"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.
As the sun comes creeping up the mountain
And the wind blows over from the sea
Hey, we're brought into this land like tiny particles of sand,
Unsure of who we're smarter than, or what we're meant to be
Oh the grains sift coarsely through the hour glass
And collect like their victims in the bowl
The ungodly force of change erodes all sense of earthly gains
While tending to the mundane will terrorize your soul
And it's no! It's no use thinking that you're wrong
The past is old and gone
It's best to move along and find your Avalon
Well, I wish that I could tell you it was easy,
Just take the paved road right to paradise
But the truth is my friend, the pain and suffering never ends
Make amends with medicine, amnesia, and lies
The grains sift coarsely through the hour glass
And they pound like boulders on the brain
All those things you did for fun,
Never hurting anyone,
Careless shadows in the sun, just empty and lame
And it's no, it's no use thinking that you're wrong
The past is old and gone
It's best to move along and find your Avalon
It's no use thinking that you're wrong
The past is dead and gone
It's best to move along and find your Avalon
So now the day races from the twilight
How the fields are enveloped by the shade
And the story that you'll tell,
Inventory of your well,
Crack the shell and find the mortar silted and decayed
And it's no! It's no use thinking that you're wrong
The past is dead and gone
It's best to move along and find your Avalon
It's best to hurry on and find your Avalon
And the wind blows over from the sea
Hey, we're brought into this land like tiny particles of sand,
Unsure of who we're smarter than, or what we're meant to be
Oh the grains sift coarsely through the hour glass
And collect like their victims in the bowl
The ungodly force of change erodes all sense of earthly gains
While tending to the mundane will terrorize your soul
And it's no! It's no use thinking that you're wrong
The past is old and gone
It's best to move along and find your Avalon
Well, I wish that I could tell you it was easy,
Just take the paved road right to paradise
But the truth is my friend, the pain and suffering never ends
Make amends with medicine, amnesia, and lies
The grains sift coarsely through the hour glass
And they pound like boulders on the brain
All those things you did for fun,
Never hurting anyone,
Careless shadows in the sun, just empty and lame
And it's no, it's no use thinking that you're wrong
The past is old and gone
It's best to move along and find your Avalon
It's no use thinking that you're wrong
The past is dead and gone
It's best to move along and find your Avalon
So now the day races from the twilight
How the fields are enveloped by the shade
And the story that you'll tell,
Inventory of your well,
Crack the shell and find the mortar silted and decayed
And it's no! It's no use thinking that you're wrong
The past is dead and gone
It's best to move along and find your Avalon
It's best to hurry on and find your Avalon
Lyrics submitted by BatteryLegion
Avalon Lyrics as written by Greg Graffin Brett W. Gurewitz
Lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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Alright first off I wanna say that this is probably the best song on the new album, (which pwns btw) except for maybe The Resist Stance. And also I don't know if anyone has noticed the drums about 20 seconds into the song, well, they are totally awesome and I thought you all needed to know that. Also I think the drums in this album sound a lot like that of Suffer, just sayin.
Alright about the meaning, Avalon is an island of folklore that supposedly people like King Arthur and immortal people go for paradise or something along the lines of paradise.
I think the song is saying to not live in the past, which is "old and gone." And that the line "it's best to move along and find your Avalon" is sarcasm, because there is no place like that. "The truth is my friends, the pain and suffering never ends" adds more to the idea that finding your Avalon is sarcasm.
I could be way off, if anyone can figure it out better than I can that would be awesome.
I am not sure if avalon is meant as sarcasm in this song.<br /> I read somewhere that avalon is a legendary island featured in the Arthurian legend, wikipedia says it is famous for its beautiful apples - which might be a nice fact to know :P. But it also says that: "It first appears in Geoffrey of Monmouth's 1136 pseudohistorical account Historia Regum Britanniae ("The History of the Kings of Britain") as the place where King Arthur's sword Caliburn (Excalibur) was forged and later where Arthur is taken to recover from his wounds after the Battle of Camlann."<br /> <br /> I would almost think Avalon is used as a methaphor.<br /> <br /> "And it's no! It's no use thinking that you're wrong. The past is old and gone. It's best to move along and find your Avalon."<br /> <br /> It doesn't matter what happened in the passed, just move along and find your avalon to heal your past wounds so you can move on.<br /> <br /> Though from the second chorus it seems to take a some kind of sarcastic turn when it states that: "I wish that I could tell you it was easy, just take the paved road right to paradise." and then it is followed by: "But the truth is my friend, the pain and suffering never ends. Make amends with medicine, amnesia, and lies."<br /> <br /> Sounds like the first chorus is focused on the mythical story where Avalon is described as "Isle of the Blessed", but the 2nd chorus aims at the reality and the fact that there actually is no such place as Avalon within our reality, but only in our thoughts if we actually believe in it.<br /> <br /> I am still a bit confused though.