"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 know the feeling
It is the real thing
The essence of the soul
The perfect moment
That golden moment
I know you feel it too
I know the feeling
It is the real thing
You can't refuse the embrace
No
It's like the pattern below the skin
You gotta reach out and pull it all in
And you feel like you're too close
But you swallow another dose
The pinnacle of happiness
Filling up your soul
You don't think you can take any more
You never wanna let go
To touch the roots of experience
The most basic ingredients
To see the unseen glitter of life
And feel the dirt, grief, anger and strife
Cherish the certainty of now
It kills you a bit at a time
Cradle the inspiration
It will leave you writhing on the floor
This is so unreal, what I feel
This nourishment, life is bent
Into a shape I can hold
A twist of fate, all my own
Just grit your teeth, make no sound
Take a step away and look around
Just clench your fist and close your eyes
Look deep inside, hypnotize
The whisper is but a shout
That's what it is all about
Yes, the ecstasy, you can pray
You will never let it slip away
Like the sacred song that someone sings you, through you
Like the flesh so warm that the thorn sticks into, into
Like the dream you know one day will come to life, life
Try to hold on just a little longer, longer, stronger, stronger
It's the jewel of victory
The chasm of misery
And once you have bitten the core
You will always know the flavor
The split second of divinity
You drink up the sky
All of heaven is in your arms
You know the reason why
It's right there, all by itself
And what you are, there is nothing else
You're growing a life within a life
The lips of wonder kiss you inside
And when it's over the feeling remains
It all comes down to this
The smoke clears, I see what it is
That made me feel this way
I know the feeling
It is the real thing
The essence of the soul
The perfect moment
That golden moment
I know you feel it too
I know the feeling
It is the real thing
You can't refuse the embrace
This is so unreal, what I feel
Flood, sell your soul, feel the blood
Pump through your veins, can't explain
The element that's everything
Just clench your fist and close your eyes
Look deep inside, hypnotize
Yes, the ecstasy, you can pray
You will never let it slip away
Yes, the ecstasy, you can pray
You will never let it slip away
You will never let it slip away
You will never let it slip away
Like the echoes of your childhood laughter, ever after
Like the first time love urged you to take it's guidance, in silence
Like your heartbeat when you realize you're dying, but you're trying
Like the way you cry for a happy ending, ending, ending
Ending, ending, ending
It is the real thing
The essence of the soul
The perfect moment
That golden moment
I know you feel it too
I know the feeling
It is the real thing
You can't refuse the embrace
No
It's like the pattern below the skin
You gotta reach out and pull it all in
And you feel like you're too close
But you swallow another dose
The pinnacle of happiness
Filling up your soul
You don't think you can take any more
You never wanna let go
To touch the roots of experience
The most basic ingredients
To see the unseen glitter of life
And feel the dirt, grief, anger and strife
Cherish the certainty of now
It kills you a bit at a time
Cradle the inspiration
It will leave you writhing on the floor
This is so unreal, what I feel
This nourishment, life is bent
Into a shape I can hold
A twist of fate, all my own
Just grit your teeth, make no sound
Take a step away and look around
Just clench your fist and close your eyes
Look deep inside, hypnotize
The whisper is but a shout
That's what it is all about
Yes, the ecstasy, you can pray
You will never let it slip away
Like the sacred song that someone sings you, through you
Like the flesh so warm that the thorn sticks into, into
Like the dream you know one day will come to life, life
Try to hold on just a little longer, longer, stronger, stronger
It's the jewel of victory
The chasm of misery
And once you have bitten the core
You will always know the flavor
The split second of divinity
You drink up the sky
All of heaven is in your arms
You know the reason why
It's right there, all by itself
And what you are, there is nothing else
You're growing a life within a life
The lips of wonder kiss you inside
And when it's over the feeling remains
It all comes down to this
The smoke clears, I see what it is
That made me feel this way
I know the feeling
It is the real thing
The essence of the soul
The perfect moment
That golden moment
I know you feel it too
I know the feeling
It is the real thing
You can't refuse the embrace
This is so unreal, what I feel
Flood, sell your soul, feel the blood
Pump through your veins, can't explain
The element that's everything
Just clench your fist and close your eyes
Look deep inside, hypnotize
Yes, the ecstasy, you can pray
You will never let it slip away
Yes, the ecstasy, you can pray
You will never let it slip away
You will never let it slip away
You will never let it slip away
Like the echoes of your childhood laughter, ever after
Like the first time love urged you to take it's guidance, in silence
Like your heartbeat when you realize you're dying, but you're trying
Like the way you cry for a happy ending, ending, ending
Ending, ending, ending
Lyrics submitted by jt, edited by DodgerFuckYou
The Real Thing Lyrics as written by James Blanco Martin Bill Gould
Lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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This is one of my favorite songs. https://fnfgo.io
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How could anyone suggest this song is about something as boring as drugs? How lame and overdone. You can't appreciate this song and honestly believe it's about getting high. Patton isn't a drug user, the album cover isn't a bottle cap it's a ripple of water... Come on.
This song is my favorite by the band. I like to think it's about a near-death experience, or maybe just having a deeply spiritual/religious experience. It's big. It's understanding the meaning of life, it's everything. It's the real thing. I love it.
