"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.
At the center where they go on weekdays
It takes hours just to slate that thirst
Heavy heels and a daunting post rate
Bad idea for your blistered toast
To my will well you're getting close
So say adios
The conjecture is reject the rose
Don't stay high on a abuse
Sometimes it feels like the world's stuffed with feathers
Table bottom gum holding it together
A cold son
I am
A cold son
You can chase it but it won't come easy
It's a revelry so silver quick
It gets solid when you're old and hazy
Takes no leverage to make me click
To my will well you're getting close
The tension goes
Defy conjecture and reject the rose
Don't stay high on abuse
Who is that said the world is my oyster
I feel like a nympho trapped in a cloister
A cold son
I am
A cold son
Face plant stumble ahead
Victim of your rival pretensions know me
Face plant stumble ahead
Rival to the bitter pretensions know me
Cold son
I am
Cold son
I am
It takes hours just to slate that thirst
Heavy heels and a daunting post rate
Bad idea for your blistered toast
To my will well you're getting close
So say adios
The conjecture is reject the rose
Don't stay high on a abuse
Sometimes it feels like the world's stuffed with feathers
Table bottom gum holding it together
A cold son
I am
A cold son
You can chase it but it won't come easy
It's a revelry so silver quick
It gets solid when you're old and hazy
Takes no leverage to make me click
To my will well you're getting close
The tension goes
Defy conjecture and reject the rose
Don't stay high on abuse
Who is that said the world is my oyster
I feel like a nympho trapped in a cloister
A cold son
I am
A cold son
Face plant stumble ahead
Victim of your rival pretensions know me
Face plant stumble ahead
Rival to the bitter pretensions know me
Cold son
I am
Cold son
I am
Lyrics submitted by remotehomelife
Cold Son Lyrics as written by Stephen Joseph Malkmus
Lyrics © Hipgnosis Songs Group
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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Fast Car
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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.
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Yo La Tengo
Yo La Tengo
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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Blink-182
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This is a sequel to 2001's "Reckless Abandon", and features the band looking back on their clumsy youth fondly.
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Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
“Head > Heels” is a track that aims to capture what it feels like to experience romance that exceeds expectations. Ed Sheeran dedicates his album outro to a lover who has blessed him with a unique experience that he seeks to describe through the song’s nuanced lyrics.
I have no clue on the lyrics, and I simply don't give a damn. Terrific song. I discovered this album a few weeks ago and found it great, so "jammy" without being indulgent... Genius!
Some corrections:
[slake] that thirst a daunting [pulse] rate blistered [toes] (as previously mentioned) to my [wheel well] you're getting close the tension [grows] a [reverie] so silver quick 2nd verse - [accept] the rose
The first verse makes me think about mallwalkers. 60-somethings powerwalking through the mall in their sweatsuits, checking their pulses.
i know exactly how table bottom gum holds everything together. you'll see. touch it when you're nervous.
to me
the song is an existential discussion about the physiology of exstacy, It's relationships,
and Desire. consequently, Fear.
Perhaps the eternal return of Desire and consumption are, in and of themselves, not somethings to be avoided.
From this vantage point, intensity is objectified and projected alongside the original Subjects into the future.
In any such projection, we recreate mirror images of ourselves - making real a world of assumption and illusion.
I agree with Universal, it sounds like the resistance of natural feeling and vulnerability in the moment, to force a lifeless facade in competition with your "rival pretensions". I think the "son" part of the title was chosen because it's like a kid resisting his parents' guidance, who know what's best for him but he still tries to be something he's not.
haha i think it's "blistered toes"...
I agree with Santiagof, great jam album. One of the best albums of the year. I think the song is about drug abuse though.
I agree with Santiagof, great jam album. One of the best albums of the year. I think the song is about drug abuse though.
i know exactly how table bottom gum holds everything together. you'll see. touch it when you're nervous.
to me
the song is an existential discussion about the physiology of exstacy, It's relationships,
and Desire. consequently, Fear.
Perhaps the eternal return of Desire and consumption are, in and of themselves, not somethings to be avoided.
From this vantage point, intensity is objectified and projected alongside the original Subjects into the future.
In any such projection, we recreate mirror images of ourselves - making real a world of assumption and illusion.
I agree with bS.O.S. To me this song is about drug abuse. It may not be, but it sure can fit the profile lyrically. "Sometimes it feels like the worlds filled with feathers/table bottom gum holding it together", whatever it may be about, it's not about the best times in life.
Sets up a great trilogy of tunes