"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's a crack in the mirror
And a bloodstain on the bed
There's a crack in the mirror
And a bloodstain on the bed
Oh, you were a vampire
And baby, I'm the walking dead
Oh, you were a vampire
And baby, I'm the walking dead
I got the ways and means
To New Orleans
I'm going down by the river
Where it's warm and green
I'm gonna have a drink and walk around
I got a lot to think about
Oh, yeah
Oh, yeah
Oh, yeah
Oh, yeah
There's a rocking chair by the window
Down the hall
I hear something there in the shadow
Down the hall
Oh, you were a vampire
And now I am nothing at all
Oh, you were a vampire
And now I am nothing at all
I got the ways and means
To New Orleans
I'm going down by the river
Where it's warm and green
I'm gonna have a drink and walk around
I got a lot to think about
Oh, yeah
Oh, yeah
Oh, yeah
Oh, yeah
They used to dance in the garden
In the middle of the night
Dancing out in the garden
In the middle of the night
Oh, you were a vampire
And I may never see the light
Oh, you were a vampire
And I may never see the light
I got the ways and means
To New Orleans
I'm going down by the river
Where it's warm and green
I'm gonna have a drink and walk around
I got a lot to think about
I got the ways and means
To New Orleans
I'm going down by the river
Where it's warm and green
I'm gonna have a drink and walk around
I got a lot to think about
Oh, yeah
Oh, yeah
Oh, yeah
Oh, yeah
Oh, yeah
Oh, yeah
Oh, yeah
Oh, yeah
Yeah
And a bloodstain on the bed
There's a crack in the mirror
And a bloodstain on the bed
Oh, you were a vampire
And baby, I'm the walking dead
Oh, you were a vampire
And baby, I'm the walking dead
I got the ways and means
To New Orleans
I'm going down by the river
Where it's warm and green
I'm gonna have a drink and walk around
I got a lot to think about
Oh, yeah
Oh, yeah
Oh, yeah
Oh, yeah
There's a rocking chair by the window
Down the hall
I hear something there in the shadow
Down the hall
Oh, you were a vampire
And now I am nothing at all
Oh, you were a vampire
And now I am nothing at all
I got the ways and means
To New Orleans
I'm going down by the river
Where it's warm and green
I'm gonna have a drink and walk around
I got a lot to think about
Oh, yeah
Oh, yeah
Oh, yeah
Oh, yeah
They used to dance in the garden
In the middle of the night
Dancing out in the garden
In the middle of the night
Oh, you were a vampire
And I may never see the light
Oh, you were a vampire
And I may never see the light
I got the ways and means
To New Orleans
I'm going down by the river
Where it's warm and green
I'm gonna have a drink and walk around
I got a lot to think about
I got the ways and means
To New Orleans
I'm going down by the river
Where it's warm and green
I'm gonna have a drink and walk around
I got a lot to think about
Oh, yeah
Oh, yeah
Oh, yeah
Oh, yeah
Oh, yeah
Oh, yeah
Oh, yeah
Oh, yeah
Yeah
Lyrics submitted by la blue kitty
Bloodletting (The Vampire Song) Lyrics as written by Johnette Lin Napolitano
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
Add your thoughts
Log in now to tell us what you think this song means.
Don’t have an account? Create an account with SongMeanings to post comments, submit lyrics, and more. It’s super easy, we promise!
More Featured Meanings
Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman
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.
Gentle Hour
Yo La Tengo
Yo La Tengo
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,
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.
Amazing
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran tells a story of unsuccessfully trying to feel “Amazing.” This track is about the being weighed down by emotional stress despite valiant attempts to find some positivity in the situation. This track was written by Ed Sheeran from the perspective of his friend. From the track, we see this person fall deeper into the negative thoughts and slide further down the path of mental torment with every lyric.
Methinks it is based on Anne Rice's "Interview With The Vampire".
yeah, i think this song is based on Anne Rice´s Vampire Chronicles
No DonDiavolo you just happen not to know shit. Anne Rice wrote Interview With The Vampire in 1976. The song was inspired by the novel.
This song is about cocaine. -There's a crack in the mirrorand a bloodstain on the bed There's a crack in the mirror and a bloodstain on the bed
One is refered to as a vampire, meaning addicted. They thrive on that vital source.
He call's himself the walking dead, overdone on cocaine.
It's a beautiful song. The mirror is an obvious reference.
Not every song is about drug use. Just because a song says the word "Mirror" in the first verse does not mean that they are talking about doing lines off a mirror. Put the whole thing in context, don't just pick out a single word and base a theory on it.
This song is definitely inspired by the novels of Anne Rice. Plus, 'New Orleans'... I doubt that's co-incidence. There's an interview on youtube in which Johnette does actually say that it was inspired by the author. But onto the song...
To me, the line 'Oh, You Were A Vampire, And, Baby, I'm The Walking Dead' is a reference to Louis and Lestat... Lestat is obviously a vampire, but Louis, when he was still mortal, was living in a ghoul-like state, and very depressed after the death of his brother/wife and child (novel/film). Basically, he had a death wish, but wouldn't, or couldn't, end his life himself, and so put himself in situations where another might do it for him. In this manner, the mortal Louis was like the walking dead.
Oh, and he certainly had 'a lot to think about' once Lestat made an offer to turn him.
The novel Interview with a Vampire was written in 1976 so it was around before the song came out, which was already established in a post by instigator. Debora is right on Johnette admitting it was inspired by the author.
I've also heard it was about a friend who contracted HIV, although I don't know how true this is. But the lyrics would fit. "You were a vampire and baby I'm the walking dead" and someone with HIV would definitely have a lot to think about.
"Tomorrow, Wendy" is the song about a friend with AIDS. I never knew when the Novel was written, but Bloodletting seems to fit with the theme of Interview With the Vampire. I'll agree with those posters.<br /> <br />
I think it is talking about being with a narcissist.
"There's a crack in the mirror and a bloodstain on the bed"
Narcissists are often viewed as vampires because they suck the life force out of people, and they are constantly projecting an image of themselves, so she sees a crack in the image that they try to project almost like the true self is coming out.
"There's a rocking chair by the window down the hall"
It could mean looking outside of herself seeing what she let this person do to her, the lyric "I hear something in the shadow down the hall" could mean a shadow of the person she once was.
"They used to dance in the garden in the middle of the night"
That could mean all of the promises that were made.
Anyway that is what I think it means.
It was based on Anne Rice's works, though the author would repay the band by keeping the video off of MTV via legal maneuvers. I lost a ton of respect for Anne Rice at that point.
It sounds like it could be used in an episode of "True Blood" ("I got the ways and means to New Orleans/I'm going down by the river where it's warm and green") since that show takes place in Louisiana.
So I just saw a post on another song that this is a story album, about someone (Wendy, I guess) getting AIDS. I know the final song is about that, but never thought that the whole CD was a story on it. I'm surprised Johnette has not mentioned it, though, it that were the case. But thinking that way, I can actually see it as a storyline. So this song would be about her first contracting AIDS. She uses the novel as a way to tell it as like a metaphor. Very interesting, I'm going to listen to the entire album and see if it does strike me as that.