"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.
Oh, the sky fell over cheap Korean monster-movie scenery
And spilled into the mezzanine of the crushed capsule hotel
Between the Disney abattoir and the chemical refinery
I knew I was in trouble but I thought I was in hell
So you look around the tiny room and you wonder where the hell you are
While the K.K.K. convention are all stranded in the bar
They wear hoods and carry shotguns in the main streets of Montgomery
But they're helpless here as babies 'cause they're only here on holiday
What do we care if the world is a joke? (Tokyo Storm Warning)
We'll give it a big kiss, we'll give it a poke (Tokyo Storm Warning)
Death wears a big hat 'cause he's a big bloke (Tokyo Storm Warning)
We're only living this instant
Well, the black sand stuck beneath her feet in a warm Sorrento sunrise
A barefoot girl from Naples or was it a Barcelona hi-rise?
Whistles out the tuneless theme song of a hundred cheap suggestions
And a million false seductions and all those eternal questions
Well, what do we care if the world is a joke? (Tokyo Storm Warning)
Oh, we'll give it a big kiss, we'll give it a poke (Tokyo Storm Warning)
Death wears a big hat 'cause he's a big bloke (Tokyo Storm Warning)
We're only living this instant
So they flew the Super-Constellation all the way from Rimini
And feasted them on fish and chips from a newspaper facsimile
Now dead Italian tourist bodies litter up the Broadway
Some people can't be told, you know they have to learn the hard way
Holidays are dirt-cheap in the Costa del Malvinas
In the Hotel Argentina they can hardly tell between us
For Teresa is a waitress, though she's now known as Juanita
In a tango bar in Stanley or in Puerto Margarita
She's the sweetest and the sauciest
The loveliest and naughtiest
She's Miss Buenos Aires in a world of lacy lingerie
What do we care if the world is a joke? (Tokyo Storm Warning)
We'll give it a big kiss, we'll give it a poke (Tokyo Storm Warning)
Death wears a big hat 'cause he's a big bloke (Tokyo Storm Warning)
We're only living this instant
Japanese God, Jesus robots telling teenage fortunes
For all we know and all we care they might as well be Martians
They say gold paint on the palace gates comes from the teeth of pensioners
They're so tired of shooting protest singers
That they hardly mention us
While fountains fill with second-hand perfume and sodden trading stamps
They'll hang the bullies and the louts that dampen down the day
What do we care if the world is a joke? (Tokyo Storm Warning)
We'll give it a big kiss, we'll give it a poke (Tokyo Storm Warning)
Death wears a big hat 'cause he's a big bloke (Tokyo Storm Warning)
We're only living this instant, hey
We braved the cold November air and the undertaker's curses, saying
"Take me to the Folies Bergères, and please don't spare the hearses"
For he always had a dream of that revolver in your purse
How you loved him 'till you hated him and made him cry for mercy
He said "don't ever mention my name there or talk of all the nights you cried
We've always been like worlds apart, now you're seeing two nightmares collide"
What do we care if the world is a joke? (Tokyo Storm Warning)
We'll give it a big kiss, we'll give it a poke (Tokyo Storm Warning)
Death wears a big hat 'cause he's a big bloke (Tokyo Storm Warning)
We're only living this instant, hey, ow!
Ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba!
And spilled into the mezzanine of the crushed capsule hotel
Between the Disney abattoir and the chemical refinery
I knew I was in trouble but I thought I was in hell
So you look around the tiny room and you wonder where the hell you are
While the K.K.K. convention are all stranded in the bar
They wear hoods and carry shotguns in the main streets of Montgomery
But they're helpless here as babies 'cause they're only here on holiday
What do we care if the world is a joke? (Tokyo Storm Warning)
We'll give it a big kiss, we'll give it a poke (Tokyo Storm Warning)
Death wears a big hat 'cause he's a big bloke (Tokyo Storm Warning)
We're only living this instant
Well, the black sand stuck beneath her feet in a warm Sorrento sunrise
A barefoot girl from Naples or was it a Barcelona hi-rise?
