"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 have tried marijuana
I get nervous every time
There will come a knockin' at the door
Why is everybody makin' eyes at me?
I don't want to know
Excuse and pardon me
Stay for a while
Maybe we'll never meet again
I can see my lifetime piling up
I can see the days turn into nights
I can see the people on the street
Open those windows up
A hundred floors below me
Pilin' those houses up
Pilin' them higher, higher, higher
I can feel them swayin' back and forth
Building it higher, higher
This tower's learning over
I got bad coordination
Stuck a pencil in my eye
I can hardly wait to get back home
Why is everybody gettin' paranoid?
I's only havin' fun
Scum-bags and superstars
Tell me your names
I'll make a bet, you're
Both the same
I can see my lifetime pilin' up
Reaching from my bedroom to the stars
I can see the house where I was born
When I was growin' up - they say that
I could never keep my trousers up
I remember days and crazy nights
Are there any pirates on this ship?
And if they sober up - they'll have us
Home by morning
Cry, cry, cry
It's just you and I
Like an automobile
With no one at the wheel
Spinning out of control
We're all over the road
In our sexy machine
All the passengers scream
Scream, scream!
I can see my lifetime pilin' up
I can see it smashin' into yours
It was not an accident at all
Open your window up - I hear you laughin'
Goin' one, two, three, four, five
Goin' from the bottom to the top
Maybe I'm holding on too tight
And now I'm growin' up
I got a funny feeling
Pilin' those houses up
Pilin' them higher, higher, higher
Building that highway to the stars
And turning the music up - Hey!
I got a winning number
I get nervous every time
There will come a knockin' at the door
Why is everybody makin' eyes at me?
I don't want to know
Excuse and pardon me
Stay for a while
Maybe we'll never meet again
I can see my lifetime piling up
I can see the days turn into nights
I can see the people on the street
Open those windows up
A hundred floors below me
Pilin' those houses up
Pilin' them higher, higher, higher
I can feel them swayin' back and forth
Building it higher, higher
This tower's learning over
I got bad coordination
Stuck a pencil in my eye
I can hardly wait to get back home
Why is everybody gettin' paranoid?
I's only havin' fun
Scum-bags and superstars
Tell me your names
I'll make a bet, you're
Both the same
I can see my lifetime pilin' up
Reaching from my bedroom to the stars
I can see the house where I was born
When I was growin' up - they say that
I could never keep my trousers up
I remember days and crazy nights
Are there any pirates on this ship?
And if they sober up - they'll have us
Home by morning
Cry, cry, cry
It's just you and I
Like an automobile
With no one at the wheel
Spinning out of control
We're all over the road
In our sexy machine
All the passengers scream
Scream, scream!
I can see my lifetime pilin' up
I can see it smashin' into yours
It was not an accident at all
Open your window up - I hear you laughin'
Goin' one, two, three, four, five
Goin' from the bottom to the top
Maybe I'm holding on too tight
And now I'm growin' up
I got a funny feeling
Pilin' those houses up
Pilin' them higher, higher, higher
Building that highway to the stars
And turning the music up - Hey!
I got a winning number
Lyrics submitted by weezerific:cutlery
Lifetime Piling Up Lyrics as written by David Byrne Chris Frantz
Lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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More Featured Meanings
Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
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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”
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.
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,
When We Were Young
Blink-182
Blink-182
This is a sequel to 2001's "Reckless Abandon", and features the band looking back on their clumsy youth fondly.
It's cool that you're so much less cynical than me. I understood the lottery as being the easy way to end the song, the easy way to solve your problems. I just don't feel that winning the lottery makes you a better person, just like having a sexy car or a ton more cookie cutter houses. But maybe these are just the musings of a have-not... I like to justify myself by saying I don't want it all.