"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.
It's a terrible love and I'm walking with spiders
It's a terrible love and I'm walking in
It's a terrible love and I'm walking with spiders
It's a terrible love and I'm walking in
This quiet company
This quiet company
It's a terrible love and I'm walking with spiders
It's a terrible love and I'm walking in
It's a terrible love and I'm walking with spiders
It's a terrible love and I'm walking in
This quiet company
This quiet company
This quiet company
And I can't fall asleep
Without a little help
It takes a while to settle down
My shivered bones
Until the panic's out
It takes an ocean not to break
It takes an ocean not to break
It takes an ocean not to break
It takes an ocean not to break
Company
This quiet company
This quiet company
But I won't follow you
Into the rabbit hole
I said I would but then I saw
Your shivered bones
They didn't want me to
It's a terrible love and I'm walking with spiders
It's a terrible love and I'm walking in
It's a terrible love and I'm walking with spiders
It's a terrible love and I'm walking in
It takes an ocean not to break
It takes an ocean not to break
It takes an ocean not to break
It's a terrible love and I'm walking in
It's a terrible love and I'm walking with spiders
It's a terrible love and I'm walking in
This quiet company
This quiet company
It's a terrible love and I'm walking with spiders
It's a terrible love and I'm walking in
It's a terrible love and I'm walking with spiders
It's a terrible love and I'm walking in
This quiet company
This quiet company
This quiet company
And I can't fall asleep
Without a little help
It takes a while to settle down
My shivered bones
Until the panic's out
It takes an ocean not to break
It takes an ocean not to break
It takes an ocean not to break
It takes an ocean not to break
Company
This quiet company
This quiet company
But I won't follow you
Into the rabbit hole
I said I would but then I saw
Your shivered bones
They didn't want me to
It's a terrible love and I'm walking with spiders
It's a terrible love and I'm walking in
It's a terrible love and I'm walking with spiders
It's a terrible love and I'm walking in
It takes an ocean not to break
It takes an ocean not to break
It takes an ocean not to break
Lyrics submitted by neah17068, edited by dpf62984, hnavarro, SpankySnail, Pimpimpula, QueensEnglish
Terrible Love Lyrics as written by Aaron Brooking Dessner Matthew Donald Berninger
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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It's a terrible love and I'm walking with spiders It's a terrible love and I'm walkin' in its quiet company (etc with minor variations)
And I can't fall asleep without a little help It takes a lot to settle down I sailed a boat into the past except It takes an ocean not to break
But I won't follow you into the rabbit hole And I said I would but then I saw your skin and bones they didn't want me to
Like So Far Around The Bend, it's about watching people you love lost in self destruction. Spiders catch prey in webs. So, whatever he's taking to sleep, it's bringing him close to the edge and whoever he's singing about is already too far around the bend. He's always talking about the edge of temptation, the tipping point of personal wholeness. Actually, it's a lot like Achtung Baby era Bono.