Whistles out the tuneless theme song of a hundred cheap suggestions
And a million false seductions and all those eternal questions
Well, what do we care if the world is a joke? (Tokyo Storm Warning)
Oh, we'll give it a big kiss, we'll give it a poke (Tokyo Storm Warning)
Death wears a big hat 'cause he's a big bloke (Tokyo Storm Warning)
We're only living this instant
So they flew the Super-Constellation all the way from Rimini
And feasted them on fish and chips from a newspaper facsimile
Now dead Italian tourist bodies litter up the Broadway
Some people can't be told, you know they have to learn the hard way
Holidays are dirt-cheap in the Costa del Malvinas
In the Hotel Argentina they can hardly tell between us
For Teresa is a waitress, though she's now known as Juanita
In a tango bar in Stanley or in Puerto Margarita
She's the sweetest and the sauciest
The loveliest and naughtiest
She's Miss Buenos Aires in a world of lacy lingerie
What do we care if the world is a joke? (Tokyo Storm Warning)
We'll give it a big kiss, we'll give it a poke (Tokyo Storm Warning)
Death wears a big hat 'cause he's a big bloke (Tokyo Storm Warning)
We're only living this instant
Japanese God, Jesus robots telling teenage fortunes
For all we know and all we care they might as well be Martians
They say gold paint on the palace gates comes from the teeth of pensioners
They're so tired of shooting protest singers
That they hardly mention us
While fountains fill with second-hand perfume and sodden trading stamps
They'll hang the bullies and the louts that dampen down the day
What do we care if the world is a joke? (Tokyo Storm Warning)
We'll give it a big kiss, we'll give it a poke (Tokyo Storm Warning)
Death wears a big hat 'cause he's a big bloke (Tokyo Storm Warning)
We're only living this instant, hey
We braved the cold November air and the undertaker's curses, saying
"Take me to the Folies Bergères, and please don't spare the hearses"
For he always had a dream of that revolver in your purse
How you loved him 'till you hated him and made him cry for mercy
He said "don't ever mention my name there or talk of all the nights you cried
We've always been like worlds apart, now you're seeing two nightmares collide"
What do we care if the world is a joke? (Tokyo Storm Warning)
We'll give it a big kiss, we'll give it a poke (Tokyo Storm Warning)
Death wears a big hat 'cause he's a big bloke (Tokyo Storm Warning)
We're only living this instant, hey, ow!
Ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba!
Lyrics submitted by SongMeanings
Tokyo Storm Warning Lyrics as written by Elvis Costello Cait O'riordan
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
Add your thoughts
Log in now to tell us what you think this song means.
Don’t have an account? Create an account with SongMeanings to post comments, submit lyrics, and more. It’s super easy, we promise!
More Featured Meanings
Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman
Mountain Song
Jane's Addiction
Jane's Addiction
Jane's Addiction vocalist Perry Farrell gives Adam Reader some heartfelt insight into Jane’s Addiction's hard rock manifesto "Mountain Song", which was the second single from their revolutionary album Nothing's Shocking. Mountain song was first recorded in 1986 and appeared on the soundtrack to the film Dudes starring Jon Cryer. The version on Nothing's Shocking was re-recorded in 1988.
"'Mountain Song' was actually about... I hate to say it but... drugs. Climbing this mountain and getting as high as you can, and then coming down that mountain," reveals Farrell. "What it feels to descend from the mountain top... not easy at all. The ascension is tough but exhilarating. Getting down is... it's a real bummer. Drugs is not for everybody obviously. For me, I wanted to experience the heights, and the lows come along with it."
"There's a part - 'Cash in now honey, cash in Miss Smith.' Miss Smith is my Mother; our last name was Smith. Cashing in when she cashed in her life. So... she decided that, to her... at that time, she was desperate. Life wasn't worth it for her, that was her opinion. Some people think, never take your life, and some people find that their life isn't worth living. She was in love with my Dad, and my Dad was not faithful to her, and it broke her heart. She was very desperate and she did something that I know she regrets."
Gentle Hour
Yo La Tengo
Yo La Tengo
This song was originally written by a guy called Peter Gutteridge. He was one of the founders of the "Dunedin Sound" a musical scene in the south of New Zealand in the early 80s. From there it was covered by "The Clean" one of the early bands of that scene (he had originally been a member of in it's early days, writing a couple of their best early songs). The Dunedin sound, and the Clean became popular on american college radio in the mid to late 80s. I guess Yo La Tengo heard that version.
Great version of a great song,
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.
Punchline
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran sings about missing his former partner and learning important life lessons in the process on “Punchline.” This track tells a story of battling to get rid of emotions for a former lover, whom he now realized might not have loved him the same way. He’s now caught between accepting that fact and learning life lessons from it and going back to beg her for another chance.