"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.
Hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo, hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo
Hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo
You're living in your own Private Idaho
Living in your own Private Idaho
Underground like a wild potato
Don't go on the patio
Beware of the pool
Blue bottomless pool
It leads you straight, right throught the gate
That opens on the pool
You're living in your own Private Idaho
You're living in your own Private Idaho
Keep off the path, beware of the gate
Watch out for signs that say "hidden driveways"
Don't let the chlorine in your eyes
Blind you to the awful surprise
That's been waitin' for you at
The bottom of the bottomless blue, blue, blue pool
You're livin' in your own Private Idaho, Idaho
You're out of control, the rivers that roll
You fell into the water and down to Idaho
Get out of that state
Get out of the state you're in
You better beware
You're living in your own Private Idaho
You're living in your own Private Idaho
Keep off the patio (your own private Idaho)
Keep off the path (your own private Idaho)
The lawn may be green but you better not be seen
Walkin' through a gate that leads you down
Down to a pool fraught with danger
It's a pool full of strangers
Hey, you're living in your own Private Idaho
Where do I go from here to a better state than this?
Well
Don't be blind to the big surprise
Swimming round and round like the deadly hand
Of a radium clock
At the bottom
Of the pool
I-I-I-daho
I-I-I-daho
Woah-oh, woah-oh, woah-oh, oh
Ah, ah, ah, ah
Ah, ah, ah, ah
Get out of that state
Get out of that state
You're living in your own Private Idaho
Livin' in your own Private
Idaho
Hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo
You're living in your own Private Idaho
Living in your own Private Idaho
Underground like a wild potato
Don't go on the patio
Beware of the pool
Blue bottomless pool
It leads you straight, right throught the gate
That opens on the pool
You're living in your own Private Idaho
You're living in your own Private Idaho
Keep off the path, beware of the gate
Watch out for signs that say "hidden driveways"
Don't let the chlorine in your eyes
Blind you to the awful surprise
That's been waitin' for you at
The bottom of the bottomless blue, blue, blue pool
You're livin' in your own Private Idaho, Idaho
You're out of control, the rivers that roll
You fell into the water and down to Idaho
Get out of that state
Get out of the state you're in
You better beware
You're living in your own Private Idaho
You're living in your own Private Idaho
Keep off the patio (your own private Idaho)
Keep off the path (your own private Idaho)
The lawn may be green but you better not be seen
Walkin' through a gate that leads you down
Down to a pool fraught with danger
It's a pool full of strangers
Hey, you're living in your own Private Idaho
Where do I go from here to a better state than this?
Well
Don't be blind to the big surprise
Swimming round and round like the deadly hand
Of a radium clock
At the bottom
Of the pool
I-I-I-daho
I-I-I-daho
Woah-oh, woah-oh, woah-oh, oh
Ah, ah, ah, ah
Ah, ah, ah, ah
Get out of that state
Get out of that state
You're living in your own Private Idaho
Livin' in your own Private
Idaho
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Although you all have GREAT ideas, I believe you all may be over-thinking it a bit. Listen to the musical cue. It imitates the "TWILIGHT ZONE" theme, and for good reason. These lyrics refer to an episode of the speculative fiction show (titled "The Bewitchin' Pool") where kids dive into a pool and come up somewhere else (a paradise for children whose parents don't love them...that's the awful surprise.) It's not completely LITERAL, just a mish-mosh of imagery from that episode AND the clock & "hidden driveway" sign (etc) from the opening of each show. (add'l note: "Bewitchin' Pool" was the last episode of TWILIGHT ZONE aired as a first-run show in June 1964) (fifth season). AWESOME SONG!
Measterpool, someone should summons Tom Yaz to do that! That sort of thing is right up his alley. It also helps that he knows all of the B-52s
@FinalWord666 I just watched that episode and thought... 'hey, that's the Private Idaho pool!'
actually i find some meaning on it. could it be patterns on tv static? maybe... but i always thought they were singing about not letting your surroundings mold you, about being yourself. as everyone knows, the b-52's came from rural america, which can suck you up and make you a small-minded simpleton (a category in which most people fall into). as i see this song, they're simply saying 'be one of a kind', like they did. and they became one of the funniest new-wave bands. how dull and serious was rock music before them?
Jonasminduim is exactly right about the lyrics. If you crack down the lyrics below.<br /> <br /> private = reclusive, hidden<br /> idaho = rural state<br /> underground like a potato = not intouch with the rest of the world<br /> dont let the chlorine in your eyes = don't let the people & your surroundings blind you from finding yourself.<br /> dont go on the patio beware of the pool = dont branch out of you place because you are scared<br /> get out of that state = get out of that state of mind<br /> you fell into idaho = you feel into that state of mind<br /> where do i go from here to a better state = metaphoric for state of mind<br /> the lawn may be green = the place might be nice<br /> <br /> Conclusion<br /> <br /> Your a reclusive person or somebody who hasn't branched. Someone who is scared or small minded to think outside the box about about what is going on in the rest of the world. Dont be scared of going outside box, discover the rest of the world. Find out for yourself. Get away from that way of thinking. The place may be nice but do be afraid or resist to discover the world.<br /> You are falling to that path keep off it. Where do you go from here which way will you pick ?<br /> <br />
Stay at home. Its safe there are you have cable.
Honestly...trying to find deeper meaning the the B-52's is like trying to find the meaning to life in the patterns of static on the TV.
Just enjoy it for what it is.
does this song have anything to do with Idaho? i agree with xylem. whe i was younger i truly thought it was about potatos. this is probably my favorite B-52 song.
There's this thing, you see, called ideology. The best way to describe it is that there's the real world - the world where real things happen - and then there's your world: what you think is happening. I know you think you see the real world, but you don't. I'm not saying I do either, or that the B-52s do. But sometimes, when people like new rock stars suddenly change positions in this world, they get a glimpse of how ideology has ruled them, and is ruling everyone else.
That's when you get a song like "Private Idaho," which is a criticism of ideology in middle class America. The images are banal - the pool, the patio, the driveway. It's just your regular old life, isn't it? And they're warning you of the dangers there. You are underground, unaware, deaf and blind, but still full of potential, like a "wild potato." Radium clock - the technology that fascinates you. Chlorine - the chemicals in everything you eat and touch. Idaho itself, that potato growing state, where nothing much happens except for American Nazism - the American Heartland. Nothing could be more obvious or simple. I've interpreted the song this same way since the first time I heard it.
Given the power of ideology, I'm not really surprised - just amused - at the many really creative interpretations I read in this thread. Some English or film courses would give you wild potatoes the opportunity to develop your very real abilities.
Get out of that state you're in. That's my advice.
By the way, its "the gate that opens on the fools.
Glad I could help.
I think it's saying, 'you're so self-absorbed that you're losing touch with reality and becoming a boring, vapid waste. Branch out of your packaged, cookie-cutter world before you lose your mind.'
I'm sure Idaho isn't a nothing place, but the B-52's probably saw it like this when they wrote the song. Unfortunately, Idaho's an easy target.
'Private idaho' is such a great phrase because no one can really nail down a meaning. Has the band ever weighed in on it?
Probably the sickest song ever. Not exactly, but at least from the sickest band ever.
it sorta sounds like maybe its about being in a state of paranoia ... like "watch out for this, dont go there" "underground like a wild potato" "get out of that state" and paranoia is a private thing too...
I see lsd, paranoia... and somebody shit in the pool also.
they have never. and i did quite a bit of research on it. also, xylem7, your interpretation is very good imo.