"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.
Let's go to the park, let's go watch them flooding
Out there after dark, don't have to think of nothing
And I love that for, for the way I'm feeling
Seven hundred foot, seven hundred foot ceiling
Let's take it to the top of the tobacco nation
We can aim the dish for hardcore invitations
And I hate that for, for the things I'm thinking
When the clouds are low, seven hundred and sinking
It's part hard, hard to remember, it's part hard to say
Parts unknown, unknown forever and those parts fade away
But leanings toward, toward a full stop's all I hear you say
One foot on the stump, the other's on the pulpit
Seven hundred foot, seven hundred foot pulpit
And I love that for, for the way I'm feeling
Seven hundred foot, seven hundred foot ceiling
(It's part hard, hard to remember) in our own backyard
(It's part hard to say) we can do some flooding
(Parts unknown, unknown forever) when it's cold and dark
(And those parts fade away) don't have to think or nothing
Don't have to think or nothing
Out there after dark, don't have to think of nothing
And I love that for, for the way I'm feeling
Seven hundred foot, seven hundred foot ceiling
Let's take it to the top of the tobacco nation
We can aim the dish for hardcore invitations
And I hate that for, for the things I'm thinking
When the clouds are low, seven hundred and sinking
It's part hard, hard to remember, it's part hard to say
Parts unknown, unknown forever and those parts fade away
But leanings toward, toward a full stop's all I hear you say
One foot on the stump, the other's on the pulpit
Seven hundred foot, seven hundred foot pulpit
And I love that for, for the way I'm feeling
Seven hundred foot, seven hundred foot ceiling
(It's part hard, hard to remember) in our own backyard
(It's part hard to say) we can do some flooding
(Parts unknown, unknown forever) when it's cold and dark
(And those parts fade away) don't have to think or nothing
Don't have to think or nothing
Lyrics submitted by black_cow_of_death
700 Ft. Ceiling Lyrics as written by Gordon Edgar Downie Gord Sinclair
Lyrics © Peermusic Publishing
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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ok, I know very little about this band, but I don't think they're a drug band. However, I'm still gonna interpret that way, but feel free to tell me how wrong I am =P
I'm not going to do a very strict, line-by-line analysis, since I'm pretty sure I'm wrong anyways, this is just for fun
first off, 700 ft. ceiling....getting high...drugs.....not that hard to see where I'm coming from, I hope
// Lets go to the park, lets go watch'em floodin' // out there after dark, don't have to think of nothin' -> going to the park, hanging out, getting high. Don't have anything on his mind, just watching the world in motion. (Flooding could be flooding an outdoor ice rink? maybe? so doing it at night would be easier, since it's colder. These guys are Canadian, after all =P )
// and I love that for, for the way I'm feeling // 700 foot, 700 foot ceiling -> pretty obvious how this part fits
// Lets take it to the top of the tobacco nation // we can aim the dish for hardcore invitations -> getting above cigarettes, into harder drugs
// and I hate that for, for the things I'm thinking // when the clouds are low, 700 and sinking -> when the drug wears off, he feels depressed, even suicidal (low clouds = rainclouds = depression)
// It's part hard, hard to remember, it's part hard to say // parts unknown, unknown forever, and those parts fade away -> can't remember clearly what happened while he was high, the memories just blur and fade
// but leanings toward, toward a full-stop's all I hear you say -> his friend is encouraging him to get off drugs
// One foot on the stump, the other's on the pulpit // 700 foot, 700 foot pulpit -> he wants to quit (the pulpit), but the addiction is too strong (stump). The 'pulpit' is too much for him to get on top of -> another way to see this could be that the drug is his 'pulpit' (he's devoted to it, like a religion, and he thinks it's what's right for him) The stump would be low to the ground (i.e. not getting high on drugs anymore)
and the rest just repeats what I had before
ok, you can start the flaming now
actually, flooding could also be the flood of feelings that comes with getting high. That is probably the better interpretation of it, since he mentions "in our backyard, we can do some flooding"
vakEirn79 - you read way too much into this, I'm not saying your necessarily wrong, its just ridiculously over the top
The flooding is a blatently obvious allusion to flooding a rink.
Acutally, vakEirn79 has a good point...after listening to the song in the way he described, its actually a good interpretation.
Not sure if it is really about drugs, but it IS possible becuase they have done it before on the latest album, "one night in copahagon" is all about drugs, so this one could be to.
My guess is its about god. A pulpit is a stand used in religious services. Also possibly the flooding is the perhaps what happened during the time of noahs ark? So what i think is the 700 foot cieling is where god is. 700 and sinking is the devil. Parts unknown unknown forever possibly mean that we can never proove or disproove god. Thats pretty much what i think.
hipmuseum.com/700ft.html
I believe 700 ft ceiling is about the abuse that some hockey players went through in the early years of their careers..."when the clouds are low,700 ft ceiling" is the fog clouds coming down over the ice they were flooding "one foot on the stump,the others on the pulpit" i believe is the way the coaches stood in the players box"it's part hard and hard to remember" is the minds of the players trying to forget and play while the coach watches. "Parts unknown and unknown forever and those parts fade away" i believe are the bad memeories that they put deep in the back of their minds(locked away in parts unknown ,unknown forever and those parts fade away) until others came forward with the abuse. Gords lyrics say "in our own back yard we can do some flooding when it's cold and dark,don't have to think or nothing" meaning they wanted to make their own ice rink and play and didn't have to think,or do nothing...closer to home where they were safe. "And i hate that for,for the things i'm thinkin" is the conscience of the coach thinking because he is alone waiting."and i love that for the way i'm feeling" is his players showing up and his conscience slipping away Hence "700 ft and sinkin" his mind sinking deeper into his hateful desire while the 700ft ceiling fog settled over the freshly flooded ice obscuring the veiw of any one who may see. The flooded ice and the fog mixed and made the fog thicker."lets go to the park,let's go watch'em flooding" unbelievably what i think is the coach new exactly what he was doing.he dasterly deeds "i hate that for ,for the things i'm thinking"