"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.
I wanna buy you roses
'Cause the words are dead,
Follow in the blindness
On the arrow head
'Cause the words are dead
And you know it
Yeah the words are dead
Lower them down
Didn't know if you could
Deny the dead,
Leaving them in silence
On their moldy bed
Oh I am numb
And over
Their kingdom come
Lower me down
They are dead, they are dead
Oh, don't cry for me,
Oh, don't cry for me,
Oh, don't cry for me,
Oh, don't you cry for me
Lower them down in the ground
Lower them down in the ground
'Cause the words are dead,
Follow in the blindness
On the arrow head
'Cause the words are dead
And you know it
Yeah the words are dead
Lower them down
Didn't know if you could
Deny the dead,
Leaving them in silence
On their moldy bed
Oh I am numb
And over
Their kingdom come
Lower me down
They are dead, they are dead
Oh, don't cry for me,
Oh, don't cry for me,
Oh, don't cry for me,
Oh, don't you cry for me
Lower them down in the ground
Lower them down in the ground
Lyrics submitted by xKissxHerxBruisesx
Words Are Dead Lyrics as written by Agnes Caroline Thaarup Obel
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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The song seems to be describing a funeral ("lower them down"). In the song, someone's mourning the death of a loved one. They do this without words or any outward display of emotion. They mourn in silence ("'cause the words are dead") and feel numb inside. They want to honor the deceased in another way ("i wanna buy you roses") because they feel that words aren't enough to express what they feel. At the same time, though, they feel guilty about not being able to put into words how they feel about the death ("Didn't know if you could/ deny the dead/leaving them in silence/on their moldy bed").They are so torn up over who died that they wish to be dead too ("And over/their kingdom come/lower me down"). The mourner won't allow themselves to cry because they feel that the person who died would want them to stay strong and not 'cry for them' - no matter how much the griever wants to.
I saw Agnes perform this live recently and it really struck me how she injected anger into what I always considered to be a melancholy lament. Perhaps this represents her feelings about this song maturing and becoming less mournful? Anyway...
I think the song refers to the early stages of infatuation (I presume the arrowhead refers to cupid's arrow, and blindness refers to the common affliction experienced in the early stages of love). I think she is beginning to see someone as they really are, and they are not as considerate or affectionate as she'd allowed herself to believe. Words no longer hold any traction in their relationship (they "are dead") because deeds have revealed that the reality is not as sweet as the illusion she has been immersing herself in. Actions, as they say, speak louder than words.
I really love Agnes, although her lyrics are really hard to interpret.
I wanna buy you roses [there is word "you" so I think she is thinking about someone particular, roses are symbol of something nice that she really can't express by her words.] 'Cause the words are dead, [actions> words]
Follow in the blindness On the arrow head [we sometimes really just doing things, because other people doing them. But it is not necessary right.]
Didn't know if you could deny the dead, Leaving them in silence On their moldy bed Oh I am numb [ We mostly forgot about the beautiful thing in our past, by this I for example beginning of relationship and we sometimes start to act like idiots and hate our boyfriend or girlfriend, and our hate makes as blind. All of us just bury lot of nice and good things that happend in past. By the part "Oh I am numb" - she means that she knows there are no words in this whole world, in this whole kingdom to save this.]
I hear the lyrics as a tale of a love that is lost. No words can bring it back. It’s dead. You can’t fake that. Whether it’s lost due to infidelity or just not feeling love for someone anymore. It’s a very beautiful song. Love the way she writes.