"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.
We wiped out all the buffalo
Around the turn of the last century
And so its factories and sawgrass
Wheat fields and asphalt laid in front of me
The Midwest feels like a hollow place
That we filled with love and industry
And we're staring at the frozen ground in Goodwill suits
Silent as the pastor reads the eulogy
Well I, I wanted to see just a little bit of everything
Let me be
Two blackbirds on a highway sign
Are laughing at me at four in the morning
They played the war drum out of time
So I'm not sure where I've been marching
I want to be strong, but it's not easy anymore
I'm hoping I'm wrong
It's sixteen hours straight to home
From the heart of north Missouri
And so I searched through my great-grandpa's memoirs
For the devil in my bloodstream
Depression grabbed his throat and
Choked the life out of him slowly
I got the same blood coursing through my veins
It'll come for me eventually
I bet I'd be a fucking coward
I bet I'd never have the guts for war
Because I can't spend another month away from here
These frantic rest stop phone calls don't get answered anymore
But I, I wanted to know if I could please come home
So let me know
Two blackbirds on a highway sign
Are laughing at me at four in the morning
They played the war drum out of time
So I'm not sure where I've been marching
I want to be strong, but it's not easy anymore
I'm hoping I'm wrong
I'm hoping I'm wrong
I know how it feels to be
At war with the world
That never loved me
Two blackbirds on a highway sign
Are laughing at me at four in the morning
They played the war drum out of time
So I'm not sure where I've been marching
I want to be strong
I want to be strong, but it's not easy anymore
Around the turn of the last century
And so its factories and sawgrass
Wheat fields and asphalt laid in front of me
The Midwest feels like a hollow place
That we filled with love and industry
And we're staring at the frozen ground in Goodwill suits
Silent as the pastor reads the eulogy
Well I, I wanted to see just a little bit of everything
Let me be
Two blackbirds on a highway sign
Are laughing at me at four in the morning
They played the war drum out of time
So I'm not sure where I've been marching
I want to be strong, but it's not easy anymore
I'm hoping I'm wrong
It's sixteen hours straight to home
From the heart of north Missouri
And so I searched through my great-grandpa's memoirs
For the devil in my bloodstream
Depression grabbed his throat and
Choked the life out of him slowly
I got the same blood coursing through my veins
It'll come for me eventually
I bet I'd be a fucking coward
I bet I'd never have the guts for war
Because I can't spend another month away from here
These frantic rest stop phone calls don't get answered anymore
But I, I wanted to know if I could please come home
So let me know
Two blackbirds on a highway sign
Are laughing at me at four in the morning
They played the war drum out of time
So I'm not sure where I've been marching
I want to be strong, but it's not easy anymore
I'm hoping I'm wrong
I'm hoping I'm wrong
I know how it feels to be
At war with the world
That never loved me
Two blackbirds on a highway sign
Are laughing at me at four in the morning
They played the war drum out of time
So I'm not sure where I've been marching
I want to be strong
I want to be strong, but it's not easy anymore
Lyrics submitted by Mellow_Harsher
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Fast Car
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Little Feat
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The chorus offers a glimmer of optimism and a chance at a resolution and redemption in the future.
Captures the rollercoaster of emotions of feeling lost while loving someone who is not there for you, feeling let down and abandoned while waiting for a lover. Lost with no direction, "Now I'm up in the air with the rain in my hair, Nowhere to go, I can go anywhere"
The bridge shows signs of longing and a plea for companionship. The Lyrics express a desire for authentic connection and the importance of Loving someone just as they are. "Just in passing, I'm not asking. That you be anyone but you”
Dreamwalker
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I think much like another song “Anti-Matter” (that's also on the same album as this song), this one is also is inspired by a horrifying van crash the band experienced on Nov 3, 2022. This, much like the other track, sounds like it's an extension what they shared while huddled in the wreckage, as they helped frontman Garrett Russell stem the bleeding from his head wound while he was under the temporary effects of a concussion. The track speaks of where the mind goes at the most desperate & desolate of times, when it just about slips away to all but disconnect itself, and the aftermath.
Mountain Song
Jane's Addiction
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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."
I Can't Go To Sleep
Wu-Tang Clan
Wu-Tang Clan
This song is written as the perspective of the boys in the street, as a whole, and what path they are going to choose as they get older and grow into men. (This is why the music video takes place in an orphanage.) The seen, and unseen collective suffering is imbedded in the boys’ mind, consciously or subconsciously, and is haunting them. Which path will the boys choose? Issac Hayes is the voice of reason, maybe God, the angel on his shoulder, or the voice of his forefathers from beyond the grave who can see the big picture and are pleading with the boys not to continue the violence and pattern of killing their brothers, but to rise above. The most beautiful song and has so many levels. Racism towards African Americans in America would not exist if everyone sat down and listened to this song and understood the history behind the words. The power, fear, pleading in RZA and Ghostface voices are genuine and powerful. Issac Hayes’ strong voice makes the perfect strong father figure, who is possibly from beyond the grave.
The chorus: Two blackbirds can symbolize a lot of things. I like to think that those two blackbirds symbolize something similar to Blackbird by the Beatles. In this way, they could represent people overcoming difficulties (which could represent his great-grandfather). The fact that they are laughing at him, would further make sense. The birds are basically saying, by laughing, the line about how he claims “I bet I'd be a fucking coward, I bet I'd never have the guts for war”. He sees the blackbirds on the long drive home, which is why it’s 4am. I can’t say I know what he means by “I’m hoping I’m wrong”. I would guess maybe, he hopes he is wrong about having the devil in his bloodstream come for him eventually.
His great-grandfather had been in a war and at the funeral they play the war march. Apparently they played it out of time, or he felt like he was out of time and says this in a more metaphorical way, like when someone passes everything feels surreal.
The lines “I know how it feels to be, At war with the world, That never loved me” show how he can slightly relate to his great-grandfather because he struggles with depression, even if it is due to a genetic reason and not from facing an actual war. Gotta love how he attaches those two things so nicely.
Lastly, the first few lines at the very beginning might be things his great-grandfather used to say, “We wiped out all the buffalo around the turn of the last century…” etc. Older people tell stories a lot and that’s what I imagine inspired that part.
I think this song is talking about the generation of his grandfather. Describing his funeral and wondering about his life. How he can relate his life to his grandfathers. The blackbirds on the road he see's are like the war drum his grandfather heard while fighting in a war.
The difference that he found with his grandfather is that his grandfather knew where he was marching. He has to march into the unknown. Life on the road, is the making the right decision? Looking at his grandfathers life to try to resolve his conflicts.
Every time I hear this song and the line "Two blackbirds on a highway sign are laughing at me at four in the morning", all that comes to mind are the old cartoon magpies Heckle and Jeckle that would mock people. Maybe I'm wrong, but it could be a reference to something his Great-Grandfather liked as a child and maybe watched reruns with.....?
when i listen to this song i dont hear anything but a song about fighting depression and how its passed down. depression is "the devil in his bloodstream" hes heading back home for his great grandfathers funeral who committed suicide while he was on tour. thats my 2 cents at least...
2009 - 12 - 05: Soupy tweets "I only met my great grandfather once, but yesterday, he sold out his funeral. Must have been a great man. Reading his memoirs #theupsides"
4 years later this album comes out with the song I Just Want To Sell Out My Funeral and the lyrics "I searched through my great-grandpop's memoirs For the devil in my bloodstream".