"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.
Reviewed, it seemed
As if someone were watching over it
Before it was
As if response were based on fact
Providing, deciding, it was soon there
Squared to it, faced to it, it was not there
Renewed, it fought
As if it had a cause to live for
Denied, it learned
As if it had sooner been destroyed
Providing, deciding, it was soon there
Squared to it, faced to it, it was not there
Reviewed, it fought
As if someone were watching over it
Before it had sooner been denied
Renewed, it seemed
As if it had a cause to live for
Destroyed, it was later based on fact
As if someone were watching over it
Before it was
As if response were based on fact
Providing, deciding, it was soon there
Squared to it, faced to it, it was not there
Renewed, it fought
As if it had a cause to live for
Denied, it learned
As if it had sooner been destroyed
Providing, deciding, it was soon there
Squared to it, faced to it, it was not there
Reviewed, it fought
As if someone were watching over it
Before it had sooner been denied
Renewed, it seemed
As if it had a cause to live for
Destroyed, it was later based on fact
Lyrics submitted by Chinup, edited by rockaction
The 15th Lyrics as written by Colin John Newman
Lyrics © CARLIN AMERICA INC
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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More Featured Meanings
Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman
The Night We Met
Lord Huron
Lord Huron
This is a hauntingly beautiful song about introspection, specifically about looking back at a relationship that started bad and ended so poorly, that the narrator wants to go back to the very beginning and tell himself to not even travel down that road. I believe that the relationship started poorly because of the lines:
"Take me back to the night we met:When the night was full of terrors: And your eyes were filled with tears: When you had not touched me yet"
So, the first night was not a great start, but the narrator pursued the relationship and eventually both overcame the rough start to fall in love with each other:
"I had all and then most of you"
Like many relationships that turn sour, it was not a quick decline, but a gradual one where the narrator and their partner fall out of love and gradually grow apart
"Some and now none of you"
Losing someone who was once everything in your world, who you could confide in, tell your secrets to, share all the most intimate parts of your life, to being strangers with that person is probably one of the most painful experiences a person can go through. So Painful, the narrator wants to go back in time and tell himself to not even pursue the relationship.
This was the perfect song for "13 Reasons Why"
Mental Istid
Ebba Grön
Ebba Grön
This is one of my favorite songs. https://fnfgo.io
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.
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.
Unlike "Kidney Bingos", which does indeed have a rather pointed meaning, this song, possibly quite literally, is about nothing, as has been attested to by Colin Newman various times; the title refers to how it was the fifteenth song written and demo-ed for 154. Still, it sounds oddly meaningful, especially considering that the title sounds suspiciously like a military regiment...
Why this song wasn't chosen for a single, I have no idea. It's superbly constructed, insanely catchy, and despite not being quite the masterpiece that "Map Ref. 41ºN 93ºW" is, it has a much easier-to-remember title (in the conventional sense) and even simpler (if ultimately weirder) lyrics.
I'm sure it has a meaning - it's not just a random selection of words, is it? It always seemed to me to be about the creative process. The title the 15th may have been specific to the recording but the lyrics, to me, apppear to be about the nebulous nature of ideas and creativity. The act of taking an idea (or theme) and trying to make it concrete in the form of a song, for example; also the way in which an idea plants itself like a seed, grows organically in the mind and when it is scrutinised and rationalised it loses something and in a way is there and is not there.
It is about an idea. Any idea.
I'm pretty sure this is about the commercialisation -- lack of meaning -- in the punk scene towards its end.
The only intuition on the so-called meaning of this track that made any sense was DemonicBaggie's: "It is about an idea. Any idea."
Only even this has to be generalized: why limit ourselves to the idea and not go immediately for the thing, ideas included? (Or, if you prefer, for the fact or even for the process. It is not a matter of terminology: pick your elementary ontological unit and roll with it.)
The lyrics correspond to this level of abstraction. This, in a way, makes it more approachable than other Wire tracks.
always love this song
mike watt's cover is totally amazing
Love this song too, but have no idea what the lyrics mean. I think it may be like other Wire songs such as "Kidney Bingos" where the words really have no meaning, but fit the melody extremely well.
words make perfect sense, you just haven't had that experience, sorry, i wont spoil it for you... it hurts and you just have to go thru it to understand it ;)
eh?!
I really hope you're not alluding to what I think you are.
@damitdamn yep
Isn't the song supposed to be about abortion? "The 15th" allegedly referred to the 15th week of pregnancy which at the time was the latest date for aborting.
"As if it had no cause to live for", "As if it had sooner been destroyed" , "It was not there".....the lyrics definitely fit.
It's about human life, "Providing, deciding" = materialism and free will, the essence of modern life; "Squared to it, faced to it, it was not there" : these are just ideas, they are illusions that promote our self-worth.
The subject -- or mankind -- turns to faith "as if someone were watching over it" but ultimately becomes real only as a collective memory, however factual.