"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.
And there ain't no night
And there ain't no night
Did you hear what I said?
But into white
Into white
Into white
Into white
And there ain't no day
And there ain't no day
And there ain't no night
And there ain't no night
And there ain't no day
And there ain't no night
Into the white
Into the white
Into the white
Did you hear what I said?
Did you hear what I said?
Deeper than your sleepy head
Deeper than your sleepy head
Ain't nothin' to see
Ain't nothin' in sight
Into the white
Into the white
Into the white
Go and you'll go real far
Go and you'll go real far
Just pass the big quasar
Just pass the big quasar
Can't hitch a meteorite
Can't hitch a meteorite
Into the white
Into the white
Into the white
...
And there ain't no night
Did you hear what I said?
But into white
Into white
Into white
Into white
And there ain't no day
And there ain't no day
And there ain't no night
And there ain't no night
And there ain't no day
And there ain't no night
Into the white
Into the white
Into the white
Did you hear what I said?
Did you hear what I said?
Deeper than your sleepy head
Deeper than your sleepy head
Ain't nothin' to see
Ain't nothin' in sight
Into the white
Into the white
Into the white
Go and you'll go real far
Go and you'll go real far
Just pass the big quasar
Just pass the big quasar
Can't hitch a meteorite
Can't hitch a meteorite
Into the white
Into the white
Into the white
...
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More Featured Meanings
Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
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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."
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."
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.
Magical
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
How would you describe the feeling of being in love? For Ed Sheeran, the word is “Magical.” in HIS three-minute album opener, he makes an attempt to capture the beauty and delicacy of true love with words. He describes the magic of it all over a bright Pop song produced by Aaron Dessner.
DuTcHoVeN - this is the pixies, the same people who sing about incest and a bad-ass biker kid. singing about space wouldnt be to unusual. that said, i think this song is about whatever the fuck you want the song to be about. but thats just me.
(its just occurred to me that i sounded like a prick. not intentional, but if the shoe fits.)
What makes a song like this so great is that it can mean any and all of the things we've discussed: death, space, heroin.
White has been a reference to heroin for decades. White horse, white boy, white girl, white junk, white lady, white nurse, white stuff are all slang terms for heroin. In Lou Reed's "White Light/White Heat" - white light is heroin, white heat is speed. In the Psychedelic Furs' song "Flowers" the line "and out of him came foul white light" is a reference to the effects of heroin.
"There ain't no day, there ain't no night" - "Daytime" is slang for being high on heroin. "Night time" is slang for heroin withdrawal.
Junkies often compare being high on heroin to feeling like dying, but better. In the Velvet Underground's song called simply "Heroin" they compare a heroin high to "closing in on death" and to being "better off than dead."
This is simply a great song that works on many different levels. Part of what make the Pixies such an amazing band.
Rugger - you're a legend! Thanks for the most considered, researched, intelligent and insighfull response here.
its not about death. it is about space. no day and no night refers to the fact that in space there is no day or night. i think we all know what a meteorite is. as to the quasar, refers to quasarstellar radio sources. they are basically objects far from Earth, moving extremely swiftly away from Earth, and emitting visible light and radio frequency radiation. into the white refers to the fact that the universe is expanding and past it is nothing. white is the absece of color, and nothing. white is nothing. deeper than your sleepy head refers to the fact that some think god created the universe, therefore it is in his/her head. also, deeper into space. go and youll go real far is refering to the fact that, again, the universe is expanding, and is big, so go and you'll go real far, expanding, into the white. can you hear what i said? refers to the fact that, in space, you are more likely to be traveling faster than the speed of sound, very hard to hear. if you are at the end of the universe, it is white, and there is nothing to see. the pixies are sure geniuses
actually it's probably really hard to hear in space because there is no air to transfer the compressional sound waves or something like that :(
For an attempt at sounding scientific, you sure get your facts wrong.<br /> <br /> White is not the absense of colours. White has all the colours of the rainbow in it. This is demonstrated when you shine white light into a prism - just like on the Pink Floyd album "Dark Side of the Moon".
@paranoidpanda69 illumination... bright white lights.. it is said that during the process one actually seems bright white flashes of light. Go see your local masonic lodge if you're interested in being "illuminated"... as for me, I'm good lol
While death and space are valid interpretations, another possibility is that the song is about drugs. "Into the white" could refer to where your mind goes when you get so high that you lose your perception of reality. The space references then become a metaphor for getting really, really high, much as it does in David Bowie's "Space Odditiy". Remember, space is black, not white. "The big white" might then be cocaine, or just a blank mind, though "Deeper than your sleepyhead" might suggest depressants instead.
Another possible interpretation is that "the big white" is a mental institution. But I think it's the drugs.
Can we say death folks? I'd say its pretty obvious.
Why would they sing about space and meteorites? I think this song is about death, no day or night in heaven. Deeper than your sleepy head, and how you'll go real far. Just makes sense to me that this is about death. But I may be wrong...
Did you forget how much of a nerd Black Francis is?
wow, this site may be all about your own interpretation, but yes I while you took the most literal possible interpretation, I actually went searching for a meaning. White BTW is actually every color, Black being the absense of color, just the way light works. Check out a 7th grade science text book, might also want to check out the meaning of metaphor, and poetry.
I don't know what it's about, but the sound is great. Like the yeah yeah's. Perhaps the lyrics don't but the music gets you through many ideas like ther ain't no day and no night cause the're no longer necesary.
ok. ok. ok. wow. yes. thank you for this song.
could be about death... could be about space... I think if you READ the lyrics and try to search for a deeper meaning or whatever yeah it sounds like it could be about death, but when i actually HEAR the song, all I think about is space. Ever since the first time I heard the song and didn't really pay much attention to the words it just makes me feel like outer space.