone
My heart is heavy as an oil drum
And I don't want to be alone
My heart is yellow as an ear of corn
And I have torn my soul apart
From pulling artlessly with fool commands
Some nights I just never go to sleep at all
And I stand
Shaking in my doorway like a sentinel
All alone
Bracing like the bow upon a ship
And fully abandoning
Any thought of anywhere but home
My home
Sometimes I can almost feel the power
And I do love you
Is it only timing
That has made it such a dark hour
Only ever chiming out "cuckoo"?
Cuckoo, cuckoo, koo
Cuckoo, cuckoo, koo
My cuckoo, cuckoo, koo
My cuckoo, cuckoo, koo
My heart, I wear you down
I know
Gotta think straight
Keep a clean plate;
Keep from wearing down
If I lose my head
Just where am I going to lay it?
For it has half-ruined me to be hanging around
Here, among the daphne, blooming out of the big brown
I am native to it
But I'm overgrown
I have choked my roots on the earth, as rich as roe
Here, down in California
On the day I sunk in this shunt
To tap me clean
Of all the wonder
And the sorrow I have seen
Since I left my home
My home, on the old milk lake
Where the darkness does fall so fast
It feels like some kind of mistake
Just like they told you it would
Just like the tulgeywood
When I came into my land
I did not understand
Neither dry rot, nor the burn pile
Nor the bark-beetle, nor the dry well
Or the black bear
But there is another
Who is a little older
When I broke my bone
He carried me up from the riverside
To spend my life in spitting-distance
Of the love that I have known
I must stay here, in an endless eventide
And if you come and see me
You will upset the order
You cannot come and see me
For I set myself apart
But when you come and see me
In California
You cross the border of my heart
Well, I have sown untidy furrows across my soul
But I am still a coward
Content to see my garden grow
So sweet and full of someone else's flowers
Sometimes I can almost feel the power
Sometimes I am so in love with you
Like a little clock that trembles on the edge of the hour
Only ever calling out "cuckoo"
When I called you, you, little one
In a bad way
Did you love me?
Do you spite me?
Time will tell
If I can be well
And rise to meet you rightly
While, moving across my land
Brandishing themselves
Like a burning branch
Advance the tallow-colored, walleyed deer
Quiet as gondoliers
While I wait all night, for you
In California
Watching the fox pick off my goldfish
From their sorry, golden state
And I am no longer afraid of anything
Save the life that, here, awaits
I don't belong to anyone
My heart is heavy as an oil drum
And I don't want to be alone
My heart is yellow as an ear of corn
And I have torn my soul apart
From pulling artlessly with fool commands
Some nights I just never go to sleep at all
And I stand
Shaking in my doorway like a sentinel
All alone
Bracing like the bow upon a ship
And fully abandoning
Any thought of anywhere but home
My home
Sometimes I can almost feel the power
And I do love you
Is it only timing
That has made it such a dark hour
Only ever chiming out "cuckoo"?
Cuckoo, cuckoo, koo
Cuckoo, cuckoo, koo
My cuckoo, cuckoo, koo
My cuckoo, cuckoo, koo
My heart, I wear you down
I know
Gotta think straight
Keep a clean plate;
Keep from wearing down
If I lose my head
Just where am I going to lay it?
For it has half-ruined me to be hanging around
Here, among the daphne, blooming out of the big brown
I am native to it
But I'm overgrown
I have choked my roots on the earth, as rich as roe
Here, down in California
Lyrics submitted by kitteh, edited by millivanilliscoop
In California Lyrics as written by Joanna Newsom
Lyrics © ROUGH TRADE PUBLISHING
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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More Featured Meanings
Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman
The Night We Met
Lord Huron
Lord Huron
This is a hauntingly beautiful song about introspection, specifically about looking back at a relationship that started bad and ended so poorly, that the narrator wants to go back to the very beginning and tell himself to not even travel down that road. I believe that the relationship started poorly because of the lines:
"Take me back to the night we met:When the night was full of terrors: And your eyes were filled with tears: When you had not touched me yet"
So, the first night was not a great start, but the narrator pursued the relationship and eventually both overcame the rough start to fall in love with each other:
"I had all and then most of you"
Like many relationships that turn sour, it was not a quick decline, but a gradual one where the narrator and their partner fall out of love and gradually grow apart
"Some and now none of you"
Losing someone who was once everything in your world, who you could confide in, tell your secrets to, share all the most intimate parts of your life, to being strangers with that person is probably one of the most painful experiences a person can go through. So Painful, the narrator wants to go back in time and tell himself to not even pursue the relationship.
This was the perfect song for "13 Reasons Why"
When We Were Young
Blink-182
Blink-182
This is a sequel to 2001's "Reckless Abandon", and features the band looking back on their clumsy youth fondly.
No Surprises
Radiohead
Radiohead
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.
Just A Little Lovin'
Dusty Springfield
Dusty Springfield
I don't think it's necessarily about sex. It's about wanting to start the day with some love and affection. Maybe a warm cuddle. I'm not alone in interpreting it that way! For example:
"'Just a Little Lovin’ is a timeless country song originally recorded by Eddy Arnold in 1954. The song, written by Eddie Miller and Jimmy Campbell, explores the delicate nuances of love and showcases Arnold’s emotive vocals. It delves into the universal theme of love and how even the smallest gesture of affection can have a profound impact on our lives." https://oldtimemusic.com/the-meaning-behind-the-song-just-a-little-lovin-by-eddy-arnold/
Perfect, just perfect.