"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 could be a hare and I'd
sneak into my private rivals dreaming I'm a burglar
Quick as any day in my
fleeting little chest of hopefuls
lost it to the burglars
I can be aware and ya
maybe I'm the same like pirates
likened to the burglars
Threat on any day and I'm
hiding from the hare who's also
hiding from the burglars
And I didn't get his name pow
shot him on the range yow
'cause he was a burglar
Happens in the parks boohoo
even in the old days stinking of the burglars
Happens in my home I never see it coming
When I was young
we used to put
alarms on our doors
and screens like a burglar net now that
I'm older I'm sure that's absurd
that's the word for the man
who collects who's he stealing from next
When I was young my parents yelled
beware of the ivory man that will steal and sell now that
I'm older those words are still pure
not the look of a crook in his books what's he taking from you?
And worried peeps go on about it
Say a lot of changes better come
A pocket full of change is emptied by
A little gawky bright and bubbly bird
Lots of heroes out there thinking bout it
but minutes of their lives are ticking down
And bottles full of love are drunken by
a tricky trite and thirsty hungry bird
Blooming tips on tulip cones that
Don't pay out they keep on growing
Costume thieves who never hand
back half of what you end up owing
Has this town really gotten much better
Are the burglars gonna keep on trying to meddle with it?
Has this town really gotten much better
are the burglars gonna keep on trying to meddle with it?
Has this town really gotten much better
are the burglars gonna keep on trying to meddle with it?
Has this town really gotten much better
are the burglars gonna keep on trying to meddle with it?
Probably driving your car with someone
Close up your head 'cause they
are reading your letters
come on pack up the bed for betters
Stealing from the day
Didn't take a second
Listened to a record
And they got away sneaky are the burglars
When I cross their way like a helpless chicken bones
Will soon be clinkin' wearing me for play bracelet on a burglar
Thought I was OK
not as bad as some and sunset
on the slums see another day happy are the burglars
Brush it all away or do I let it sink in?
Is it my ambition just to turn away?
Freedom for the burglars
Now what I got is bad as the burglars bring to the room
Still all I got is bad as the burglars bring to the room
But still what I got is bad as the burglars bring to the room
But still what I got is bad as the burglars bring to the room
What you think you own you don't watch out the burglars
sneak into my private rivals dreaming I'm a burglar
Quick as any day in my
fleeting little chest of hopefuls
lost it to the burglars
I can be aware and ya
maybe I'm the same like pirates
likened to the burglars
Threat on any day and I'm
hiding from the hare who's also
hiding from the burglars
And I didn't get his name pow
shot him on the range yow
'cause he was a burglar
Happens in the parks boohoo
even in the old days stinking of the burglars
Happens in my home I never see it coming
When I was young
we used to put
alarms on our doors
and screens like a burglar net now that
I'm older I'm sure that's absurd
that's the word for the man
who collects who's he stealing from next
When I was young my parents yelled
beware of the ivory man that will steal and sell now that
I'm older those words are still pure
not the look of a crook in his books what's he taking from you?
And worried peeps go on about it
Say a lot of changes better come
A pocket full of change is emptied by
A little gawky bright and bubbly bird
Lots of heroes out there thinking bout it
but minutes of their lives are ticking down
And bottles full of love are drunken by
a tricky trite and thirsty hungry bird
Blooming tips on tulip cones that
Don't pay out they keep on growing
Costume thieves who never hand
back half of what you end up owing
Has this town really gotten much better
Are the burglars gonna keep on trying to meddle with it?
Has this town really gotten much better
are the burglars gonna keep on trying to meddle with it?
Has this town really gotten much better
are the burglars gonna keep on trying to meddle with it?
Has this town really gotten much better
are the burglars gonna keep on trying to meddle with it?
Probably driving your car with someone
Close up your head 'cause they
are reading your letters
come on pack up the bed for betters
Stealing from the day
Didn't take a second
Listened to a record
And they got away sneaky are the burglars
When I cross their way like a helpless chicken bones
Will soon be clinkin' wearing me for play bracelet on a burglar
Thought I was OK
not as bad as some and sunset
on the slums see another day happy are the burglars
Brush it all away or do I let it sink in?
Is it my ambition just to turn away?
Freedom for the burglars
Now what I got is bad as the burglars bring to the room
Still all I got is bad as the burglars bring to the room
But still what I got is bad as the burglars bring to the room
But still what I got is bad as the burglars bring to the room
What you think you own you don't watch out the burglars
Lyrics submitted by Mellow_Harsher
The Burglars Lyrics as written by David Michael Portner Noah Benjamin Lennox
Lyrics © DOMINO PUBLISHING COMPANY
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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More Featured Meanings
Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman
Cajun Girl
Little Feat
Little Feat
Overall about difficult moments of disappointment and vulnerability. Having hope and longing, while remaining optimistic for the future. Encourages the belief that with each new morning there is a chance for things to improve.
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”
Holiday
Bee Gees
Bee Gees
@[Diderik:33655] "Your a holiday!" Was a popular term used in the 50s/60s to compliment someone on their all around. For example, not only are they beautiful, but they are fun and kind too ... just an all around "holiday".
I think your first comment is closer to being accurate. The singer/song writers state "Millions of eyes can see, yet why am i so blind!? When the someone else is me, its unkind its unkind". I believe hes referring to the girl toying with him and using him. He wants something deeper with her, thats why he allows himself to be as a puppet (even though for her fun and games) as long as it makes her happy. But he knows deep down that she doesnt really want to be serious with him and thats what makes him.
Dreamwalker
Silent Planet
Silent Planet
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.
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.
Taken from interview with Avey Tare on TinyMixtapes:
The idea of burglary and theft and possession is just something that has come up a lot over the years, and one of the things I think a lot about. To me a burglar spans the spectrum of specific humans, to natural disasters, such as the hurricanes that have devastated certain parts of the U.S. the last few years (and the world), to simpler things like a snake taking a bird’s eggs. Burglary is everywhere, and I find it interesting that as humans we take it so seriously when it seems like such a natural thing. I think at least in the West it says something about how materialistic we are, and how we define ourselves by what we “own.” So the burglars just move through this stream of thoughts on burglary, and does it in a fast frantic way in hopes that you get the feeling that the singers are running from something.
@blake11606 So cool... Animal Collective are lovely little geniuses. Such a simple idea turned into something really thought provoking and beautifully translated into song. Love these guys!!