"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.
Somebody's reading your mind
Damned if you know who it is
They're digging through all of your files
Stealing back your best ideas
You cover your windows with lead
Even keeping the pets outside
Then you hear a moment too late this sound coming over the phone
This is the spawning of the cage and aquarium
Don't wait a moment too soon
Used to be different, now you're the same
Yawn as your plane goes down in flames
This is the spawning of the cage and aquarium
Don't wait a moment too soon
Used to be different, now you're the same
Yawn as your plane goes down in flames
Damned if you know who it is
They're digging through all of your files
Stealing back your best ideas
You cover your windows with lead
Even keeping the pets outside
Then you hear a moment too late this sound coming over the phone
This is the spawning of the cage and aquarium
Don't wait a moment too soon
Used to be different, now you're the same
Yawn as your plane goes down in flames
This is the spawning of the cage and aquarium
Don't wait a moment too soon
Used to be different, now you're the same
Yawn as your plane goes down in flames
Lyrics submitted by qshapadooy
Cage & Aquarium Lyrics as written by John Linnell John Flansburgh
Lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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Fast Car
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This song is written as the perspective of the boys in the street, as a whole, and what path they are going to choose as they get older and grow into men. (This is why the music video takes place in an orphanage.) The seen, and unseen collective suffering is imbedded in the boys’ mind, consciously or subconsciously, and is haunting them. Which path will the boys choose? Issac Hayes is the voice of reason, maybe God, the angel on his shoulder, or the voice of his forefathers from beyond the grave who can see the big picture and are pleading with the boys not to continue the violence and pattern of killing their brothers, but to rise above. The most beautiful song and has so many levels. Racism towards African Americans in America would not exist if everyone sat down and listened to this song and understood the history behind the words. The power, fear, pleading in RZA and Ghostface voices are genuine and powerful. Issac Hayes’ strong voice makes the perfect strong father figure, who is possibly from beyond the grave.
No Surprises
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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.
Magical
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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.
I've always liked this song, but it took me awhile to understand it. I think it's about Hippies turning into Yuppies against thier will. "Spawning of the Cage and Aquarium" = "Dawning of the Age of Aquarius". The corporation/establishment is stealing back your best ideas and turning your individuality against itself yourself.
It reminds me of the Marketing industry categorizing consumer groups and targeting them. By putting people into groups you make them the same (used to be different now your the same). And of course the "cage and aquarium" both represent things to keep people in groups.
Of course, I could be wrong :)
No, you're on the right track. Also, note that a cage and an aquarium are both transparent. You have no privacy, and the people who have imprisoned you can see everything you're doing, and can know everything about you ("somebody's reading your mind"). Scary. And there's nothing you can do about it... you're already trapped. As your life is destroyed ("goes down in flames"), you might just as well yawn.
that sounds right,. at first, i thought it was about how people have captured and endangered animals. Cage and Aquarium representing animal captivity and such to basically describe how mankind is dominating animals cruelly. but yours actually sounds better
Wow. I never thought about that.
I can almost cry now. This hit me hard, and I don't know why.
The resemblance: "dawning"/"spawning", "age"/"cage", "Aquarius/"aquarium"...this can't be a coincidence.
"Used to be different/Now you're the same" reflects a hippie/yuppie dichotomy. Freak/conformity. (Although being a hippie: isn't that conforming, if all your friends have long hair, tie-dye and Birkenstocks? But it's a style which once was once regarded as nonconformist.)
Particularly baffling: the line, "Yawn as your plane goes down in flames."
Maybe it's related to all the paranoia imagery in the verse. Fear of invasive telepathy; you use bizarre means in an attempt to block it.
Meanwhile, you're not paying attention to the things which--from a rational point-of-view--truly are dangerous. It's more likely you'd die in a plane crash than that everyone's out to get you. But you're unconcerned ("yawn") about that.
i can't help but agree with a lot of the interpretation that's been posted before my humble addition, so hey, well done, all. it's also nice to see TMBG's older trick of retooling lyrics from other tunes to fit in with their songs have a strong impact on the overall message people pick up.
but yeah, i'm not totally content with what i've come up with, mainly because my initial reaction was to the 2nd half of the song (probably because of the repetition/more distinct lyrics). but anyway...
my first notion was that of a plane crash. the moment a passenger plane hits the water (despite recent miraculous events), it because a cage, and soon thereafter, an aquarium. while a moment before the violent descent all the passengers were individuals, on to their rent-a-cars, and limousines, and awaiting relatives with the mini-van, and then their separate lives, as soon as the altitude plummeted, they were all the same basic person, struggling through same basic crash procedures (oxygen mask, seat belt, assume the crash position), shouting the same basic pleas until impact, where they sink an only manage to create a dull yawning sound as they drift down towards the fate awaiting. again, working back from this to the first half of the song, i can try to stretch that they've closed the window shades, and the pets are fastened in back with the luggage. i could even try to go so far as to say that the rest of the opening stanza refers to an announcement over the intercom on what everyone should be doing, (and yes it would be under pressure in a very tense situation), but really aren't all of the emergency procedures kind of common sense when you think about it? did they need the voice to remind them what their survival instincts are silently telling them to do? of course it's all for nothing in the end. they decorate the aquarium soon...
thanks for reading if you have! i know some of this may be out of nowhere, and i repeat, i do like and agree with much of what's already been posted. i guess i was hoping that i could "direct your attention to the [preceding] simile" and maybe provide a slanted view of the Hippy-->Yuppy evolution.
it becomes* a cage.
ooph.