"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.
In this world of hate and shallowness
Where enemies become your consolation
And those of us who win the game
Give up their minds
I don't call that winning
Say this doesn't apply to you
But ask yourself first
What have I done to win the game
And just what have I sacrificed
Win the battle
Lose the war
I know we played the game before
When people were still real
I don't want this anymore
It's time for me to close the door
There's nothing left to feel
Reflect on all our yesterdays
My own words choke me
Why were they spoken
Regret for things I've said and done
Just can't compare with
Regret for those that I have never tried
So blame this world or blame yourself
It's really all the same
When you are standing on that precipice
From which you just cannot return
Win the battle
Lose the war
I know we played the game before
When people were still real
I don't want this anymore
It's time for me to close the door
There's nothing left to feel
In the style of forgotten men
I look to my horizon
I see nothing
While thoughts of death and desecration
Sweep through my mind
But only coffins and bones remain
As I look at you
The emptiness behind your eyes
Seals my decision
Can't carry on in a world of jugglers
Where all this thoughtlessness
And bludgeoning's your key to success
What kind of tradition to carry on
Blackball - The new disease
Blackball - The new disease
Blackball - Your evil ways have found their way inside me
Blackball - The new disease
Blackball - The new disease
Blackball - For a better life in this high tech dog eat dog existence
Win the battle
Lose the war
I know we played the game before
When people were still real
I don't want this anymore
It's time for me to close the door
There's nothing left to feel
Where enemies become your consolation
And those of us who win the game
Give up their minds
I don't call that winning
Say this doesn't apply to you
But ask yourself first
What have I done to win the game
And just what have I sacrificed
Win the battle
Lose the war
I know we played the game before
When people were still real
I don't want this anymore
It's time for me to close the door
There's nothing left to feel
Reflect on all our yesterdays
My own words choke me
Why were they spoken
Regret for things I've said and done
Just can't compare with
Regret for those that I have never tried
So blame this world or blame yourself
It's really all the same
When you are standing on that precipice
From which you just cannot return
Win the battle
Lose the war
I know we played the game before
When people were still real
I don't want this anymore
It's time for me to close the door
There's nothing left to feel
In the style of forgotten men
I look to my horizon
I see nothing
While thoughts of death and desecration
Sweep through my mind
But only coffins and bones remain
As I look at you
The emptiness behind your eyes
Seals my decision
Can't carry on in a world of jugglers
Where all this thoughtlessness
And bludgeoning's your key to success
What kind of tradition to carry on
Blackball - The new disease
Blackball - The new disease
Blackball - Your evil ways have found their way inside me
Blackball - The new disease
Blackball - The new disease
Blackball - For a better life in this high tech dog eat dog existence
Win the battle
Lose the war
I know we played the game before
When people were still real
I don't want this anymore
It's time for me to close the door
There's nothing left to feel
Lyrics submitted by anarchysomething44, edited by PooPooThighs
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
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."
No Surprises
Radiohead
Radiohead
Same ideas expressed in Fitter, Happier are expressed in this song. We're told to strive for some sort of ideal life, which includes getting a good job, being kind to everyone, finding a partner, getting married, having a couple kids, living in a quiet neighborhood in a nice big house, etc. But in Fitter, Happier the narrator(?) realizes that it's incredibly robotic to live this life. People are being used by those in power "like a pig in a cage on antibiotics"--being pacified with things like new phones and cool gadgets and houses while being sucked dry. On No Surprises, the narrator is realizing how this life is killing him slowly. In the video, his helmet is slowly filling up with water, drowning him. But he's so complacent with it. This is a good summary of the song. This boring, "perfect" life foisted upon us by some higher powers (not spiritual, but political, economic, etc. politicians and businessmen, perhaps) is not the way to live. But there is seemingly no way out but death. He'd rather die peacefully right now than live in this cage. While our lives are often shielded, we're in our own protective bubbles, or protective helmets like the one Thom wears, if we look a little harder we can see all the corruption, lies, manipulation, etc. that is going on in the world, often run by huge yet nearly invisible organizations, corporations, and 'leaders'. It's a very hopeless song because it reflects real life.
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.
Punchline
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran sings about missing his former partner and learning important life lessons in the process on “Punchline.” This track tells a story of battling to get rid of emotions for a former lover, whom he now realized might not have loved him the same way. He’s now caught between accepting that fact and learning life lessons from it and going back to beg her for another chance.
First, this is THE Offspring song for me. Seriously, it's so damn awesome. What it's about? I honestly have trouble figuring out the real meaning of this song. It may be so as Dreamer Deceiver suggests, but I don't think it's really about that. There are some suggestion that it may be about a world of drugs. As in The New Disease and all.