"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'm so sorry, please forgive me
Who do I pray to to straighten out this problem? (problem)
Straighten out this problem (problem), straighten out my mind (Mind)
Straighten out ...this crooked tongue...(x3)
My mind has wandered, from the straight and narrow
My mind has wandered from the flock you see
My mind has wandered, the man just said so
My mind has wandered I heard it on TV
And the flock has wandered away from me.
(Chorus 1)
All around the world now
Like a big bright cherry cloud
Traveling from home to home
TV sets and telephones
Here it comes just like a storm
Bathe in it and be reborn
Time to let the world know
Welcome madness, ...say hello...(x3)
Like a wave we cannot see
Washing over you and me
Hiding here and hiding there
Madness hiding everywhere
Such a curiosity
Here it comes to set us free
Plenty left for you and me
Say hello insanity
I am the virus, are you the cure?
I am morally(morally), I'm morally impure(Impure)
I am a disease and I am unclean
I am not part of God's well oiled machine
Christian nation(Nation), assimilate me(me)
Take me in your arms and set me free
I am part of a degenerate elite(elite)
Dragging our society into the street -yeah-
Into the abyss and to the sewer don't you see
The man just told me, he told me on TV
Do you think you're better than me
Do you want to kill me or befriend me
And the alcoholic bastard waved his finger at me
And His voice was filled with evangelical glee
Sipping down his gin & tonics
While preaching about the evils of narcotics
And the evils of sex,(sex) and the wages of sin (Sin)
While he mentally fondles his next of kin and
My mind has wandered from the flock you see
And the flock has wandered away from me
And he waved his hypnotizing finger at me
(Chorus 2)
Let's imitate reality (Insanity)
Let's strive for mediocrity (Insanity)
Let's make believe we're all the same (Now that's for me)
Let's sanitize our little brains (Insanity)
I'd love to take you home with me and tuck you into bed
I'd love to see what makes you tick inside your pretty head
I'd love to hear you laugh tonight, I'd love to hear you weep
I'd love to listen to you while you're screaming in your sleep.
Christian sons, Christian daughters
Lead me along like a lamb to the slaughter
Purify my brain and hose down my soul
White perfection, perfection is my goal
Do you think you're better than me
Do you want to kill me, or befriend me
Christian nation(nation), make us alright
Put us through the filter and make us pure and white 'cause'
My mind has wandered away from me
And the flock has wandered, away from me
Let's talk of family values while we sit and watch the slaughter
Hypothetical abortions on imaginary daughters
The white folks think they're at the top, ask any proud white male
A million years of evolution, we get Danny Quayle
(Chorus 1 & 2)
I'd love to take you home with me, I'd love to tuck you in
I wish I could protect you from the wages of our sin
I'd love to hear you scream tonight, I'd love to hear you cry
Protect you from the madness that is raining from the sky
(Chorus 2)
I'd love to take you home with me and tuck you into bed
I'd love to see what makes you tick inside your pretty head
I wish that I could keep you in a precious Chinese box
On Sundays I would pray for you so it would never stop
I'd love to hear you laugh tonight, I'd love to hear you weep
I'd love to listen to you while you're screaming in your sleep
I'd love to soothe you with my voice and take your hand in mine
I'd love to take you past the stars and out of reach of time
I'd love to see inside your mind, to tear it all apart
To cut you open with knife and find your sacred heart
I'd love to take your satin dolls and tear them all to shreds
I'd love to mess your pretty hair, I'd love to see you dead.'
Who do I pray to to straighten out this problem? (problem)
Straighten out this problem (problem), straighten out my mind (Mind)
Straighten out ...this crooked tongue...(x3)
My mind has wandered, from the straight and narrow
My mind has wandered from the flock you see
My mind has wandered, the man just said so
My mind has wandered I heard it on TV
And the flock has wandered away from me.
(Chorus 1)
All around the world now
Like a big bright cherry cloud
Traveling from home to home
TV sets and telephones
Here it comes just like a storm
Bathe in it and be reborn
Time to let the world know
Welcome madness, ...say hello...(x3)
Like a wave we cannot see
Washing over you and me
Hiding here and hiding there
Madness hiding everywhere
Such a curiosity
Here it comes to set us free
Plenty left for you and me
Say hello insanity
I am the virus, are you the cure?