@giordano1000 .. I love how everyone gets butt hurt that it's not about drugs maybe it is maybe it's not but why would he say you swallow another dose..lol.. a dose of what caffeine or spring water that seems pretty laughable like I said it's either about someone taking acid or ecstasy or pain medication and it also sounds like someone trying to numb himself after a horrible break-up
@john110039<br /> <br /> Not saying you're right or wrong as Patton himself has not disclosed his inspiration or meaning for these lyrics and, like so many other art forms, lyrics can be incredibly subjective. But, I'll ask you to think outside the box a little further if you can as these lyrics are brilliantly laced with symbolic metaphor. For example, I could take another 'dose' of arguing with my mother as it can be like a poison that I kill myself with or another dose of my mundane life by going in for yet another shift at my meaningless job etc... There are many drug use words and phrases in this song but, like many others, I suspect they're being used to describe something much more profound and meaningful than what appears on the surface
Its about a spiritual experience... its not drugs, it doesn't have any of the connotations of addiction or misery that heroin or anything would bring. Spiritual experience = good, heroin = bad, heroin's not worth singing such an exultant song about.
@DeviouZ I think it's about a spiritual experience with psychedelics. If you never tried any kind of entheogens/psychedelics, it's a whole different animal compared to heroin or meth.
jarod10154 i belive that @DeviouZ knows this, its just not his definition of drugs. <br /> <br />
I feel like this is just about the feeling that you get when you know that the positive of something is authentic and there is something about this music that embodies that feeling he's talking about.
Maybe it's about how we all have a certain thing that we wish to fufill in our lives and this feeling that he feels is realizing you've captured your own individual destiny.
Winter, actually, I've changed my mind, this song isnt solely about heroin, I think its just about a person who is addicted to getting high (escaping reality) in general. Most of the lines just seem to hint at that meaning.
"You swallow another dose", "Clench your fist...pump through your veins", "It kills you a bit at a time", "the jewel of victory and the chasm of misery", these all seem to point to a person who realizes their addicted to leaving reality for awhile but who can't stop doing it even though they realize its killing them.
Just some thoughts.
@jimbobjoe Agree... This is about someone who cannot face reality and this is there escape. It's the only thing that is beautiful in their life at the time. Sad and pathetic escape.
I think it's kind of like 'Epic', in that 'it' can be anything. It's whatever turns you on, whatever gives you a kick, whatever makes you feel good. But after getting that feeling, all that matters after that is getting more.
fucking heroin? Fuck that! This song doesn't like any drug nonsense to me. Why does everyone think all songs are about heroin?
I think this song sounds more like the birth of a child, and perhaps the birth and course of the love that produced this child. The trials and tribulations of life.. the real thing. Besides look at "zombie Eaters", that's about a kid, no doubt. ( or maybe just a really immature man)
interesting, since the strongest drug patton ever did was caffeine..
by the way you dont swallow heroin
Ok I had always thought that this was about giving birth, kind of like a mans look at it BUT my husbnad just read the words for the first time over my shoulder and said to me "It's obvious what this song is about." I was surprised by his thought on it but now I'm looking it over and I think he is right! He's says it reminds him perfectly of the feelings he has had while on acid! Here are a few key lines. "The essence of the truth The perfect moment " that time while tripping that you think you have the answere to everything. "And you feel like you're too close So you swallow another dose " Many times while riding very high you'll get the urge to take more, to know more, to go all the way. This is how people end up eating whole sheets and freakin out! "And once you have bitten the core You will always know the flavor " Once you've had that pinacle trip, that hard tirp, you are never really the same, it changes you a little. (I can't remember the exact number but it's only a few trips and your considered legal insane or something like that.) I could go on and on but I think at this point anyone that knows the feeling or experience will be able to understand my point.
The lad has it right. Too many people look for solid topics for songs when many of them don't have a specific target or point. This is about whatever makes you feel this way, whether it's drugs, a spiritual awakening, an orgasm, or whatever the hell makes you utterly ecstatic. Alot of it is symbolic and over the top for things, but it works. As for feeling negative, no way. It's a very ecstatic song.
psuedin: A++++ you got it right! THANK you for the post, you are a wise man, or lady.. you know this is what makes FNM so amazing, if i ever figured out what the meanings were behind the music i would be bummed. I know i will always be amazed every time i hear them, Like the very first time, goosebumps. Dont wanna figure it out, to keep guessing and wondering is magic. i think i played angel dust at least 1000 times best work by any band. their music never gets boring "like a scab I keep coming back to it"...<br /> Patton knows how to entertain. Patton is not human .. too perfect and good for this world. Damn glad we have him! <br /> Bordin - note that you will never see a frown on him, always smiling. GENIUS behind it all i think..<br /> LONG LIVE THE MEN OF FAITH NO MORE you are Genius, amazing, perfection, inspiring, and are the reason i live and breathe. My only wish: Mike X 2, Roddy, Billy, Jon and the crew guy "Long Hair': PLEASE COME TO ARIZONa....but i will swim the oceans to see you if only for a few seconds well worth it.
i totally agree with geek, lol. Though its soooo hard to choose, this is my favourite Faith No More song. put it up as loud as your headphones can go, turn off the lights (in a non sexual way) and listen to it. awesome. I especially love the last 4 lines. goosebump worthy