"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.
Morning bell
Morning bell
Light another candle
Release me
Release me
You can keep the furniture
A bump on the head
I'm howling down the chimney
Release me
Release me
Please
Release me
Release me
Where'd you park the car?
Where'd you park the car?
Clothes are on the lawn with the furniture
Now I might as well
I might as well
Sleepy jack the fire drill
Run around, around,around, around, around, and round
Around
Cut the kids in half
Cut the kids in half
Cut the kids in half
A glass, a gun, a bullet for us will make
Everybody wants to be a friend and nobody wants to be a slave
Walking, walking, walking, walking
Walking, walking, walking, walking
Walking, walking, walking, walking
Walking, walking, walking, walking
Walking, walking, walking, walking
Walking, walking, walking, walking
Walking, walking, walking, walking
Walking, walking, walking, walking
Morning bell
Light another candle
Release me
Release me
You can keep the furniture
A bump on the head
I'm howling down the chimney
Release me
Release me
Please
Release me
Release me
Where'd you park the car?
Where'd you park the car?
Clothes are on the lawn with the furniture
Now I might as well
I might as well
Sleepy jack the fire drill
Run around, around,around, around, around, and round
Around
Cut the kids in half
Cut the kids in half
Cut the kids in half
A glass, a gun, a bullet for us will make
Everybody wants to be a friend and nobody wants to be a slave
Walking, walking, walking, walking
Walking, walking, walking, walking
Walking, walking, walking, walking
Walking, walking, walking, walking
Walking, walking, walking, walking
Walking, walking, walking, walking
Walking, walking, walking, walking
Walking, walking, walking, walking
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More Featured Meanings
Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman
Bron-Y-Aur Stomp
Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin
This is about bronies. They communicate by stomping.
Son Şansın - Şarkı Sözleri
Hayalperest
Hayalperest
This song seemingly tackles the methods of deception those who manipulate others use to get victims to follow their demands, as well as diverting attention away from important issues. They'll also use it as a means to convince people to hate or kill others by pretending acts of terrorism were committed by the enemy when the acts themselves were done by the masters of control to promote discrimination and hate. It also reinforces the idea that these manipulative forces operate in various locations, infiltrating everyday life without detection, and propagate any and everywhere.
In general, it highlights the danger of hidden agendas, manipulation, and distraction, serving as a critique of those who exploit chaos and confusion to control and gain power, depicting a cautionary tale against falling into their traps. It encourages us to question the narratives presented to us and remain vigilant against manipulation in various parts of society.
When We Were Young
Blink-182
Blink-182
This is a sequel to 2001's "Reckless Abandon", and features the band looking back on their clumsy youth fondly.
No Surprises
Radiohead
Radiohead
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.
It's interesting, in the context of Amniesiac, it appears to be about divorce, but in context of Kid A, it's quite different. (Speaking of Kid A) Morning Bell represents (to me) the aftermath of the catastrophe of Idioteque. We cannot wallow in despair, and have to face up to the monotomous pain of living ("walking, walking, walking"). Maybe it's a kind of divorce, a detachment from reality and a full life, simply staying alive out of habit, like a zombie. Another interesting slant on this is a quote from Thom: "It's very, very violent. Extremely violent. The really weird thing about that was I wrote the song with all the words pretty much straight away, which is basically the only one I did that with. I recorded it onto MiniDisc and then there was a lightning storm, and it wiped the MiniDisc and I lost the song. I completely forgot it. Then five months later, I was on a plane, knackered for 24 hours, I was just falling asleep, and I remembered it. It was really weird, I never had that before. It's gone in and took a long time to come out again. The lyrics are really... they're not as dramatic as they sound, you know? Except "Cut the kids in half", which is dramatic no matter which way you read it". The fact he describes it as "violent" suggests against the idea of divorce.
@whapcapn divorce is existentially violent, though, if not physically; it tears people apart. Of course, Radiohead's lyrics (especially Yorke's, I think) are more abstract than concrete, so the idea that it's about a divorce from reality and/or self is spot on. Plus, in some Q&A, when asked directly if the song is about divorce, Yorke's answer was "no, not really..." and he went on to describe how the house he bought between OK Computer and Amnesiac was haunted, and that fated MiniDisc was filled with various ideas, ramblings, and such inspired by that.