I am morally(morally), I'm morally impure(Impure)
I am a disease and I am unclean
I am not part of God's well oiled machine
Christian nation(Nation), assimilate me(me)
Take me in your arms and set me free
I am part of a degenerate elite(elite)
Dragging our society into the street -yeah-
Into the abyss and to the sewer don't you see
The man just told me, he told me on TV
Do you think you're better than me
Do you want to kill me or befriend me
And the alcoholic bastard waved his finger at me
And His voice was filled with evangelical glee
Sipping down his gin & tonics
While preaching about the evils of narcotics
And the evils of sex,(sex) and the wages of sin (Sin)
While he mentally fondles his next of kin and
My mind has wandered from the flock you see
And the flock has wandered away from me
And he waved his hypnotizing finger at me
(Chorus 2)
Let's imitate reality (Insanity)
Let's strive for mediocrity (Insanity)
Let's make believe we're all the same (Now that's for me)
Let's sanitize our little brains (Insanity)
I'd love to take you home with me and tuck you into bed
I'd love to see what makes you tick inside your pretty head
I'd love to hear you laugh tonight, I'd love to hear you weep
I'd love to listen to you while you're screaming in your sleep.
Christian sons, Christian daughters
Lead me along like a lamb to the slaughter
Purify my brain and hose down my soul
White perfection, perfection is my goal
Do you think you're better than me
Do you want to kill me, or befriend me
Christian nation(nation), make us alright
Put us through the filter and make us pure and white 'cause'
My mind has wandered away from me
And the flock has wandered, away from me
Let's talk of family values while we sit and watch the slaughter
Hypothetical abortions on imaginary daughters
The white folks think they're at the top, ask any proud white male
A million years of evolution, we get Danny Quayle
(Chorus 1 & 2)
I'd love to take you home with me, I'd love to tuck you in
I wish I could protect you from the wages of our sin
I'd love to hear you scream tonight, I'd love to hear you cry
Protect you from the madness that is raining from the sky
(Chorus 2)
I'd love to take you home with me and tuck you into bed
I'd love to see what makes you tick inside your pretty head
I wish that I could keep you in a precious Chinese box
On Sundays I would pray for you so it would never stop
I'd love to hear you laugh tonight, I'd love to hear you weep
I'd love to listen to you while you're screaming in your sleep
I'd love to soothe you with my voice and take your hand in mine
I'd love to take you past the stars and out of reach of time
I'd love to see inside your mind, to tear it all apart
To cut you open with knife and find your sacred heart
I'd love to take your satin dolls and tear them all to shreds
I'd love to mess your pretty hair, I'd love to see you dead.'
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Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
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@[Diderik:33655] "Your a holiday!" Was a popular term used in the 50s/60s to compliment someone on their all around. For example, not only are they beautiful, but they are fun and kind too ... just an all around "holiday".
I think your first comment is closer to being accurate. The singer/song writers state "Millions of eyes can see, yet why am i so blind!? When the someone else is me, its unkind its unkind". I believe hes referring to the girl toying with him and using him. He wants something deeper with her, thats why he allows himself to be as a puppet (even though for her fun and games) as long as it makes her happy. But he knows deep down that she doesnt really want to be serious with him and thats what makes him.
Mountain Song
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Jane's Addiction vocalist Perry Farrell gives Adam Reader some heartfelt insight into Jane’s Addiction's hard rock manifesto "Mountain Song", which was the second single from their revolutionary album Nothing's Shocking. Mountain song was first recorded in 1986 and appeared on the soundtrack to the film Dudes starring Jon Cryer. The version on Nothing's Shocking was re-recorded in 1988.
"'Mountain Song' was actually about... I hate to say it but... drugs. Climbing this mountain and getting as high as you can, and then coming down that mountain," reveals Farrell. "What it feels to descend from the mountain top... not easy at all. The ascension is tough but exhilarating. Getting down is... it's a real bummer. Drugs is not for everybody obviously. For me, I wanted to experience the heights, and the lows come along with it."
"There's a part - 'Cash in now honey, cash in Miss Smith.' Miss Smith is my Mother; our last name was Smith. Cashing in when she cashed in her life. So... she decided that, to her... at that time, she was desperate. Life wasn't worth it for her, that was her opinion. Some people think, never take your life, and some people find that their life isn't worth living. She was in love with my Dad, and my Dad was not faithful to her, and it broke her heart. She was very desperate and she did something that I know she regrets."
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American Town
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Ed Sheeran shares a short story of reconnecting with an old flame on “American Town.” The track is about a holiday Ed Sheeran spends with his countrywoman who resides in America. The two are back together after a long period apart, and get around to enjoying a bunch of fun activities while rekindling the flames of their romance.
