"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.
When you're left with only a bullet, I'll bring the trigger and a promise to pull it.
I'll be the end of everyone who's ever entered your life and taken pieces out of it.
I'll give you enough time to regain your composure
To reconstruct a heart that's torn apart from over-exposure.
I know forever isn't long enough to forget the faces and places that played out your tragedy.
Our memory defeats us all.
I've touched the stagnant water and muddy walls of the trench where you've been sleeping,
And there's nothing there worth keeping or believing.
So, on the eve of the attack, we'll finger-trace the targets on their backs and open fire.
Just hold on until they're gone.
So, with this kiss, I promise to never forget what you did for me.
I felt the sun on my face for the first time, and tasted blood on my tongue for the last.
I'll be the end of everyone who's ever entered your life and taken pieces out of it.
I'll give you enough time to regain your composure
To reconstruct a heart that's torn apart from over-exposure.
I know forever isn't long enough to forget the faces and places that played out your tragedy.
Our memory defeats us all.
I've touched the stagnant water and muddy walls of the trench where you've been sleeping,
And there's nothing there worth keeping or believing.
So, on the eve of the attack, we'll finger-trace the targets on their backs and open fire.
Just hold on until they're gone.
So, with this kiss, I promise to never forget what you did for me.
I felt the sun on my face for the first time, and tasted blood on my tongue for the last.
Lyrics submitted by BoysWithAsterisks
Hold on Tightly, Let Go Lightly Lyrics as written by Suzanne Vega
Lyrics © Downtown Music Publishing
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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Fast Car
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“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.
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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.
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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.
This is one of the most romantic songs ever written, IMHO. What he is basically saying is he wants to go out, with his lover, and enact revenge on all of the people in her life that caused her pain. Let me elaborate...
...When you're left with only a bullet, I'll bring the trigger and a promise to pull it...I'll be the end of everyone who's ever entered your life and taken pieces out of it.....
His lover has been hurt and has been consumed by the pain in her life, and he intends to provide the antidote to her pain
...I'll give you enough time to regain your composure... to reconstruct a heart that's torn apart from over-exposure...
He's being gentle with her, calmy reassuring her that she's going to be okay, allowing her to mend her heart a bit before they go to do the "deed"
...I know forever isn't long enough to forget the faces and places that played out your tragedy...
This girl has been hurt SOOOO bad by people in her life, and he is aware that even the act of blowing them all away will not make up for the horrors they have inflicted upon her
...Our memory defeats us all. I've touched the stagnant water and muddy walls of the trench where you've been sleeping, and there's nothing there worth keeping or believing...
He has seen what this has done to her, and wants to assure her that she needs to let go of this pain and misery and move on (nothing left worth keeping or believing)
...So, on the eve of the attack, we'll finger-trace the targets on their backs and open fire. Just hold on until they're gone...
He is saying that, when the time comes, he will stand by her side, hunting down those who did her wrong, and revel in the moment of blowing them away with a high powered handgun with her
...So, with this kiss, I promise to never forget what you did for me. I felt the sun on my face for the first time, and tasted blood on my tongue for the last...
To me, these lines reassure the listener that the author is not just some psychopath who likes to kill people, but someone who truly loves this person. For the first time he feels like he has done something so special for someone, and this is the last time he will ever do it, it was all for her...
@eschatonik you nailed it imo