"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 don't really need to see
So I don't need to see so I'll paint...
I don't know, I'll paint it black
I don't need to see
I don't see how you see out of your window
Well I don't need to see, I'll paint mine black
I don't need to see
I don't see how you see out of your windows
I don't need to see, I'll paint mine black
I don't know me and, you don't know you
So we, fit so good together
'Cause I knew you like I knew myself
We clung on like
Barnacles on a boat
Even though the ship sinks you know you can't let go
I was talking like, two hands knocking
Yelling, "Let me in. Let me in. Please come out!"
Black glass, dirt-based soap
Tell yourself, what you know
My friends, oh my friends
Bury your head, I'll help you bury your hands
Hard hit, hard to miss
The problems are, what a problem is
My light came off quick, call it your asterisk
It's buried in a boys in a boys first book of the stars
Saw it, a satellite, constant unblinking as
Buried at the bottom of the bottom of a brackish lake
I don't really need to see
So I don't need to see so I'll paint...
I don't know, I'll paint it black
I don't need to see
I don't see how you see out of your window
But I don't need to see, I'll paint mine black
I don't need to see
I don't see how you see out of your windows
I don't need to see, I'll paint mine black
So I don't need to see so I'll paint...
I don't know, I'll paint it black
I don't need to see
I don't see how you see out of your window
Well I don't need to see, I'll paint mine black
I don't need to see
I don't see how you see out of your windows
I don't need to see, I'll paint mine black
I don't know me and, you don't know you
So we, fit so good together
'Cause I knew you like I knew myself
We clung on like
Barnacles on a boat
Even though the ship sinks you know you can't let go
I was talking like, two hands knocking
Yelling, "Let me in. Let me in. Please come out!"
Black glass, dirt-based soap
Tell yourself, what you know
My friends, oh my friends
Bury your head, I'll help you bury your hands
Hard hit, hard to miss
The problems are, what a problem is
My light came off quick, call it your asterisk
It's buried in a boys in a boys first book of the stars
Saw it, a satellite, constant unblinking as
Buried at the bottom of the bottom of a brackish lake
I don't really need to see
So I don't need to see so I'll paint...
I don't know, I'll paint it black
I don't need to see
I don't see how you see out of your window
But I don't need to see, I'll paint mine black
I don't need to see
I don't see how you see out of your windows
I don't need to see, I'll paint mine black
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Ed Sheeran tells a story of unsuccessfully trying to feel “Amazing.” This track is about the being weighed down by emotional stress despite valiant attempts to find some positivity in the situation. This track was written by Ed Sheeran from the perspective of his friend. From the track, we see this person fall deeper into the negative thoughts and slide further down the path of mental torment with every lyric.
Plastic Bag
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“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.
"I knew you like I knew myself"
Let that sink in, in context. That's pretty powerful. The camaraderie of a relationship, of confusion, two people finding themselves and the world together. It's an ages old theme; here it plays perfectly.
He has this relationship, but in the end he just wants to be lost alone, sinking with the ship. It's accepting defeat, but in a beautiful way, understanding that depression is part of life and part of art.