"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 want a girl, girl that won't talk back
And a job, job that gives me slack
And a car, car that won't break down
In the heat of Los Angeles
I want to go, go without a map
Far away, away, I won't get trapped
By the sound, a town, the sun beats down
In the heat of Los Angeles
One more holiday
I will not celebrate
I'm almost desperate
'Cause I'm down, I'm down, I'm so beat down
This city's killing me
I want, I want, I want everything
This city's killing me
In the heat of Los Angeles
I want a love, love that won't hit back
Want sex, sex without a catch
Want a face, to trust, to feel, to lust
In the heat of Los Angeles
Want to f, f, f this up
Gonna feel, feel, feel you up
Had enough, enough, enough, enough
In the heat of Los Angeles
This city's killing me
I want, I want, I want everything
This city's killing me
In the heat of Los Angeles
What has become of me?
I want, I want, I want everything
This city's killing me
(I want everything)
Come on, come on
It's alive and breathing
Come on, come on
Come alive today
Come on, come on
It's a heartless beating
The sun is burning down Los Angeles
Los Angeles
Los Angeles
I want a girl, girl that won't talk back
And a job, job that gives me slack
And a car, car that won't break down
In the heat of Los Angeles
Come on, come on
It's alive and breathing
Come on, come on
Come alive today
Come on, come on
It's a heartless beating
The sun is burning down
(This city's killing me)
Come on, come on
It's alive and breathing
Come on, come on
Come alive today
(This city's killing me)
Come on, come on
It's a heartless beating
The sun is burning down Los Angeles (One more holiday)
The sun is burning down Los Angeles (I will not celebrate)
[Repeat]
And a job, job that gives me slack
And a car, car that won't break down
In the heat of Los Angeles
I want to go, go without a map
Far away, away, I won't get trapped
By the sound, a town, the sun beats down
In the heat of Los Angeles
One more holiday
I will not celebrate
I'm almost desperate
'Cause I'm down, I'm down, I'm so beat down
This city's killing me
I want, I want, I want everything
This city's killing me
In the heat of Los Angeles
I want a love, love that won't hit back
Want sex, sex without a catch
Want a face, to trust, to feel, to lust
In the heat of Los Angeles
Want to f, f, f this up
Gonna feel, feel, feel you up
Had enough, enough, enough, enough
In the heat of Los Angeles
This city's killing me
I want, I want, I want everything
This city's killing me
In the heat of Los Angeles
What has become of me?
I want, I want, I want everything
This city's killing me
(I want everything)
Come on, come on
It's alive and breathing
Come on, come on
Come alive today
Come on, come on
It's a heartless beating
The sun is burning down Los Angeles
Los Angeles
Los Angeles
I want a girl, girl that won't talk back
And a job, job that gives me slack
And a car, car that won't break down
In the heat of Los Angeles
Come on, come on
It's alive and breathing
Come on, come on
Come alive today
Come on, come on
It's a heartless beating
The sun is burning down
(This city's killing me)
Come on, come on
It's alive and breathing
Come on, come on
Come alive today
(This city's killing me)
Come on, come on
It's a heartless beating
The sun is burning down Los Angeles (One more holiday)
The sun is burning down Los Angeles (I will not celebrate)
[Repeat]
Lyrics submitted by fedorov1fan
Los Angeles Lyrics as written by Tom Higgenson Timothy Pagnotta
Lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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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"
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This was the perfect song for "13 Reasons Why"
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This song was originally written by a guy called Peter Gutteridge. He was one of the founders of the "Dunedin Sound" a musical scene in the south of New Zealand in the early 80s. From there it was covered by "The Clean" one of the early bands of that scene (he had originally been a member of in it's early days, writing a couple of their best early songs). The Dunedin sound, and the Clean became popular on american college radio in the mid to late 80s. I guess Yo La Tengo heard that version.
Great version of a great song,
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"I want a girl, girl that won't talk back" wtf??
this makes me think (hope) the song is kind of generalising about what los-angeleans(sp?) in general want, emphaising the soulless nature of it all.
haha i know this is weird... but
"I want a love, love that won't hit back Want sex, sex without a catch Want a face, to trust, to feel, to lust In the heat of Los Angeles Want to f, f, f this up Gonna feel, feel, feel you up"
is very sexy to me... heh.
@singhertosleep That's a bit strange..but whatever you like I guess :P Sugarcult are very sexy themselves though! Those lyrics are very sexual by nature though.
The person whose point of view the song is written from (fictional, or member of Sugarcult?) just seems sick of other people and responsiblities and things tying them down, so they just want to be free and have what they want.
Like usual, I might be wrong - it has been known :P
They just want life to be simple and to get what they want..
i downloaded this song for free (yay! lol) on itunes a couple days ago... and omg it is so fucking gud. a really gud friend of mine had told me about sugarcult, and he said that i might not like it cuz theyre a little more punk and alternative than i usually listen to, but this song is really good. i think its just about them doing what they want. like, in los angeles, THIS it wat theyre looking for. THIS is what theyve always wanted, but they didnt get it. so, they wrote a song lol. just what i think when i hear it... might be wrong like apollosfire says lol.
Oh god I love this song so much, it's insane. I can relate to it so much, I just want to et into a car and drive away, and maybe make it to LA.
Then again I have a very weird obession with LA.
Great song i got it for free, too ^_^ To me it sounds like the narrator of the song went to Los Angeles because it's supposed to be such a great, but the "City of Angels" turns out to be a living hell for him. BTW, does this song remidn anyone else of "Los Angeles is Burning" by Bad Religion?
I would just like to tell singhertosleep that that section of the song is amazing and I find it ridiculously sexy too. The entire song is actually sexy in a strange end of the world kind of way. I love it. Just thought I'd throw that out there
I find that part of the song EXTREMELY sexy too. This song is cool. I don't normally listen to Sugarcult. But I like this song. It sounds like they want to break free of everything in life that holds them down and they just want to break free of it all. Sounds like me. I can relate to this song.
DAMN i love this song. Anway...
At what pyrites_gliterati said, can i just point out The Lyrics in Daddy's Little Defect it says "Keep your secrets away from me if you want to be mine". It's fair to say this isn't sung from THIER point of view and this is probably the same.
I think "a gril who doesn't talk back", "A job that gives me slack", "sex without a catch" etc. Pretty sure this is what Los Angelans want according to the song. Whatever it means its very catchy!