"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.
Bent at the knee, a last resort
Backfired and made things worse
Once on the bus, it was quite possible
You'd be the jailhouse queen
Jury and judge were screaming to hang
You spat the sweat from brow
He shrugged his shoulders, nothing would work
It had to end right now
I can't drive straight counting your fake frowns
Focusing in, details a must
Trying to make each one count
All on your fingers stopping at ten
Magistrate's keyed in how
The jury and judge were screaming to hang
You spat the sweat from brow
He shrugged his shoulders, nothing would work
It had to end right now
We can't keep your interest now
Increasing pixels and sound
Backfired and made things worse
Once on the bus, it was quite possible
You'd be the jailhouse queen
Jury and judge were screaming to hang
You spat the sweat from brow
He shrugged his shoulders, nothing would work
It had to end right now
I can't drive straight counting your fake frowns
Focusing in, details a must
Trying to make each one count
All on your fingers stopping at ten
Magistrate's keyed in how
The jury and judge were screaming to hang
You spat the sweat from brow
He shrugged his shoulders, nothing would work
It had to end right now
We can't keep your interest now
Increasing pixels and sound
Lyrics submitted by weezerific:cutlery
Fake Frowns Lyrics as written by Christopher Walla Benjamin Gibbard
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.
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
Bron-Y-Aur Stomp
Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin
This is about bronies. They communicate by stomping.
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,
Blue
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
“Blue” is a song about a love that is persisting in the discomfort of the person experiencing the emotion. Ed Sheeran reflects on love lost, and although he wishes his former partner find happiness, he cannot but admit his feelings are still very much there. He expresses the realization that he might never find another on this stringed instrumental by Aaron Dessner.
Head > Heels
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
“Head > Heels” is a track that aims to capture what it feels like to experience romance that exceeds expectations. Ed Sheeran dedicates his album outro to a lover who has blessed him with a unique experience that he seeks to describe through the song’s nuanced lyrics.
I think it’s generally about the court of public opinion — be it talk shows on TV, social media on the internet, etc. It was a bit prescient in that respect because these days, it really is hard to hold people’s interest for very long with “pixels and sound”, so we have to resort to more and more shocking content to grab that fleeting attention.
they rule! i love this song. its great. i am making the first comment! so happy! i've made more for them. go check. all their songs are awesome
this song is amazing...one of their best!
great song. one of my favorites by them.
so catchy and addicting i luv this song
I get the feeling from the first verse that he tried proposing to his girlfriend and it went really wrong afterward. Anyways, good song.
I don't understand the line "you spat the sweat from the brow." What does everyone think that means? It's also ironic that this song is about fake frowns, most people think of smiles as being fake.
"you spat the sweat from the brow"
just another way to say you sweated. probably a lot of sweating.
like, your pores spitting out sweat. or something.
he proposed and she said no so now he is driving back home and is pissed off and thinks the whole relationship was crap, i think?
yeah i think that this song follows off of amputations like same girl, same guy she wants to get back with, same narrator, but now its all falling apart since he proposed, which he thought in a desparate moment woudl get this girl back, but it didnt work, she sort of fled physically or emotionally, and now hes driving back home...i dunno i could be totally off, that's sort of a simple explanation...doesn't explain the jailhouse queen and jury and judge screaming to hang lines, maybe she killed someone? who knows, the lyrics are great, so dense and mysterious that you want to figure them out and then you sort of dont because you know that the explanation is oging to rob them of some of their magic. so i'll stop there.
p.s. eifel, this is one of my favorite songs!