"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.
Old Jack he had a sack of them magic beans,
This garden's been sown for a long, long time.
Now everywhere you look, you see a pillar of green,
And the reaper's just waiting 'til we're ripe on the vine.
A bright red apple led us into sin,
The Devil's been cooking for a long, long time.
So it could be an eggplant to lead us back again,
That sounds just fine.
We're going back to the garden, and out of the night,
I saw a fiery head of broccoli in a dream.
There'll be artichokes and rutabagas,
Collard greens and sweet potatoes,
Reaching from the earth to push us into the light.
Gonna carve a jack-o-lantern, hang the garlic high,
This crop's been coming for a long, long time.
Flaming red peppers will rain down from the sky,
And your tap water'll turn into okra slime.
There'll come a day you step out of the house,
And see a thousand armed soldiers with potatoes in their mouth.
Everyone's damned, and everyone's saved,
With a parsley garnish on every grave.
My friends, we are standing at the dawn of a new era. The United League of Vegetation, has just unanimously approved the new legislation, which places complete restriction on all forms of human migration.
Anyone caught moving faster than a turnip will be shot.
Now, I know what you're all thinking: What am I going to do with myself? I've got to go pick up the kids. There's a turkey in the oven. Relax. Don't panic. This isn't so bad. You've just got to calm down.
Now, close your eyes and imagine a bright, red, pulsing orb just in front of your forehead. Can you see it? Good. Can you feel it? I said, can you feel it?
Can you feel the beet?
Oh, forget about your taxes and your student loans,
This garden's pesticide free, organically grown.
Listen to your roots, they'll tell you what's real.
This world is an onion, all center, all peel.
From the heavens comes a hale,
Of cabbage cauliflower and kale.
They're reaching from the earth to push us into the light.
This garden's been sown for a long, long time.
Now everywhere you look, you see a pillar of green,
And the reaper's just waiting 'til we're ripe on the vine.
A bright red apple led us into sin,
The Devil's been cooking for a long, long time.
So it could be an eggplant to lead us back again,
That sounds just fine.
We're going back to the garden, and out of the night,
I saw a fiery head of broccoli in a dream.
There'll be artichokes and rutabagas,
Collard greens and sweet potatoes,
Reaching from the earth to push us into the light.
Gonna carve a jack-o-lantern, hang the garlic high,
This crop's been coming for a long, long time.
Flaming red peppers will rain down from the sky,
And your tap water'll turn into okra slime.
There'll come a day you step out of the house,
And see a thousand armed soldiers with potatoes in their mouth.
Everyone's damned, and everyone's saved,
With a parsley garnish on every grave.
My friends, we are standing at the dawn of a new era. The United League of Vegetation, has just unanimously approved the new legislation, which places complete restriction on all forms of human migration.
Anyone caught moving faster than a turnip will be shot.
Now, I know what you're all thinking: What am I going to do with myself? I've got to go pick up the kids. There's a turkey in the oven. Relax. Don't panic. This isn't so bad. You've just got to calm down.
Now, close your eyes and imagine a bright, red, pulsing orb just in front of your forehead. Can you see it? Good. Can you feel it? I said, can you feel it?
Can you feel the beet?
Oh, forget about your taxes and your student loans,
This garden's pesticide free, organically grown.
Listen to your roots, they'll tell you what's real.
This world is an onion, all center, all peel.
From the heavens comes a hale,
Of cabbage cauliflower and kale.
They're reaching from the earth to push us into the light.
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More Featured Meanings
Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman
Cajun Girl
Little Feat
Little Feat
Overall about difficult moments of disappointment and vulnerability. Having hope and longing, while remaining optimistic for the future. Encourages the belief that with each new morning there is a chance for things to improve.
The chorus offers a glimmer of optimism and a chance at a resolution and redemption in the future.
Captures the rollercoaster of emotions of feeling lost while loving someone who is not there for you, feeling let down and abandoned while waiting for a lover. Lost with no direction, "Now I'm up in the air with the rain in my hair, Nowhere to go, I can go anywhere"
The bridge shows signs of longing and a plea for companionship. The Lyrics express a desire for authentic connection and the importance of Loving someone just as they are. "Just in passing, I'm not asking. That you be anyone but you”
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.
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.
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.