"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.
Drop like "get up", take to the streets
Better lock that kid up, face full of teeth
When he hock that spit up, pacing the beat like a beast
Rocking the block on repeat
Speak from the cut like a rush of blood
Paint red on the sleeves of the ones you love
Lay the sick ones down and the bells will ring
Put pennies on the eyes, let the dead men sing
I shiver and shake the warm air cold
I'm alone on my own
In every mistake, I dig this hole
Through my skin and bones
It's harder starting over
Than never to have changed
With blackbirds following me
I'm digging out my grave
They close in, swallowing me
The pain, it comes in waves
I'm getting back what I gave
I sweat through the sheet as daylight fades
As I waste away
It traps me inside mistakes I've made
That's the price I pay
It's harder starting over
Than never to have changed
With blackbirds following me
I'm digging out my grave
They close in, swallowing me
The pain, it comes in waves (yeah)
I'm getting back what I gave
I drop to the floor like I did before
Stop watching, I'm coughing, I can't be more
What I want and what I need are at constant war
Like a well full of poison, a rotten core
The blood goes thin, the fever stings
And I shake from the hell that the habits bring
Let the sick ones down, the bells will ring
Put pennies on the eyes, let the dead men sing
Blackbirds following me
I'm digging out my grave
They close in, swallowing me
The pain, it comes in waves
I'm getting back what I gave
I'm getting back what I gave
I'm getting back what I gave
Better lock that kid up, face full of teeth
When he hock that spit up, pacing the beat like a beast
Rocking the block on repeat
Speak from the cut like a rush of blood
Paint red on the sleeves of the ones you love
Lay the sick ones down and the bells will ring
Put pennies on the eyes, let the dead men sing
I shiver and shake the warm air cold
I'm alone on my own
In every mistake, I dig this hole
Through my skin and bones
It's harder starting over
Than never to have changed
With blackbirds following me
I'm digging out my grave
They close in, swallowing me
The pain, it comes in waves
I'm getting back what I gave
I sweat through the sheet as daylight fades
As I waste away
It traps me inside mistakes I've made
That's the price I pay
It's harder starting over
Than never to have changed
With blackbirds following me
I'm digging out my grave
They close in, swallowing me
The pain, it comes in waves (yeah)
I'm getting back what I gave
I drop to the floor like I did before
Stop watching, I'm coughing, I can't be more
What I want and what I need are at constant war
Like a well full of poison, a rotten core
The blood goes thin, the fever stings
And I shake from the hell that the habits bring
Let the sick ones down, the bells will ring
Put pennies on the eyes, let the dead men sing
Blackbirds following me
I'm digging out my grave
They close in, swallowing me
The pain, it comes in waves
I'm getting back what I gave
I'm getting back what I gave
I'm getting back what I gave
Lyrics submitted by MusicFREAK20
Blackbirds Lyrics as written by Robert G. Bourdon Chester Charles Bennington
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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I think they are simply talking about a person that had made lot of mistakes and behaved badly in the past.
"Drop that get up Take it to the streets better lock that kid up Face full of teeth when you hock that spit up Pacing the beat like a beast Rocking the block on repeat Speak from the cut like a rush of blood Paint red on the sleeves of the ones you love Lay the sick ones down and the bells will ring Put pennies on the eyes, let the dead men sing"
Mike is describing a selfish/violent man and his actions using a metaphorical language
"I shiver and shake the warm air cold I'm alone on my own In every mistake I dig this hole Through my skin and bones It's harder starting over Than never to have changed"
The bad behavior has led this man to dig his grave, but he's trying to change (late is better than never).
"With blackbirds following me I'm digging out my grave They close in swallowing me The pain it comes in waves I'm getting back what I gave"
Blackbirds are all the consequences of the bad things that this man has done in the past. However, he's trying to change, to emerge from the underground (digging OUT the grave). But "blackbirds" are very close to him and are having their effects (causing pain in the man). He is getting back what he gave (he created pain, and now takes it back).