"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.
Yes, the rhythm, the rebel
Without a pause, I'm lowering my level
The hard rhymer, where you never been I'm in
You want stylin', you know it's time again
D the enemy, tellin' you to hear it
They praised the music, this time they play the lyrics
Some say no to the album, the show
Bum rush the sound I made a year ago
I guess you know, you guess I'm just a radical
Not a sabbatical, yes to make it critical
The only part your body should be parting to
Panther power on the hour from the rebel to you
Radio, suckers never play me
On the mix, just O.K. me
Now known and grown when they're clocking my zone it's known
Snakin' and takin' everything that a brother owns
Hard, my calling card
Recorded and orderd, supporter of Chesimard
Loud and proud kickin' live next poet supreme
Loop a troop, bazooka, the scheme
Flavor, a rebel in his own mind
Supporter of my rhyme
Designed to scatter a line of suckers who claim I do crime
Terminator X
From a rebel it's final on black vinyl
Soul, rock and roll comin' like a rhino
Tables turn, suckers burn to learn
They can't dis-able the power of my label
Def Jam, tells you who I am
The enemy's public, they really give a damn
Strong Island, where I got 'em wild and
That's the reason they're claimin' that I'm violent
Never silent, no dope gettin' dumb nope
Claimin' where we get our rhythm from
Number one, we hit ya and we give ya some
No gun, and still never on the run
You want to be an S.1, Griff will tell you when
And then you'll come, you'll know what time it is
Impeach the president, pullin' out the ray-gun
Zap the next one, I could be you're Sho-gun
Suckers, don't last a minute
Soft and smooth, I ain't with it
Hardcore, raw bone like a razor
I'm like a laser, I just won't graze ya
Old enough to raise ya, so this will faze ya
Get it right boy and maybe I will praise ya
Playin' the role I got soul too
Voice my opinion with volume
Smooth, no what I am
Rough, 'cause I'm the man
No matter what the name, we're all the same
Pieces in one big chess game
Yeah, the voice of power
Is in the house, go take a shower boy
P.E. a group, a crew, not singular
We were black Wranglers
We're rap stranglers
You can't angle us, I know you're listenin'
I caught you pissin' in you're pants
You're scared of us dissin' us
The crowd is missin' us
We're on a mission boy
Terminator X
Attitude, when I'm on fire
Juice on the loose, electric wire
Simple and plain, give me the lane
I'll throw it down your throat like Barkley
See the car keys, you'll never get these
They belong to the 98 posse
You want some more son, you want to get some
Rush the door on a store, pick up the album
You know the rhythm, the rhyme plus the beat is designed
So I can enter your mind, Boys
Bring the noise, my time
Step aside for the flex, Terminator X
Without a pause, I'm lowering my level
The hard rhymer, where you never been I'm in
You want stylin', you know it's time again
D the enemy, tellin' you to hear it
They praised the music, this time they play the lyrics
Some say no to the album, the show
Bum rush the sound I made a year ago
I guess you know, you guess I'm just a radical
Not a sabbatical, yes to make it critical
The only part your body should be parting to
Panther power on the hour from the rebel to you
Radio, suckers never play me
On the mix, just O.K. me
Now known and grown when they're clocking my zone it's known
Snakin' and takin' everything that a brother owns
Hard, my calling card
Recorded and orderd, supporter of Chesimard
Loud and proud kickin' live next poet supreme
Loop a troop, bazooka, the scheme
Flavor, a rebel in his own mind
Supporter of my rhyme
Designed to scatter a line of suckers who claim I do crime
Terminator X
From a rebel it's final on black vinyl
Soul, rock and roll comin' like a rhino
Tables turn, suckers burn to learn
They can't dis-able the power of my label
Def Jam, tells you who I am
The enemy's public, they really give a damn
Strong Island, where I got 'em wild and
That's the reason they're claimin' that I'm violent
Never silent, no dope gettin' dumb nope
Claimin' where we get our rhythm from
Number one, we hit ya and we give ya some
No gun, and still never on the run
You want to be an S.1, Griff will tell you when
And then you'll come, you'll know what time it is
Impeach the president, pullin' out the ray-gun
Zap the next one, I could be you're Sho-gun
Suckers, don't last a minute
Soft and smooth, I ain't with it
Hardcore, raw bone like a razor
I'm like a laser, I just won't graze ya
Old enough to raise ya, so this will faze ya
Get it right boy and maybe I will praise ya
Playin' the role I got soul too
Voice my opinion with volume
Smooth, no what I am
Rough, 'cause I'm the man
No matter what the name, we're all the same
Pieces in one big chess game
Yeah, the voice of power
Is in the house, go take a shower boy
P.E. a group, a crew, not singular
We were black Wranglers
We're rap stranglers
You can't angle us, I know you're listenin'
I caught you pissin' in you're pants
You're scared of us dissin' us
The crowd is missin' us
We're on a mission boy
Terminator X
Attitude, when I'm on fire
Juice on the loose, electric wire
Simple and plain, give me the lane
I'll throw it down your throat like Barkley
See the car keys, you'll never get these
They belong to the 98 posse
You want some more son, you want to get some
Rush the door on a store, pick up the album
You know the rhythm, the rhyme plus the beat is designed
So I can enter your mind, Boys
Bring the noise, my time
Step aside for the flex, Terminator X
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More Featured Meanings
Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman
The Night We Met
Lord Huron
Lord Huron
This is a hauntingly beautiful song about introspection, specifically about looking back at a relationship that started bad and ended so poorly, that the narrator wants to go back to the very beginning and tell himself to not even travel down that road. I believe that the relationship started poorly because of the lines:
"Take me back to the night we met:When the night was full of terrors: And your eyes were filled with tears: When you had not touched me yet"
So, the first night was not a great start, but the narrator pursued the relationship and eventually both overcame the rough start to fall in love with each other:
"I had all and then most of you"
Like many relationships that turn sour, it was not a quick decline, but a gradual one where the narrator and their partner fall out of love and gradually grow apart
"Some and now none of you"
Losing someone who was once everything in your world, who you could confide in, tell your secrets to, share all the most intimate parts of your life, to being strangers with that person is probably one of the most painful experiences a person can go through. So Painful, the narrator wants to go back in time and tell himself to not even pursue the relationship.
This was the perfect song for "13 Reasons Why"
Dreamwalker
Silent Planet
Silent Planet
I think much like another song “Anti-Matter” (that's also on the same album as this song), this one is also is inspired by a horrifying van crash the band experienced on Nov 3, 2022. This, much like the other track, sounds like it's an extension what they shared while huddled in the wreckage, as they helped frontman Garrett Russell stem the bleeding from his head wound while he was under the temporary effects of a concussion. The track speaks of where the mind goes at the most desperate & desolate of times, when it just about slips away to all but disconnect itself, and the aftermath.
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.
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.
Public Enemy had it all, probably the best hip hop group ever. (Although DE La Soul might have something to say about that)