"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've got a job, I explore, I follow every little whiff
And I want my life to smell like this
To find a place, an ancient race
The kind you'd like to gamble with
Where they'd stamp on burning bags of shit
Looking for a place to happen
Making stops along the way, hey
Wayward ho, away we go
It's a shame to leave this masterpiece
With it's gallery gods and it's garbage-bag trees
So I'll paint a scene, from memory,
So I'd know who murdered me
It's a vain pursuit, but it helps me to sleep
Looking for a place to happen
Making stops along the way, hey
Looking for a place to happen
Making stops along the way, hey
Looking for a place to happen
Making stops along the way, hey
Jacques Cartier, right this way
I'll put your coat up on the bed
Hey man you've got the real bum's eye for clothes
And come on in, sit right down,
No you're not the first to show
We've all been here since, God, who knows?
Looking for a place to happen
Making stops along the way, hey
Looking for a place to happen
Making stops along the way, hey
Jacques Cartier, right this way
I'll put your coat up on the bed
You've got the real bum's eye for clothes
Come on in, sit right down,
We've all been here since, God, who knows?
And I want my life to smell like this
To find a place, an ancient race
The kind you'd like to gamble with
Where they'd stamp on burning bags of shit
Looking for a place to happen
Making stops along the way, hey
Wayward ho, away we go
It's a shame to leave this masterpiece
With it's gallery gods and it's garbage-bag trees
So I'll paint a scene, from memory,
So I'd know who murdered me
It's a vain pursuit, but it helps me to sleep
Looking for a place to happen
Making stops along the way, hey
Looking for a place to happen
Making stops along the way, hey
Looking for a place to happen
Making stops along the way, hey
Jacques Cartier, right this way
I'll put your coat up on the bed
Hey man you've got the real bum's eye for clothes
And come on in, sit right down,
No you're not the first to show
We've all been here since, God, who knows?
Looking for a place to happen
Making stops along the way, hey
Looking for a place to happen
Making stops along the way, hey
Jacques Cartier, right this way
I'll put your coat up on the bed
You've got the real bum's eye for clothes
Come on in, sit right down,
We've all been here since, God, who knows?
Lyrics submitted by black_cow_of_death
Looking For A Place To Happen Lyrics as written by Paul Langlois Gordon Sinclair
Lyrics © Peermusic Publishing
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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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,
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Same ideas expressed in Fitter, Happier are expressed in this song. We're told to strive for some sort of ideal life, which includes getting a good job, being kind to everyone, finding a partner, getting married, having a couple kids, living in a quiet neighborhood in a nice big house, etc. But in Fitter, Happier the narrator(?) realizes that it's incredibly robotic to live this life. People are being used by those in power "like a pig in a cage on antibiotics"--being pacified with things like new phones and cool gadgets and houses while being sucked dry. On No Surprises, the narrator is realizing how this life is killing him slowly. In the video, his helmet is slowly filling up with water, drowning him. But he's so complacent with it. This is a good summary of the song. This boring, "perfect" life foisted upon us by some higher powers (not spiritual, but political, economic, etc. politicians and businessmen, perhaps) is not the way to live. But there is seemingly no way out but death. He'd rather die peacefully right now than live in this cage. While our lives are often shielded, we're in our own protective bubbles, or protective helmets like the one Thom wears, if we look a little harder we can see all the corruption, lies, manipulation, etc. that is going on in the world, often run by huge yet nearly invisible organizations, corporations, and 'leaders'. It's a very hopeless song because it reflects real life.
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I believe that this song is about colonialism in the early days of Canada. Gord is taking the role of what seems to be an explorer from Europe, explaining how he would like to exploit "an ancient race, the kind you'd like to gamble with" (referring to the Native Peoples). He also adds "where they'd stamp on burning bags of shit," referring to the perceived stupidity of the Natives by the Europeans. In the second verse he talks about leaving his home behind, facetiously describing the landscape as a "masterpiece with...gallery gods and ... garbage bag trees" (the "garbage bag trees" may be an allusion to the song "At the Hundredth Meridian" where he describes a dirty, overrun city with a "swollen sea breeze, garbage bag trees, whispers of disease, acts of enormity"). The place where he comes from may be one of the many overcrowded cities in Europe during the days of colonialism. Gord goes on to sing about painting a "scene from memory, so I'd know who murdered me." He may be talking about the early war paintings that glorify the death of a general, or a very important person. Finally, the third verse seems to be the most odd of them all. The reference to Jacques Cartier, the famous 16th century French explorer, is the most obvious, but then the verse becomes quite ambiguous (a specialty of Gord Downie's). He seems to take the role of a Native person as he explains to Cartier that he's "not the first to show" and that his people have been on the land since "God, who knows?" Also, the "bum's eye for clothes" line may be the initial culture shock experienced by both the Natives and the Europeans, as the difference in clothing would have been staggering. "Looking for a place to happen" may be referring to desire to find a passage to the far east, which was the main intention of early explorers. "Making stops along the way" explains the discovery of North America, as it was seen as a "stop" before China after it was discovered by the Europeans.
hmmm more or less how I've always thought of the song.
But I came in here to tell a story about the song which more adequately describes "What does this song mean to you?":
A friend (from Prince Edward Island) went hitchhiking without really knowing where he was going. He wrote himself a cardboard sign
"Looking for a place to happen making stops along the way"
He got picked up by a like minded individual (also a hip fan) and they made there way down to Florida (eventually) and back (eventually).
So as I see it, this song is more of an inspirational song to voyagers everywhere. Not necessarily about any one person or event but more the state of mind that accompanies setting out.
One of these days I'm gonna paint up my sign and just go.