"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.
The half-backflip
Conception state hospital birth
The most threadbare, tall story the country has ever heard
Brought home to breath smoke in the arms of her mother
The blunt kitchen knife, who just lays in a submissive position
Beneath a national weight, and the slow arc of a fist
Her heart beats like a breezeblock, thrown down the stairs
Her blood is thicker than concrete, forced to be brave, she was
Born into a grave
And in the limp through years of bored schooling
She's accustomed to hearing that she could never run far
A slipped disc in the spine of community
A bloody curse word in a pedestrian verse
Spirits in graveyards and fingers in car parks
She cries on the high street just to be heard.
A screaming anchor for nothing in particular
At the foot of the fuck of it
Dragging her heels in the dirt
Her heart beats like a breezeblock, thrown down the stairs
Her blood is thicker than concrete, forced to be brave, she was
Born into a grave
The cheek of youth flashed red and turned grey
Now she lies on the pavement she is helped to her feet
All thighs, hair and magpie handbags
Saturday's uniform for the 'fuck me' parade
Brought home to keep warm in the arms of a plumber, ruddy and balding
Who just needs a spine to dig in to
A chest for the head and a hand for the holding
Her heart beats like a breezeblock, thrown down the stairs
Her blood is thicker than concrete, forced to be brave, she was
She was
Her heart beats like a breezeblock, thrown down the stairs
Her skin is thicker than concrete, forced to be brave, she was
She was
A broken elevator anthem, held between floors
But if blood is thicker than concrete, all is not lost.
All is not lost
All is not lost
All is not lost
All is not lost
Conception state hospital birth
The most threadbare, tall story the country has ever heard
Brought home to breath smoke in the arms of her mother
The blunt kitchen knife, who just lays in a submissive position
Beneath a national weight, and the slow arc of a fist
Her heart beats like a breezeblock, thrown down the stairs
Her blood is thicker than concrete, forced to be brave, she was
Born into a grave
And in the limp through years of bored schooling
She's accustomed to hearing that she could never run far
A slipped disc in the spine of community
A bloody curse word in a pedestrian verse
Spirits in graveyards and fingers in car parks
She cries on the high street just to be heard.
A screaming anchor for nothing in particular
At the foot of the fuck of it
Dragging her heels in the dirt
Her heart beats like a breezeblock, thrown down the stairs
Her blood is thicker than concrete, forced to be brave, she was
Born into a grave
The cheek of youth flashed red and turned grey
Now she lies on the pavement she is helped to her feet
All thighs, hair and magpie handbags
Saturday's uniform for the 'fuck me' parade
Brought home to keep warm in the arms of a plumber, ruddy and balding
Who just needs a spine to dig in to
A chest for the head and a hand for the holding
Her heart beats like a breezeblock, thrown down the stairs
Her blood is thicker than concrete, forced to be brave, she was
She was
Her heart beats like a breezeblock, thrown down the stairs
Her skin is thicker than concrete, forced to be brave, she was
She was
A broken elevator anthem, held between floors
But if blood is thicker than concrete, all is not lost.
All is not lost
All is not lost
All is not lost
All is not lost
Lyrics submitted by wyndhamhrt, edited by everestdesign, johninky, smallwonderrobot, eliot01, stall0ut, rossb93, virtuallypainless
State Hospital Lyrics as written by David William Lawrence Kennedy Andy Monaghan
Lyrics © DOMINO PUBLISHING COMPANY
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
Bron-Y-Aur Stomp
Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin
This is about bronies. They communicate by stomping.
Magical
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
How would you describe the feeling of being in love? For Ed Sheeran, the word is “Magical.” in HIS three-minute album opener, he makes an attempt to capture the beauty and delicacy of true love with words. He describes the magic of it all over a bright Pop song produced by Aaron Dessner.
Blue
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
“Blue” is a song about a love that is persisting in the discomfort of the person experiencing the emotion. Ed Sheeran reflects on love lost, and although he wishes his former partner find happiness, he cannot but admit his feelings are still very much there. He expresses the realization that he might never find another on this stringed instrumental by Aaron Dessner.
American Town
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran shares a short story of reconnecting with an old flame on “American Town.” The track is about a holiday Ed Sheeran spends with his countrywoman who resides in America. The two are back together after a long period apart, and get around to enjoying a bunch of fun activities while rekindling the flames of their romance.
"In the limp through years of bored schooling, She's accustomed to hearing That she can never run far A slipped disc in the spine of community A bloody curse word made pedestrian verse
Spirits in graveyards and fingers in carparks She cries in the high street just to be heard
The whole things full of mistakes. Submitted a correction but apparently they take their time approving..
The song is about someone being born in a bad environment with people who don't deserve to be parents.
The first verse sets the scene. The first line suggests a birth which was un intended and unwanted. The 'threadbare,tall story' is just a a worn down block of flats in a rough area.
The imagery with the 'blunt kitchen knife' says to me the mother is already killing her child slowly with passive smoking and she it seems like she is a drug user and is she's away with it. The 'slow arc of a fist' could mean she could be abusing the child or could be to do with the drugs that she is not fully conscious.
The chorus goes straight in to the child being older and being abused by her mother and the 'born into a grave' says she never had any hope with the environment she was brought up in.
'She’s accustomed to hearing that she could never run far'
Society including teachers have her believing that she won't make anything of herself that she won't get anywhere in life. She was born to fail.
'Now she lies on the pavement, she is helped to her feet All thighs, hair and magpie handbags Saturday’s uniform for the 'fuck me' parade'
She's older again and she is drunk and stumbling about. She is dressed up in indecent clothes which you would associate with a prostitute. This could mean she is a prostitute out selling herself in 'her uniform' and ready to work.
'Her blood is thicker than concrete Forced to be brave, she was A broken elevator anthem held between floors
The last verse says suggest there is still hope for her and she can get herself out of the world she's living in. The 'She was' is in a past tense saying she was stuck in the same horrible place and she has now escaped it.
'But if blood is thicker than concrete, all is not lost All is not lost, all is not lost'
Throughout the song the line 'her blood is thicker than concrete' and in the final verse it's saying that because of this she still has hope and 'all is not lost'.
Beautiful explanation
I think you're taking too much of a shit on the mother. While obviously not a great parent, the song's more about the bigger picture: the UK's classism and failing welfare state than an indictment of her child-rearing abilities. Hence lines about limp board schools, sexual references involving the national weight, and even the title being "STATE Hospital".<br /> <br /> "The most threadbare, tall story the country has ever heard" is a clever turn of phrase linking the shitty block of apartments you mentioned with a Scottish version of the American Dream: the idea that anyone can rise above their circumstances and how it's transparently bullshit.<br /> <br /> "The blunt kitchen knife<br /> Who just lays in a submissive position<br /> Beneath a national weight and the slow arc of a fist"<br /> <br /> This bit refers to the mother having been just as fucked over by her spot in the social hierarchy as her daughter, and possibly that she's being abused by her husband if that fist isn't metaphorical; not that the daughter being physically abused, as this verse is specifically about the mother. (Not sure about the blunt kitchen knife thing, so you may be right about that.) Probably verbally abused though; "A screaming anchor for nothing in particular" makes me think of parents blaming their children for holding them back when the reality is they weren't going anywhere in life anyway.<br /> <br /> So yeah, good interpretation but you missed the political side of it I think.
Lyrics are now correct as seen in the CD Booklet