"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.
They got a ranch they call
Number Fifty-One
They got a ranch they call
Number Fifty-One
You can't see it at all
'Less your flying by
Just sitting there square
Baking in the sun
Beneath the sky, sky, sky, sky
They're gonna put it down
Right on the strip
They're gonna put it down
On the Vegas strip
They're gonna put it down
And step outside
Into the lights
Right outta that ship
Saying hi, hi, hi, hi
I was driving doing nothing on the shores of Great Salt Lake
When they put it on the air, I put it in the hammer lane
I soon forgot myself and I forgot about the brake
I forgot about all laws and I forgot about the rain
They were talking on the 9 and all across the Amy band
Across the road they were turning around and headed south with me
It got so crowded on the road I started driving in the sand
My head was feeling scared but my heart was feeling free
The desert turned to mud, it seems that everybody heard
Everybody was remembering to forget they had the chills
Then I heard the voices on a broadcast from up on the bird
They were getting interviewed by some good man whose name was Bill
I'm almost there to Vegas where they're puttin' on a show
They've come so far, I've lived this long at least
I must just go and say hello
Number Fifty-One
They got a ranch they call
Number Fifty-One
You can't see it at all
'Less your flying by
Just sitting there square
Baking in the sun
Beneath the sky, sky, sky, sky
They're gonna put it down
Right on the strip
They're gonna put it down
On the Vegas strip
They're gonna put it down
And step outside
Into the lights
Right outta that ship
Saying hi, hi, hi, hi
I was driving doing nothing on the shores of Great Salt Lake
When they put it on the air, I put it in the hammer lane
I soon forgot myself and I forgot about the brake
I forgot about all laws and I forgot about the rain
They were talking on the 9 and all across the Amy band
Across the road they were turning around and headed south with me
It got so crowded on the road I started driving in the sand
My head was feeling scared but my heart was feeling free
The desert turned to mud, it seems that everybody heard
Everybody was remembering to forget they had the chills
Then I heard the voices on a broadcast from up on the bird
They were getting interviewed by some good man whose name was Bill
I'm almost there to Vegas where they're puttin' on a show
They've come so far, I've lived this long at least
I must just go and say hello
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More Featured Meanings
Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman
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.
Mountain Song
Jane's Addiction
Jane's Addiction
Jane's Addiction vocalist Perry Farrell gives Adam Reader some heartfelt insight into Jane’s Addiction's hard rock manifesto "Mountain Song", which was the second single from their revolutionary album Nothing's Shocking. Mountain song was first recorded in 1986 and appeared on the soundtrack to the film Dudes starring Jon Cryer. The version on Nothing's Shocking was re-recorded in 1988.
"'Mountain Song' was actually about... I hate to say it but... drugs. Climbing this mountain and getting as high as you can, and then coming down that mountain," reveals Farrell. "What it feels to descend from the mountain top... not easy at all. The ascension is tough but exhilarating. Getting down is... it's a real bummer. Drugs is not for everybody obviously. For me, I wanted to experience the heights, and the lows come along with it."
"There's a part - 'Cash in now honey, cash in Miss Smith.' Miss Smith is my Mother; our last name was Smith. Cashing in when she cashed in her life. So... she decided that, to her... at that time, she was desperate. Life wasn't worth it for her, that was her opinion. Some people think, never take your life, and some people find that their life isn't worth living. She was in love with my Dad, and my Dad was not faithful to her, and it broke her heart. She was very desperate and she did something that I know she regrets."
Just A Little Lovin'
Dusty Springfield
Dusty Springfield
I don't think it's necessarily about sex. It's about wanting to start the day with some love and affection. Maybe a warm cuddle. I'm not alone in interpreting it that way! For example:
"'Just a Little Lovin’ is a timeless country song originally recorded by Eddy Arnold in 1954. The song, written by Eddie Miller and Jimmy Campbell, explores the delicate nuances of love and showcases Arnold’s emotive vocals. It delves into the universal theme of love and how even the smallest gesture of affection can have a profound impact on our lives." https://oldtimemusic.com/the-meaning-behind-the-song-just-a-little-lovin-by-eddy-arnold/
Plastic Bag
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
“Plastic Bag” is a song about searching for an escape from personal problems and hoping to find it in the lively atmosphere of a Saturday night party. Ed Sheeran tells the story of his friend and the myriad of troubles he is going through. Unable to find any solutions, this friend seeks a last resort in a party and the vanity that comes with it.
“I overthink and have trouble sleepin’ / All purpose gone and don’t have a reason / And there’s no doctor to stop this bleedin’ / So I left home and jumped in the deep end,” Ed Sheeran sings in verse one. He continues by adding that this person is feeling the weight of having disappointed his father and doesn’t have any friends to rely on in this difficult moment. In the second verse, Ed sings about the role of grief in his friend’s plight and his dwindling faith in prayer. “Saturday night is givin’ me a reason to rely on the strobe lights / The lifeline of a promise in a shot glass, and I’ll take that / If you’re givin’ out love from a plastic bag,” Ed sings on the chorus, as his friend turns to new vices in hopes of feeling better.
First verse is around Area 51. Second verse is about aliens landing in Vegas. Then the story begins:
The narrator is driving in Utah, when he hears on the radio that aliens are going to land in Nevada. He floors it heading for Vegas. The CB is lighting up with the news (9 is the emergency CB channel). People going the other direction are U-turning into his lanes trying to get to Vegas as well. It's raining in the desert as they all move down I-15. They're listening to the radio as the aliens are being interviewed by Bill Goodman. They're almost there...
when i figured out what this song was about, i listened to it over and over again.
fenris is dead on.
amy band refers to AM band.
I read some interview with Charles in which he said a spacecraft landed near his neighborhood when he was a child. Everyone gathered and went to greet them. This song is his personal reference to that experience.
Anyone else heard that?
Reminds me a lot of Radiohead's Subterranean Homesick Alien. The aliens are coming, and it's gonna be scary, but most of all it's gonna be beautiful.
the end part of this song is timeless the way it shifts into a totally different style
Bill Goodman's theme song for his radio show was called "It's-a-Happening", hence the name of this song.
Yep, fenris summed it up, yadda yadda.
My God what a beautiful chorus.
i think this song is about forgetting who you are the whole thing is just so dreamy it seems like maybe a false reality francis is creating and the aliens are just some other-worldly thing that really fascinate him and he's driving through the desert looking for what hes been dreaming about i love the "i forgot" sequence and then the very last line
the last half of this song is from another pixies song called The Thing off The Complete B-Sides. an early recording. The Thing... get it. love it, fuck it.
The Pixies at their most beautiful and crazed-out. I looooooove how Frank screams "number 51" and those magnificent "aaaahhhh"s all around the chorus, joined by that guitar work so typical of Santiago... it's just plain addictive, necessary.
This is their best song hands down. Every second of it is musical perfection. Bossanova was BY FAR their best sounding album in my opinion. Go get it if you haven't already.