Looks like there’ve been no posts here in years so probably no one will see this. But I think this song is from the point of view of someone who is mentally disturbed and has thoughts of rape or murder, and is joining Christianity because he thinks that God/Jesus will keep his cravings for these things under control. This is why the final stanzas are saying such awful things — not because “Danny Elfman is crazy,” but because he’s writing the song from this point of view (writers aren’t always writing about themselves :p ).
We see this over and over in society: the woman who sexually abused and killed the child in her Sunday school, Catholic priests who rape boys in their churches, etc. Many people sadly turn to Christianity rather than seeking proper medical help, because they think that God will magically control the thoughts in their head.
BalisongAbraxas: well, i saw this! anywho, i agreed with some of the posts in the earlier years but when i saw urs, i thought about it a little, and i think urs might be the best explanation, especially consdering the verse below:<br /> <br /> I am the virus, are you the cure? <br /> I am morally, I'm morally impure <br /> I am a disease and I am unclean <br /> I am not part of God's well oiled machine <br /> Christian nation, assimilate me <br /> Take me in your arms and set me free <br /> I am part of a degenerate elite <br /> Dragging our society into the streeet <br /> Into the abyss and to the sewer don't you see <br /> The man just told me, he told me on TV <br /> <br /> Its seems ur idea makes sense. thanks for writing it! :)
@BalisongAbraxas<br /> <br /> I'd actually like to suggest that this verse ("am I the virus, are you the cure?") suggest something else entirely -- it paints the speaker as an outsider but not necessarily a lunatic. Catch phrases like "morally unclean" and "Christian Nation, assimilate me" suggest to me that we're working from the point of view of a secular person and the zealotry of some of the Christian sects that have taken hold in the US (and around the world). Look at the last few lines: "I am part of a degenerate elite... the man just told me, he told me on TV." Doesn't that sound like a normal person's response to the more fire-and-brimstone televangelists? The things they call people out for are things the majority of the population does regularly -- and all of these seem to land you squarely in h-e-double hockey sticks </irony>.<br /> <br /> Tangent (but related), when I was in college, there was a wacko branch Baptist who used to show up and point out all the girls who were going to hell for wearing tank tops in phoenix in August (kiss my what?!). The speaker in the lyrics isn't crazy (whether it's Elfman or not) -- the rational speaker is responding to the outrageous zealotry of the man on TV. <br /> <br /> He also incorporates themes like disillusionment, the degradation of society (on a rational, practical level rather than on the level of fanatical Christians), and social/societal exclusion. In these situations, listening to these people, a perfectly average person can start to feel like they are a dangerous lunatic bound for hell. "Christian nation, assimilate me..." is naught more than a sarcastic plea to find a "place" to "belong" in all of this.<br /> <br /> Listen to the commentary after the lines in the chorus:<br /> <br /> "Let's imitate reality <Insanity><br /> Let's strive for mediocrity <Insanity><br /> Let's make believe we're all the same <Now that's for me><br /> Let's sanitize our little brains <Insanity>"<br /> <br /> For me, the "Now that's for me" response says it all. Everything in the responses is delivered in complete deadpan tone. It stands in contrast to the emotional/passionate expression of the main lines (almost shouted). When he says "Let's make-believe we're all the same" and responds, in deadpan "Now that's for me," I can almost visualize some clean-shaven, brylcreem '50s kid giving the plastic grin and a big thumbs up. <br /> <br /> Let's make believe we're all the same.<br /> (image of fifties kid here giving thumbs up)<br /> <deadpan> Now that's for me </deadpan><br /> <br /> It's Eddie Haskell. He's perfect on the surface, but we all know there's a sinister monster under it all. These zealots present themselves as perfect Christians, but they cannot hold up to close scrutiny -- nobody could!<br /> <br /> The surface is the "insane" speaker, but underneath it, the key is to realize that the so-called "insane" speaker is really just about everyone... nobody can live up to these Puritanical ideals, and we're all excluded in the end, if you subscribe to a literal translation of biblical texts. We're the lunatics, the killers, the psychopaths -- "normal" is us: the flawed, the secular, the humans.
