"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.
There comes a time in life
To pull on your coat and go outside
To taste the vinegar of life, bitter life
Taste a second time, and it's a sweet surprise
Sweet surprise
It's not that hard to figure it out
When there's no question, there's no doubt
Burned in efigy, senseless time
Dispute the miracle, but the water still was wine
And that's my crime
There is a face in the stone
We let it out to find its form
To shape the testament of will, strongest will
Pride, humility a bitter pill
Bitter pill
Sweet surrender, oh my Lord
I never thought I'd see
It's not surprising, still I find
I'm shaking, crying
But I'm laughing, softly
There comes a time
To pull on your coat and go outside
To pull on your coat and go outside
To taste the vinegar of life, bitter life
Taste a second time, and it's a sweet surprise
Sweet surprise
It's not that hard to figure it out
When there's no question, there's no doubt
Burned in efigy, senseless time
Dispute the miracle, but the water still was wine
And that's my crime
There is a face in the stone
We let it out to find its form
To shape the testament of will, strongest will
Pride, humility a bitter pill
Bitter pill
Sweet surrender, oh my Lord
I never thought I'd see
It's not surprising, still I find
I'm shaking, crying
But I'm laughing, softly
There comes a time
To pull on your coat and go outside
Lyrics submitted by toadtws
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"This is a song that came out of reading <i>The Tao of Pooh</i>. I get my Eastern philosophy the way most Westerners do, which is third- or fourth-hand. <i>The Tao of Pooh</i> is a great way to gather third-hand Eastern philosophy.
"In any event, there's a description of a painting called <i>The Vinegar Taster</i>. Buddha and Lao-Tzu and Confucius are all sitting around with ladles and a big vat of vinegar. Buddha and Confucius are both going 'ick,' and Lao-Tzu is smiling, because life is sweet. And the other two just don't know it yet."
-Glen Phillips
If anyone wishes to read more on that painting.. go here..en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_three_vinegar_tasters.
This is toads best song, and it was there last. This song came when i saw everything coming to an end in my life.. High School, nirvana, toad, and at the time i thought the cure.. I still have a hard time listening to it.. I lost this song for around 5 years...i just found it on the web last night... yay!