"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.
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Like faithful oxen through the chalk,
With dragging tails of history walk.
Soon confuse the compass and the cross.
Carefully and cursively we fill our traveling diaries with loss.
Beneath an angry Bible flood,
Did you and I first learn to love.
In my father's car we came to know.
And shivered in our painted clothes and paired like every animal below.
As heavy as a history book can be,
I will carry it with me, oh Lord.
And maybe when the bitterness has gone,
There'll be sweetness on our tongues once more.
Barefoot in a rowing boat,
You lose your shoes and freeze your toes.
And say I wear my sorrow like a crown.
And throw your arms around my head, and see it there in gold and red and brown.
As heavy as a history book can be,
I will carry it with me, oh Lord.
And maybe when the bitterness has gone,
There'll be sweetness on our tongues once more.
We'll soon forget our parents' names,
Like dogs will drive the wolves away.
And weep with fingertips opposed,
Like a church where nobody congregates.
But sweetness sings in the pasture,
We throw ourselves on the mercy of the earth.
If sand and salt have the answer,
Then the act itself will be louder than the word.
And I'll be on your side.
Like faithful oxen through the chalk,
With dragging tails of history walk.
Soon confuse the compass and the cross.
Carefully and cursively we fill our traveling diaries with loss.
Beneath an angry Bible flood,
Did you and I first learn to love.
In my father's car we came to know.
And shivered in our painted clothes and paired like every animal below.
As heavy as a history book can be,
I will carry it with me, oh Lord.
And maybe when the bitterness has gone,
There'll be sweetness on our tongues once more.
Barefoot in a rowing boat,
You lose your shoes and freeze your toes.
And say I wear my sorrow like a crown.
And throw your arms around my head, and see it there in gold and red and brown.
As heavy as a history book can be,
I will carry it with me, oh Lord.
And maybe when the bitterness has gone,
There'll be sweetness on our tongues once more.
We'll soon forget our parents' names,
Like dogs will drive the wolves away.
And weep with fingertips opposed,
Like a church where nobody congregates.
But sweetness sings in the pasture,
We throw ourselves on the mercy of the earth.
If sand and salt have the answer,
Then the act itself will be louder than the word.
And I'll be on your side.
Lyrics submitted by heartsrhythm
History Book Lyrics as written by Jonathan Warren Jon Warren
Lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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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.
To me, the entire album 'Shallow Bed' is about childhood sweethearts growing up in the Bible Belt. Their relationship seems to have started off sweet, but gradually lost it's innocence and died off over the years due to his leaving (in spite of his willingness to return to her when things got bad) and her alcoholic parents. It's possible that the couple were married, and she became ill and passed away ('my flower, struck down in sickness' (Shaker Hymns) 'Lion's Den' being the aftermath of her death and 'Family''s 'follow your mother, your father and brother back home'. it's been established that her mother and father were alcoholics and possibly suicidal (lo and behold! your father had drunk all the fuel).
Anyway, I feel like 'History Book' is about the relationship between the boy and the girl taking a newer level. Not only are they acknowledging that their love, their relationship, is 'as heavy as a history book can be', I believe that 'In my father's car we came to know. And shivered in our painted clothes and paired like every animal below.' is a reference to them losing their virginity to one another in his fathers car (Captain Obvious, tyvm), but the 'bitterness, could be from her losing it (being in a religious community, she could feel a degree of shame), or it could be the bitterness she has to deal with with alcoholic parents/tough childhood. He's trying to comfort her by saying there will be nothing but sweetness once that goes away and he will always love her.