@BalisongAbraxas<br /> <br /> I'd actually like to suggest that this verse ("am I the virus, are you the cure?") suggest something else entirely -- it paints the speaker as an outsider but not necessarily a lunatic. Catch phrases like "morally unclean" and "Christian Nation, assimilate me" suggest to me that we're working from the point of view of a secular person and the zealotry of some of the Christian sects that have taken hold in the US (and around the world). Look at the last few lines: "I am part of a degenerate elite... the man just told me, he told me on TV." Doesn't that sound like a normal person's response to the more fire-and-brimstone televangelists? The things they call people out for are things the majority of the population does regularly -- and all of these seem to land you squarely in h-e-double hockey sticks </irony>.<br /> <br /> Tangent (but related), when I was in college, there was a wacko branch Baptist who used to show up and point out all the girls who were going to hell for wearing tank tops in phoenix in August (kiss my what?!). The speaker in the lyrics isn't crazy (whether it's Elfman or not) -- the rational speaker is responding to the outrageous zealotry of the man on TV. <br /> <br /> He also incorporates themes like disillusionment, the degradation of society (on a rational, practical level rather than on the level of fanatical Christians), and social/societal exclusion. In these situations, listening to these people, a perfectly average person can start to feel like they are a dangerous lunatic bound for hell. "Christian nation, assimilate me..." is naught more than a sarcastic plea to find a "place" to "belong" in all of this.<br /> <br /> Listen to the commentary after the lines in the chorus:<br /> <br /> "Let's imitate reality <Insanity><br /> Let's strive for mediocrity <Insanity><br /> Let's make believe we're all the same <Now that's for me><br /> Let's sanitize our little brains <Insanity>"<br /> <br /> For me, the "Now that's for me" response says it all. Everything in the responses is delivered in complete deadpan tone. It stands in contrast to the emotional/passionate expression of the main lines (almost shouted). When he says "Let's make-believe we're all the same" and responds, in deadpan "Now that's for me," I can almost visualize some clean-shaven, brylcreem '50s kid giving the plastic grin and a big thumbs up. <br /> <br /> Let's make believe we're all the same.<br /> (image of fifties kid here giving thumbs up)<br /> <deadpan> Now that's for me </deadpan><br /> <br /> It's Eddie Haskell. He's perfect on the surface, but we all know there's a sinister monster under it all. These zealots present themselves as perfect Christians, but they cannot hold up to close scrutiny -- nobody could!<br /> <br /> The surface is the "insane" speaker, but underneath it, the key is to realize that the so-called "insane" speaker is really just about everyone... nobody can live up to these Puritanical ideals, and we're all excluded in the end, if you subscribe to a literal translation of biblical texts. We're the lunatics, the killers, the psychopaths -- "normal" is us: the flawed, the secular, the humans.
From my interpretation, the view of the song is from a guy who has always been considered different and crazy by the abusive Christian environment he grew up in, until he finally snaps.
Since Christians believe we are all God's designed children, they tend to find it hard to accept that there are people different from them. So they make a very clear line between what is normal and what is wrong, Television and media only further this generalization, and the Christian Nation make make sure to take of the "insane".
So after our character's mind wanders and he becomes crazy, he sings against this judgmental and generalizing environment, stating the hypocrisy of maybe the reason he's gone crazy is because "the alcoholic bastard(his father)" mentally abused him when he preached against everything in the world.
It's about the stupidity of some of our human traits, and how we swindle ourselves and each other, just for material possetions and how little far we've gotten in our evelution brain power, even though our appearences are different from what was 200million years ago.
Sounds more like a commentary on religious types in general, A love-Hate relationship of sorts. Hates them for how blind, and stupid, and well how much like mindless 'droids they tend to be, and how they can be so critical of everyone else, and yet envies that whole sense of belonging, of faith that the next day will bring happiness, that blind sense of hope, and that belief that in the end they believe what they are doing is right, makes him want to open them up and see what makes them tick.
I think this song is about pressures of religious conformity. How it is being more and more idealized by today's elite religious leaders and shoved onto the working class by means of guilt.
The "I'd like to see..." lines are the voice of the evangelical preacher as he gains more and more influence, power and control over society. The reason they are demented is because, he doesn't really have our best interests at heart, after all -- he just wants the control.
That's all well and good, but then how do you explain the last two stanzas? I always thought that it just meant that Danny Elfman is out of his fucking mind.
Myoria: A really good Boingo song about the stupidity of evolution id "Why'd We Come"
Danny Elfman is brilliant. He writes lyrics with the sort of subjects that would normally be handled by a shrink--and instead of paying some psychiatrist $200 to handle his neuroses and the darkest corners of his id, he gets us to shell out $20 a pop to buy them. Go boy.
Not much I can say here that hasn't already been covered. I always thought the alcoholic bastard was a priest, but JofaGuht seems to have it right. Also, has anybody seen the video to this? It's an easter egg on the Farewell DVD and holy crap is it ever amazing. Very dark, very Burtonesque. Stop-motion monkeys and vintage dolls and skeletons and puppets and Danny sitting at a desk wearing eyeshadow and screaming and shaking around. Perhaps the best example anyone could come up with to call Oingo Boingo "goth".
As I understand this, Danny wrote this after watching a televangelist on TV.