"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 am not immortal
I am just a man
A power-craving tyrant
Beyond the shadows in the sand
Men have come to fear me
Many bow and cry
Known across the desert
I am the one who will not die
I have faced the demons of our most desperate moments
I have been the one to defend our pride
I have worn the banner of my abandoned brothers
I will be the first one to give my life
Lost not forgotten
Reigning against the odds
Feared and respected living among the gods
Leading the empire
Spirit as black as coal
Lost not forgotten
King of the deathless soul
An epic novel no one's read
Pages torn and faded
The greatest story never told
Behold the kingdom I possess
Land of wealth and beauty
Where the streets are paved with gold
Once fearless and brave
A realm passed away
The ghosts of yesterday
Lost not forgotten
Reigning against the odds
Feared and respected living among the gods
Leading the empire
Spirit as black as coal
Lost not forgotten
King of the deathless soul
Lost not forgotten
Reigning against the odds
Feared and respected living among the gods
Leading the empire
Brutal and heartless
Vanishing further
Into the darkness
Lost not forgotten
King of the deathless soul
I am just a man
A power-craving tyrant
Beyond the shadows in the sand
Men have come to fear me
Many bow and cry
Known across the desert
I am the one who will not die
I have faced the demons of our most desperate moments
I have been the one to defend our pride
I have worn the banner of my abandoned brothers
I will be the first one to give my life
Lost not forgotten
Reigning against the odds
Feared and respected living among the gods
Leading the empire
Spirit as black as coal
Lost not forgotten
King of the deathless soul
An epic novel no one's read
Pages torn and faded
The greatest story never told
Behold the kingdom I possess
Land of wealth and beauty
Where the streets are paved with gold
Once fearless and brave
A realm passed away
The ghosts of yesterday
Lost not forgotten
Reigning against the odds
Feared and respected living among the gods
Leading the empire
Spirit as black as coal
Lost not forgotten
King of the deathless soul
Lost not forgotten
Reigning against the odds
Feared and respected living among the gods
Leading the empire
Brutal and heartless
Vanishing further
Into the darkness
Lost not forgotten
King of the deathless soul
Lyrics submitted by Idan, edited by Octavarium64
Lost Not Forgotten Lyrics as written by John Petrucci John Myung
Lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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Fast Car
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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"
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"
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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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It almost feels like the perspective of Genghis Khan to me. Also, the intro Petrucci/Ruddess unison is one of the most impressive displays of their skills that I've ever heard.
Petrucci said its about an ancient Persian army/empire. Dunno exactly when though.
Sounds like it's from the perspective of the ghost of an ancient pharoah
Because of the first 2 verses I thought this one is about a dictator somewhere in the middle east. You know, a megalomaniac, who thinks of himself as some kind of god.
I found it to be a prelude to Outcry as in that song the band supports the revolutionists who fight for their freedom.
This reminds me of that Ozymandias poem I had to read and interpret in my senior year of High School.
I think this song is about Mike Portnoy (former drummer for Dream Theater) leaving the band. " I am not immortal I am just a man A power-craving tyrant Beyond the shadows in the sand"
In that way describing his personality.
"Leading the empire Brutal and heartless
thus meaning that he is one of the founding members of the band and that they lost a big part of the band when he left.
They do use the whole 'pharoah' metaphor to describe Portnoy as a king. read the following:
"Behold the kingdom I possess Land of wealth and beauty Where the streets are paved with gold"
He was treated like a 'king' when he was still in the band.
"Vanishing further Into the darkness.." Lost not forgotten King of the deathless soul" meaning he will always be in the band members and fans' hearts.
Petrucci said: "The mood of the song always reminded me of an old-time epic film like Ben-Hur. So I wrote lyrics that are somewhat historical about this ancient Persian elite fighting force that kind of died out. Again, a good example of my love for storytelling and linking music to words."
However, I love getting my own meanings out of songs (after all that is the beauty of an art ... it is open to interpretation).