The song lyrics were written by the band Van Halen, as they were asked to write a song for the 1979 movie "Over the Edge" starring Matt Dillon. The movie (and the lyrics, although more obliquely) are about bored, rebellious youth with nothing better to do than get into trouble. If you see the movie, these lyrics will make more sense. It's a great movie if you grew up in the 70s/80s you'll definitely remember some of these characters from your own life. Fun fact, after writing the song, Van Halen decided not to let the movie use it.
Come on get in the car
Lets go for a ride somewhere
I won't hurt you
As much as you hurt me
Let me take you there
Before the sun goes down
Come on give me your love
Come on baby all you have
I want to take your breathe away
Comon baby
Just like that, you say
You make me feel so crazy
Come on get in the car
Lets go for a ride somewhere
I won't hurt you
You make me feel so crazy
Come on get in the car
Lets go for a ride somewhere
I won't hurt you
As much as you hurt me
Let me take you there
Before the sun goes down
Come on give me your love
Come on baby all you have
I want to take your breathe away
Come on baby
Just like that, you say
You make me feel so crazy
Come on get in the car
Lets go for a ride somewhere
You make me feel so good
You make me feel so crazy
Lets go for a ride somewhere
I won't hurt you
As much as you hurt me
Let me take you there
Before the sun goes down
Come on give me your love
Come on baby all you have
I want to take your breathe away
Comon baby
Just like that, you say
You make me feel so crazy
Come on get in the car
Lets go for a ride somewhere
I won't hurt you
You make me feel so crazy
Come on get in the car
Lets go for a ride somewhere
I won't hurt you
As much as you hurt me
Let me take you there
Before the sun goes down
Come on give me your love
Come on baby all you have
I want to take your breathe away
Come on baby
Just like that, you say
You make me feel so crazy
Come on get in the car
Lets go for a ride somewhere
You make me feel so good
You make me feel so crazy
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"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.
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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.
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Punchline
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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.
Wow, this song has always seriously fucked with my mind in the most glorious way... I prefer the version on the live single/EP Cotton Crown/PCH but the studio version from Sister is amazing too.
What gets me is the juxtaposition between the lyrical portions of the song, which are so urgent and tense and raw, and the instrumental part in the middle, which is so grand with woozy, disorienting beauty that it makes my brain spin. I've commuted on the PCH for 14 years and there are days that I feel that beauty, my head like a balloon, making me nearly laugh out loud - how can I be seeing the sun sparkling on the water like this, like a painting, like an advertisement for that idea of California that we all know isn't true but we still want to believe in... mountains rising to the east... you could almost reach out and touch the Farallones... and is that a fucking WHALE?!??!
And then there are days I don't really see anything at all, head down with the stress of life... "COME ON GET IN THE CAR!", nothing but the raw shit of mundane existence.
So what's the narrator of this song going through while she's singing? Abduction? Seduction? Where is she when pure, instrumental bliss washes over her? To me this song is about those highs and lows, their strangeness, their purity, two sides of the same coin. Recently a few cars have gone over the edge of my little stretch of the PCH with much debate in their wake. Was it an accident or a suicide? Do we need a guardrail or barrier, better access to mental health care?
Instead I wonder, as they plunged, were they uttering clenched, angry words or awash with gorgeous chords straddling harmony and dissonance as the sun set beneath the fog, lighting up the sky? It's all there on the PCH.
I keep listening to this song Its really eerie in the dark About rape rape maybe? Or Sexual assault?
@whiskeyclonehotel <br /> It's about Ted Bundy
Revenge?
i went to see these guys live and had the lyrics to this written on the whole back of my tee.
I think it's about a relationship where one person wants to go faster than the other. The person wants all the love they can get, but the other doesn't feel that way. They split, but he comes back wanting an answer, some time to talk, a car ride. Something to win her back.
I love the line "I won't hurt you. As much as you hurt me"
I read an interview where Kim stated beyond any doubt that PCH was an allusion to how Ted Bundy would cruise the highway looking for his victims. It's a horrible vision and subject, but as the other comments have shown, it's so abstract that the lyric can be made completely personal