"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.
Bang bang
Could a body close the mind down
Stitch a seam across the eye
If you can be good you'll live forever
If you're bad, you'll die when you die
Hearing only one true note
I'm the one and only sound
Unzip my body, take my heart out
'Cause I need a beat to give this tune
(Taking a picture of)
(Taking a picture of)
(Taking a picture of)
Bang Bang
Oh the body swayed to music
Oh the lightning glance
I would give it all, and all
Maybe you would give me less for half a chance
Hearing only one root note
Planted firmly in the ground
Undo my heart unzip my body and
Lend to my ear a clear and a deafening sound
(Unzip my heart)
And if I need a rhythm
It'll be to my heart I listen
If it don't put me too far wrong
(And if I and if I)
And if I need a rhythm
It will be to my heart I listen
If it don't put me too far wrong
Everybody smile, please
Nobody pay no mind to me
Finger in position on the switch
A little flash photography
Taking a picture of you
(To my heart) taking a picture of
Taking a picture of me
Taking a picture
Ramalama, bang bang
Flash bang
Big bang
Bing bong
Ding dong
Dom dom do dom dom
With a hammer bang bang
Flash bang
Press gang
Bing bong
Ding dong
Hum hum ho Hum Hum
With a system of a bang bang
Crash bang
Big bang
Boing boing
Boing boing
Dumb dumb do dumb dumb
With a system of a bang bang
Crash bang
Big bang
Boing boing
Boing boing
Dumb dumb do dumb dumb
Keep on, keep on
Keep on, keep on
And if I and if I need a rhythm (and if I need a rhythm)
Gonna be to my heart I listen
And if I and if I need a rhythm (and if I and if I need a rhythm)
It's gonna be to my heart I listen
And if I and if I need a rhythm (and if I and if I need a rhythm)
It's gonna be to my heart I listen
(Need a rhythm, in my heart a rhythm)(and if I)
(Need a rhythm)
(Need a rhythm)
(Need a rhythm)
(Need a rhythm)
And if I and if I need a rhythm (keep on, keep on)
Keep on, keep on
Keep on, keep on
Could a body close the mind down
Stitch a seam across the eye
If you can be good you'll live forever
If you're bad, you'll die when you die
Hearing only one true note
I'm the one and only sound
Unzip my body, take my heart out
'Cause I need a beat to give this tune
(Taking a picture of)
(Taking a picture of)
(Taking a picture of)
Bang Bang
Oh the body swayed to music
Oh the lightning glance
I would give it all, and all
Maybe you would give me less for half a chance
Hearing only one root note
Planted firmly in the ground
Undo my heart unzip my body and
Lend to my ear a clear and a deafening sound
(Unzip my heart)
And if I need a rhythm
It'll be to my heart I listen
If it don't put me too far wrong
(And if I and if I)
And if I need a rhythm
It will be to my heart I listen
If it don't put me too far wrong
Everybody smile, please
Nobody pay no mind to me
Finger in position on the switch
A little flash photography
Taking a picture of you
(To my heart) taking a picture of
Taking a picture of me
Taking a picture
Ramalama, bang bang
Flash bang
Big bang
Bing bong
Ding dong
Dom dom do dom dom
With a hammer bang bang
Flash bang
Press gang
Bing bong
Ding dong
Hum hum ho Hum Hum
With a system of a bang bang
Crash bang
Big bang
Boing boing
Boing boing
Dumb dumb do dumb dumb
With a system of a bang bang
Crash bang
Big bang
Boing boing
Boing boing
Dumb dumb do dumb dumb
Keep on, keep on
Keep on, keep on
And if I and if I need a rhythm (and if I need a rhythm)
Gonna be to my heart I listen
And if I and if I need a rhythm (and if I and if I need a rhythm)
It's gonna be to my heart I listen
And if I and if I need a rhythm (and if I and if I need a rhythm)
It's gonna be to my heart I listen
(Need a rhythm, in my heart a rhythm)(and if I)
(Need a rhythm)
(Need a rhythm)
(Need a rhythm)
(Need a rhythm)
And if I and if I need a rhythm (keep on, keep on)
Keep on, keep on
Keep on, keep on
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It's funny that some people comes up with so complicated theories about this song. It's just what LDux said: It's about creating music. The connection between the artist and his/her art.
"Oh the body swayed to music Oh the lightning glance"
That part is a quote from a poem called "Among School Children" by William Butler Yeats, a well known Irish poet:
"O body swayed to music, O brightening glance How can we know the dancer from the dance?"
Both, the song and the poem, are about the relation between the artist and art and also about the power of art to transfigure mortality.
WHAT?! only three ppl commented this? hmm, well i love this song it's my myspace song and my company song for dance hoo rah we r suppose to be like the ugly side to models which is what i think this song is totally about how the camera makes us vain and brain washes us
"Everybody smile, please Nobody pay no mind to me Finger in position on the switch A little flash photography"
and how models give up there heart
"Unzip my body, take my heart out"
Ok, my interpretation (or my friend's really) is completely different, and I think it fits better (even if it is extremely morbid and disturbing) she thinks, and I think she's on to something, that it's about torture and taking pictures of the victim...? don't attack me if you think I'm wrong please, but any thoughts to build on this?
Ooh never thought of it like that. Thanks for the intriguing perspective.
@vocalchik I totally agree with you.
@vocalchik uhh... this song is about making music, and the rhythms of the body while dancing. Roisin Murphy said it in an interview lmao. your friend and that poster above need therapy.
WHAT?! only three ppl commented this? hmm, well i love this song it's my myspace song and my company song for dance hoo rah we r suppose to be like the ugly side to models which is what i think this song is totally about how the camera makes us vain and brain washes us
"Everybody smile, please Nobody pay no mind to me Finger in position on the switch A little flash photography"
and how models give up there heart
"Unzip my body, take my heart out"
the song trips me the f*ck out
I think differently than all of you and that it is about suicide
"flash photogrsphy" is an abstract reference to the falsh that comes from the gun when fired, because it also so "with a hammer, bang bang"
and also she gives the excuse that "nobody pay no mind to me" and thats usually a "reason" for suicide
i have to agree with vocalchik.
especially because of the lines: "If you can be good you’ll live forever; If you’re bad, you’ll die when you die"
and, "hearing only one true note"
"Lend to my ear a clear and a deafening sound"
plus, the beat does give a rather haunting feeling.
From interview
A lot of people in the US know you from the So You Think You Can Dance TV show, "Rama Lama (Bang Bang)" song. I was wondering how did that song come about, what was the idea behind it?
Roisin Murphy: When I'm on tour, we always say if the place is full, that it's ramalama, it's rammed, you know, rammed to the brim. So that's how we got the ramalama. And then I just heard this dong, dong, dong, dong, dong, dong, dah-dong, dong, and it made me think about that phrase. We just wrote a whole song about words and sounds and rhythm, and inside your body, what the rhythm is.
So it's about music
I love this song, and the routine by Wade Robson, AND the routine the dancers at Six Flags Great Adventure in Jersey perform during fright fest. But anyway, I think it's about surviving fame.
"Could the body close the mind down Stitch a seam across the eye"
"If you can be good, you'll live forever If you're bad, then you'll die when you die."
Though I like the torture idea, I think that is just a big metaphor for Hollywood.
I just realized something about this little bit of lyrics:
If you can be good you’ll live forever If you’re bad, you’ll die when you die
If this song is really about music, then this little bit means that if a song is good people will remember it and keep replaying it. (like Mozart's music or the hits from the 70's) But if a song is bad it will wither away and be forgotten.