"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.
Walk in a corner shop
See a shoplifting cop
See the old lady with a gun
See the hero try 2 run
Nothing's what it seems, I mean
It's not all dirty, but it's not all clean
There's children paying bills
There's monks buying thrills
There's pride for sale in magazines
There's pills for rent 2 make u clean
Marvin Gaye, there's no brother, brother
Woody Guthrie's land can't feed Mother
Mothers weep, children sleep
So much violence ends in silence
It's a shame there's no one 2 blame
For all the pain that life brings
If u will just take me It might just complete me
And together we can make a stand
A waitress brings me lunch
We meet but do not touch
On TV, D.C. is selling lies
While in the corner, King's dream dies
Go 2 the counter, pay for me and my friend
A homeless man pulls out a roll, says it's on him
The mayor has no cash
He said he spent it on hookers and hash
Mothers weep, children sleep
So much violence ends in silence
It's a shame there's no one 2 blame
For all the pain that life brings
If u will just take me It might just complete me
And together we can make a stand
U will love me, I will love u
Mothers weep, children sleep
So much violence ends in silence
It's a shame there's no one 2 blame
For all the pain that life brings
If u will just take me It might just complete me
And together we can make a stand
See a shoplifting cop
See the old lady with a gun
See the hero try 2 run
Nothing's what it seems, I mean
It's not all dirty, but it's not all clean
There's children paying bills
There's monks buying thrills
There's pride for sale in magazines
There's pills for rent 2 make u clean
Marvin Gaye, there's no brother, brother
Woody Guthrie's land can't feed Mother
Mothers weep, children sleep
So much violence ends in silence
It's a shame there's no one 2 blame
For all the pain that life brings
If u will just take me It might just complete me
And together we can make a stand
A waitress brings me lunch
We meet but do not touch
On TV, D.C. is selling lies
While in the corner, King's dream dies
Go 2 the counter, pay for me and my friend
A homeless man pulls out a roll, says it's on him
The mayor has no cash
He said he spent it on hookers and hash
Mothers weep, children sleep
So much violence ends in silence
It's a shame there's no one 2 blame
For all the pain that life brings
If u will just take me It might just complete me
And together we can make a stand
U will love me, I will love u
Mothers weep, children sleep
So much violence ends in silence
It's a shame there's no one 2 blame
For all the pain that life brings
If u will just take me It might just complete me
And together we can make a stand
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More Featured Meanings
Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman
Gentle Hour
Yo La Tengo
Yo La Tengo
This song was originally written by a guy called Peter Gutteridge. He was one of the founders of the "Dunedin Sound" a musical scene in the south of New Zealand in the early 80s. From there it was covered by "The Clean" one of the early bands of that scene (he had originally been a member of in it's early days, writing a couple of their best early songs). The Dunedin sound, and the Clean became popular on american college radio in the mid to late 80s. I guess Yo La Tengo heard that version.
Great version of a great song,
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.
Blue
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
“Blue” is a song about a love that is persisting in the discomfort of the person experiencing the emotion. Ed Sheeran reflects on love lost, and although he wishes his former partner find happiness, he cannot but admit his feelings are still very much there. He expresses the realization that he might never find another on this stringed instrumental by Aaron Dessner.
Plastic Bag
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
“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.
This song has a strong sociological, and maybe even political, message.
Because our society tends to look at things with optimism, it usually overlooks reality. Sure, things don't seem all bad, but they're not exactly peachy ("It's not all dirty but it's not all clean"). To add to that, there's deception everywhere, in magazines, advertisements, even in authority figures.
The chorus has a sense of hopelessness to it. Sad, but it's what's portrayed in real life. "Mothers weep" probably refers to the drama parents go through, specifically those who live in meager conditions. Women whose husbands drink, beat them, or have outright left them. Those who barely have enough money to survive. Their "children sleep", too young and therefore oblivious to these emotional stressors that their parents experience day after day.