"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.
Twelve men broke loose in seventy-three
From Millhaven maximum security
Twelve pictures lined up across the front page
Seems the Mounties had a summertime war to wage
Well, he chief told the people they had nothing to fear
Said, "the last thing they wanna do is hang around here"
They mostly came from towns with long French names
But one of the dozen was a hometown shame
Same pattern on the table, same clock on the wall
Been one seat empty, eighteen years in all
Freezing slow time, away from the world
He's thirty-eight years old, never kissed a girl
He's thirty-eight years old, never kissed a girl
We were sitting around the table, heard the telephone ring
Father said he'd tell 'em if he saw anything
Heard the tap on the window in the middle of the night
Held back the curtains for my older brother Mike
See my sister got raped, so a man got killed
Local boy went to prison, man's buried on the hill
Folks went back to normal when they closed the case
They still stare at their shoes when they pass our place
My mother cried, "the horror has finally ceased"
He whispered, "yeah, for the time being at least"
Over his shoulder on the squad car megaphone
Said, "let's go Michael, son, we're taking you home"
Same pattern on the table, same clock on the wall
Been one seat empty, eighteen years in all
Freezing slow time, away from the world
He's thirty-eight years old, never kissed a girl
He's thirty-eight years old, never kissed a girl
He's thirty-eight years old, never kissed a girl
From Millhaven maximum security
Twelve pictures lined up across the front page
Seems the Mounties had a summertime war to wage
Well, he chief told the people they had nothing to fear
Said, "the last thing they wanna do is hang around here"
They mostly came from towns with long French names
But one of the dozen was a hometown shame
Same pattern on the table, same clock on the wall
Been one seat empty, eighteen years in all
Freezing slow time, away from the world
He's thirty-eight years old, never kissed a girl
He's thirty-eight years old, never kissed a girl
We were sitting around the table, heard the telephone ring
Father said he'd tell 'em if he saw anything
Heard the tap on the window in the middle of the night
Held back the curtains for my older brother Mike
See my sister got raped, so a man got killed
Local boy went to prison, man's buried on the hill
Folks went back to normal when they closed the case
They still stare at their shoes when they pass our place
My mother cried, "the horror has finally ceased"
He whispered, "yeah, for the time being at least"
Over his shoulder on the squad car megaphone
Said, "let's go Michael, son, we're taking you home"
Same pattern on the table, same clock on the wall
Been one seat empty, eighteen years in all
Freezing slow time, away from the world
He's thirty-eight years old, never kissed a girl
He's thirty-eight years old, never kissed a girl
He's thirty-eight years old, never kissed a girl
Lyrics submitted by black_cow_of_death
38 Years Old Lyrics as written by Gordon Sinclair Gordon Downie
Lyrics © Peermusic Publishing
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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More Featured Meanings
Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman
The Night We Met
Lord Huron
Lord Huron
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
Ebba Grön
This is one of my favorite songs. https://fnfgo.io
Bron-Y-Aur Stomp
Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin
This is about bronies. They communicate by stomping.
Dreamwalker
Silent Planet
Silent Planet
I think much like another song “Anti-Matter” (that's also on the same album as this song), this one is also is inspired by a horrifying van crash the band experienced on Nov 3, 2022. This, much like the other track, sounds like it's an extension what they shared while huddled in the wreckage, as they helped frontman Garrett Russell stem the bleeding from his head wound while he was under the temporary effects of a concussion. The track speaks of where the mind goes at the most desperate & desolate of times, when it just about slips away to all but disconnect itself, and the aftermath.
i could never make out what gord was screaming at the end but when i finally did i got a new meaning to the song. i now think its about a pimp trying to recruit a new girl, but she’s having her doubts. the song is a conversation between the two. Anyway this is my analysis
//he said I'm fabulously rich //C'mon just let's go ->The pimps saying this, he’s like common baby I have money for you, plus I got this john ready to go
//She kinda bit her lip //Geez, I don't know ->She’s not sure if she wants to or not
//But I can guarantee //There'll be no knock on the door //I'm total pro that's what I'm here for ->He’s trying to reassure her that everything will be ok, he’ll be right behind the door
//I come from downtown //Born ready for you //Armed with will and determination //and grace, too -> She’s still debating whether or not she’ll go through with it, but she feels that she’s better than this
//The secret rules of engagement //Are hard to endorse //When the appearance of conflict //Meets the appearance of force -> This is Gords interpretation of the situation. He’s basically saying that it’s hard to endorse prostitution because conflicts are settled by force, the pimp gets what he wants
//But I can guarantee //There'll be no knock on the door //I'm total pro //that's what I'm here for -> The pimps still trying to convince her
//I come from downtown //Born ready for you //Armed with skill and it's frustration //And Grace, Too ->She’s still debating with herself, but this line hints that she might have did this before
//Him here now no //Him here now no ->This is her final say. Gord screams this in such a desperate way at the very end of the song. She does not want to do this
@buildatree That works. It's posted under the wrong song title, but it is an astute analysis. I read it as some famous "big" guy trying to get a gal into bed, but yours is the same idea taken much farther and it definitely works.