"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.
first I drank insecticide
a little more each day
followed by dirty and sugary foods
grown where the light was grey
later my thoughts were small and sharp
adapted to their purpose
to extract the fuel from fat
under the lovely surface
'cause nothing beautiful
nothing beautiful lasts
moved to a ghost town for inspiration
I could start where they'd given up
feed on the seed of the dreams people left
out to rot when the going got tough
cockroaches turn adversity to immunity
there ain't a niche lower in the animal kingdom
or one with more longevity
'cause nothing beautiful
nothing beautiful lasts
easier to deny what is real
and what's solid and what you can see
if you bulldoze the bankrupted buildings
failure's the dust that settles on the trees
'cause nothing beautiful
nothing beautiful lasts...
a little more each day
followed by dirty and sugary foods
grown where the light was grey
later my thoughts were small and sharp
adapted to their purpose
to extract the fuel from fat
under the lovely surface
'cause nothing beautiful
nothing beautiful lasts
moved to a ghost town for inspiration
I could start where they'd given up
feed on the seed of the dreams people left
out to rot when the going got tough
cockroaches turn adversity to immunity
there ain't a niche lower in the animal kingdom
or one with more longevity
'cause nothing beautiful
nothing beautiful lasts
easier to deny what is real
and what's solid and what you can see
if you bulldoze the bankrupted buildings
failure's the dust that settles on the trees
'cause nothing beautiful
nothing beautiful lasts...
Lyrics submitted by LilBowieGirl
Add your thoughts
Log in now to tell us what you think this song means.
Don’t have an account? Create an account with SongMeanings to post comments, submit lyrics, and more. It’s super easy, we promise!
More Featured Meanings
Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman
Bron-Y-Aur Stomp
Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin
This is about bronies. They communicate by stomping.
When We Were Young
Blink-182
Blink-182
This is a sequel to 2001's "Reckless Abandon", and features the band looking back on their clumsy youth fondly.
Magical
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
How would you describe the feeling of being in love? For Ed Sheeran, the word is “Magical.” in HIS three-minute album opener, he makes an attempt to capture the beauty and delicacy of true love with words. He describes the magic of it all over a bright Pop song produced by Aaron Dessner.
Amazing
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
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.
I love this song, the lyrics are really clever. I always read it as the deredation of society and how people have become so jaded to everything hense the title but in the last verse odds are saying that people still pretend that everything is fine and wonderful and hide their insecurities and the nasty things you only discover if you look closer.