"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.
Well, take an eye for an eye
A tooth for a tooth
Just like they say in the Bible
Well, never leave a trace or forget a face
Of any man at the table
Any man at the table
When the moon is a cold chiseled dagger
And it's sharp enough to draw blood from a stone
He rides through your dreams on a coach and horses
And the fenceposts in the moonlight look like bones
Well they've stopped trying to hold him
With mortar, stone and chain
He broke out of every prison
When the boots mount the staircase
And the door is flung back open
He's not there for he has risen
He's not there for he has risen
Some say he once killed a man with a guitar string
He's been seen at the table with kings
Well, he once saved a baby from drowning
There are those who say beneath his coat there are wings
Well, some say they fear him
Well, some say they fear him
Others admire him
Because he steals his promise
But one look in his eye
And everyone denies
Ever having met him
Ever having met him
He can turn himself into a stranger
Well, they broke a lot of canes on his hide
He was born away in a cornfield
A fever beats in his head just like a drum inside
Some say they fear him
Others admire him
Because he steals his promise
But one look in his eye
Everyone denies
Ever having met him
Ever having met him
Ever having met him
Ever having met him
Ever having met him
Ever having met him
A tooth for a tooth
Just like they say in the Bible
Well, never leave a trace or forget a face
Of any man at the table
Any man at the table
When the moon is a cold chiseled dagger
And it's sharp enough to draw blood from a stone
He rides through your dreams on a coach and horses
And the fenceposts in the moonlight look like bones
Well they've stopped trying to hold him
With mortar, stone and chain
He broke out of every prison
When the boots mount the staircase
And the door is flung back open
He's not there for he has risen
He's not there for he has risen
Some say he once killed a man with a guitar string
He's been seen at the table with kings
Well, he once saved a baby from drowning
There are those who say beneath his coat there are wings
Well, some say they fear him
Well, some say they fear him
Others admire him
Because he steals his promise
But one look in his eye
And everyone denies
Ever having met him
Ever having met him
He can turn himself into a stranger
Well, they broke a lot of canes on his hide
He was born away in a cornfield
A fever beats in his head just like a drum inside
Some say they fear him
Others admire him
Because he steals his promise
But one look in his eye
Everyone denies
Ever having met him
Ever having met him
Ever having met him
Ever having met him
Ever having met him
Ever having met him
Lyrics submitted by yuri_sucupira
Black Wings Lyrics as written by Thomas Alan Waits Kathleen Brennan
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, JALMA MUSIC
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
The Night We Met
Lord Huron
Lord Huron
This is a hauntingly beautiful song about introspection, specifically about looking back at a relationship that started bad and ended so poorly, that the narrator wants to go back to the very beginning and tell himself to not even travel down that road. I believe that the relationship started poorly because of the lines:
"Take me back to the night we met:When the night was full of terrors: And your eyes were filled with tears: When you had not touched me yet"
So, the first night was not a great start, but the narrator pursued the relationship and eventually both overcame the rough start to fall in love with each other:
"I had all and then most of you"
Like many relationships that turn sour, it was not a quick decline, but a gradual one where the narrator and their partner fall out of love and gradually grow apart
"Some and now none of you"
Losing someone who was once everything in your world, who you could confide in, tell your secrets to, share all the most intimate parts of your life, to being strangers with that person is probably one of the most painful experiences a person can go through. So Painful, the narrator wants to go back in time and tell himself to not even pursue the relationship.
This was the perfect song for "13 Reasons Why"
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.
Mountain Song
Jane's Addiction
Jane's Addiction
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."
Gentle Hour
Yo La Tengo
Yo La Tengo
This song was originally written by a guy called Peter Gutteridge. He was one of the founders of the "Dunedin Sound" a musical scene in the south of New Zealand in the early 80s. From there it was covered by "The Clean" one of the early bands of that scene (he had originally been a member of in it's early days, writing a couple of their best early songs). The Dunedin sound, and the Clean became popular on american college radio in the mid to late 80s. I guess Yo La Tengo heard that version.
Great version of a great song,
This song is mixed cultural metaphors for death around the world. This is also the first that I ever heard from Tom and was hooked afterwards.
You know what this song is about?
It's about Batman.
I think this song is about William Tell.
Not so much what this song is about, but more what's about this song. It really reminds me of the movie No Country For Old Men, more particularly the creepy assassin.
This song always reminds me of Randall Flagg. lol
black wings is the ultimate avenger. everyone who has ever crossed him has been screwed over, but he'll save an innocent baby from drowning
Pure and simple, this is about death and it's inevitability and the all pervasive dread that it inspires. People try to avoid death, try to act like it's never touched their lives, try to beat it back but it always wins in the end. When a person's number is up, it's up.
@thirstymuse wow so well said. I love how literal Tom comes across, despite all the profound underlying meanings hidden within. Thanks for giving me a new appreciation for this song!
Anyone have any idea what the phrase "steals his promise" means? I've never heard it before...
The lyrics are written;"Because steel's his promise". Not trying to split hairs-maybe a typo,but it is an od phrase that I have never heard before either.
OK, "steel" makes way more sense than "steal." I guess the idea is that when he makes a promise, it's as firm as steel and some people admire him for that.
@TheSoberPirate to steel one's promise is to fulfill the promise with the power of the sword,
This is the story of Jesus, as retold by Tom Waits. It is the Gospel of Tom Waits. There are some very solid clues, specifically: (1) "He has risen," which is the Easter mantra [technically "he is risen"]; (2) the acceptance and eventual denial of Jesus by Peter, which is described at the end of the song; and (3) the beginning of the last stanza, which states that he was born "away in a cornfield" when "manger" is the word that would have rhymed with "stranger."
@brando39: I agree with the Biblical clues, though I take a little different slant. But one of the great things about the best songwriters is that they can sometimes write something so mysterious that many different ideas can flow from the same lyrics, depending on the listener. I think your explication is a good one.
First time i head this song I thought it was about Batman.
I once heard it was about Noriega, dictator of Panama.