"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.
All you slingers and fiends hide behind your rocks
Put down your guard I'm not here to box
This is no showdown so throw down your guns
You see it doesn't matter where you come from
You could be from park ave or from a park bench
You could be a politician or a bitchy princess
But if you're lookin' for a fist and you're lookin' to unite
Put your knuckleheads together make a fist and fight
Not to your death and not to your grave
I'm talking about t hat freedom fight like a brave
Fight like a brave
Don't be a slave
No one can tell you
You've got to be afraid
If you're sick-a-sick'n'tired of being sick and tired
If you're sick of all the bullshit and you're sick of all the lies
It's better late than never to set-a-set it straight
You know the lie is dead so give your self a break
Get it through your head get if off your chest
Get it out your arm because it's time to start fresh
You want to stop dying the life you could be livin'
I'm here to tell a story but I'm also here to listen
No I'm not your preacher and I'm not your physician
I'm just trying to reach you I'm a rebel with a mission
Fight like a brave
Don't be a slave
No one can tell you
You've got to be afraid
Fight like a brave
Don't be a slave
No one can tell you
You've got to be afraid
I'm here today to pump up the uplift mofo party plan
A plan based on a band, a band based on a plan
There should be no in the land of lands
It's a Hollywood jam
You say you're running and you're running and you're running afraid
You say you ran across the planet but you couldn't get away
The fire in your brain was driving you insane
You were looking for a day in a life that never came
So don't tell me that I've got to take a number
'Cause I've been to that doctor and believe me that's a bummer
Here's a one of a kind convention of the mind
And don't forget to mention that it doesn't cost a dime
Come as you like and leave any time
And one more thing you know it doesn't have to rhyme
Fight like a brave
Don't be a slave
No one can tell you
You've got to be afraid
Fight like a brave
Don't be a slave
No one can tell you
You've got to be afraid
Fight like a brave
Don't be a slave
No one can tell you
You've got to be afraid
Fight like a brave
Don't be a slave
No one can tell you
You've got to be afraid
Fight like a brave
Don't be a slave
No one can tell you
You've got to be afraid
Put down your guard I'm not here to box
This is no showdown so throw down your guns
You see it doesn't matter where you come from
You could be from park ave or from a park bench
You could be a politician or a bitchy princess
But if you're lookin' for a fist and you're lookin' to unite
Put your knuckleheads together make a fist and fight
Not to your death and not to your grave
I'm talking about t hat freedom fight like a brave
Fight like a brave
Don't be a slave
No one can tell you
You've got to be afraid
If you're sick-a-sick'n'tired of being sick and tired
If you're sick of all the bullshit and you're sick of all the lies
It's better late than never to set-a-set it straight
You know the lie is dead so give your self a break
Get it through your head get if off your chest
Get it out your arm because it's time to start fresh
You want to stop dying the life you could be livin'
I'm here to tell a story but I'm also here to listen
No I'm not your preacher and I'm not your physician
I'm just trying to reach you I'm a rebel with a mission
Fight like a brave
Don't be a slave
No one can tell you
You've got to be afraid
Fight like a brave
Don't be a slave
No one can tell you
You've got to be afraid
I'm here today to pump up the uplift mofo party plan
A plan based on a band, a band based on a plan
There should be no in the land of lands
It's a Hollywood jam
You say you're running and you're running and you're running afraid
You say you ran across the planet but you couldn't get away
The fire in your brain was driving you insane
You were looking for a day in a life that never came
So don't tell me that I've got to take a number
'Cause I've been to that doctor and believe me that's a bummer
Here's a one of a kind convention of the mind
And don't forget to mention that it doesn't cost a dime
Come as you like and leave any time
And one more thing you know it doesn't have to rhyme
Fight like a brave
Don't be a slave
No one can tell you
You've got to be afraid
Fight like a brave
Don't be a slave
No one can tell you
You've got to be afraid
Fight like a brave
Don't be a slave
No one can tell you
You've got to be afraid
Fight like a brave
Don't be a slave
No one can tell you
You've got to be afraid
Fight like a brave
Don't be a slave
No one can tell you
You've got to be afraid
Lyrics submitted by PrismPuck, edited by Mellow_Harsher
Fight Like a Brave Lyrics as written by Jack Irons Michael Peter Balzary
Lyrics © MIMIL LTD, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Hipgnosis Songs Group
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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Fast Car
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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"
Mental Istid
Ebba Grön
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This is one of my favorite songs. https://fnfgo.io
Cajun Girl
Little Feat
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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”
Mountain Song
Jane's Addiction
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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."
This song was penned on a plane ride from Michigan back to Hollywood. The story goes that he was high on heroin and called his mom in Michigan and told her he was a heroin addict. She sent him a plane ticket to Michigan. After several missed flights he finally got on the plane after almost being busted. He flew home high on heroin, weighed 120lb and was a mess. He had a choice of doing a year rehab to come down slowly or a 20 day cold turkey rehab. He chose the 20 day rehab because he didn't want to be gone that long. He was about 23 y/o at the time. He said it was the first time he was sober since he was 11. On the way home
This story comes straight from the book Scar Tissue.
Actually, this song has everything to do with RECOVERY FROM DRUG AND ALCOHOL ADDICTION. Anthony Kiedis wrote this song on an airplane, following his first drug rehab. He was on his way from Michigan to California after a 28 day stay in the Salvation Army. The lyrics are about being brave and fighting this nasty disease. The reference to park benches, politicians, etc. is to illustrate how polarized the disease is. It crosses all boundaries and takes all prisoners. As they say...from Yale to Jail...
well almost every song, prior to mothers milk was about drugs, or the lyrics were influenced by them. however fight like a brave is either about freedom, freedom from civilization, he says "you can be from park ave, or from a park bench. park ave is a rich street, a park bench meaning your a bum, a polotician or a bitch princess, so you can be important in the government, but the government doesnt mean anything, ts about natural humanity, not human civilization, the primitive human instict to fight
@stringcheeseeater the "freedom" he is talking about could be from the hold drugs had on him, but yes to many of us out there the broader term of freedom is interpreted from the song.
Whenever I read the lyrics I get a vibe that says to fight for whatever you believe in regardless if it;s good or bad, the things that are worth fighting for are the things you believe are worth fighting for, there's no wrong answer.
I think this is one of those 'take no shit' songs. It's telling you to get up and stand up for what you believe in.
I agree. Don't fight because someone tells you that what you are fighting against is wrong, or fearful, fight because you believe in your cause. Why were US and ANZAC troops sent to Vietnam? Because "Communism is bad" My mother was told by the nuns at her school to behave and say her prayers, or "The Communists will come and get you" Of course there were more issues and reasons behind it than that, but for a lot of people, that was the extent of their understanding.
i think as you, but could be bout drugs?
Of course it's about drugs. EVERY Peppers song is about drugs. Every System of a Down song aswell.
Lol.. not every peppers song is about drugs... i could think of an extremely long list of songs that arent about drugs. Peppers sing about sex a ton more than they sing about drugs
Well, one theory that I have (especially since I have seen the video) is that this song is about civil rights, partiularly those of Native Americans. I think that Anthony could relate, seeing as he has Native American roots. It's not just about this, of course, but about anyone standing up for a cause that they believe in, particulary if they believe in fighting for their rights.
good lord. does EVERY RHCP song have to be linked to drug use?