"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.
Wash up
Bowl of mush
Look I made America
Hush hush
Don't don't rush
Time for quiet
Time to brush
Brown wine
Turpentine
Everything will be just fine
Sleep now
Never fear
All your animals are here
Counting sheep
I lay me down to sleep
But I see a sheep that will not leave
From the back they catch him in a trap
Hit his head and send him off to bed
Cutting by numbers is kinder
Invest in one with a silencer
All of the studies say if they're
Calm when they die then they taste better
Cutting by numbers is kinder
Invest in the one with the silencer
All of the studies say if they're
Calm when they die then they taste better
Goodbye
Olive sky
I am crying all the time
There there
Don't despair
We will find your sheep somewhere
Bowl of mush
Look I made America
Hush hush
Don't don't rush
Time for quiet
Time to brush
Brown wine
Turpentine
Everything will be just fine
Sleep now
Never fear
All your animals are here
Counting sheep
I lay me down to sleep
But I see a sheep that will not leave
From the back they catch him in a trap
Hit his head and send him off to bed
Cutting by numbers is kinder
Invest in one with a silencer
All of the studies say if they're
Calm when they die then they taste better
Cutting by numbers is kinder
Invest in the one with the silencer
All of the studies say if they're
Calm when they die then they taste better
Goodbye
Olive sky
I am crying all the time
There there
Don't despair
We will find your sheep somewhere
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
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”
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.
Head > Heels
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
“Head > Heels” is a track that aims to capture what it feels like to experience romance that exceeds expectations. Ed Sheeran dedicates his album outro to a lover who has blessed him with a unique experience that he seeks to describe through the song’s nuanced lyrics.
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.
CHANGE OF PLAN:
its about war. maybe "red brush...look i made america" is about blood, and america's involvement in a lot of wars. " dont try to care too much" is to me about people becoming unfeeling killing machines.
the third stanza makes me think of some terrifying nightmare "counting sheep" and the music is consistent with a nightmare... in keeping with the war theme, PTSD maybe?
"cutting by numbers is kinder" - genocide or slaughter
"invest in one with a silencer. All of the studies say if theyre calm when they die they taste better" - this is a bit outside the square, but i see that as saying if you keep whatever events quiet (silent), and calm, it tastes better only because the media cant get to a story if its been silenced.
the last stanza is definitrly about regret. regretting that one was in a war? maybe they lost their friends/family? but regret all the same.
and thats my very crazy thought.
I kind of thought the same thing as mixitup. The song reminded me of another song by A Perfect Circle. It goes like "Counting bodies like sheep to the rhythm of the war drum" which rather explicit in its message about how lives are taken by war every second, but America seems lulled by the numbers, unaffected by the carnage. I find "The Sheep Song" much more poetic in this comparison, however.<br /> <br /> Then again, I think I try to relate every song I hear to politics... :|
@mixitup - I agree with all of this.
It's really too bad that the lyrics here are COMPLETELY different from what I'm listening to right now...
To me, this song is about those 4-H projects where you have to raise a baby animal and then they auction it off ( the beginning part "hush hush don't don't dash and don't try to care too much" seem to be instructions while showing the animal in the ring, don't walk too fast/slow, keep the animals head up, etc.) The child in the song has raised the sheep since it was a lamb and didn't know that the sheep would have to be sold. The parents don't want to scar the child (I'm assuming the child is about 7) by telling him/her where the animals actually go, where hamburgers come from, etc. However the child considers the sheep to be his friend (the human-animal bond), and doesn't want it to be turned into lambchomps or whatever. When the day comes the parents in essecance lie to the child (" There there, don't despair, we will find your sheep somewhere"). The middle part "Cutting by numbers is kinder.....calm when they die then they taste better" is the sheep at the slaughterhouse. Overall, the song is about how you can get so attached to an animal and it being hard to let go when it is time and how some people stay in denial about the realities of life.
this line: "never fear, all your animals are here" has great meaning to me. i feel the "animals" are used as a comfort device for someone to trust/ feel safe enough to fall asleep.. which can be a really inimate thing. i myself only loved stuffed animals when i was younger for this reason, so i found it interesting that this part was put into the aspect of this great piece.
i could go into the whole song, but i really don't feel like it right now. i wish someone would transcribe this song. i'm trying, but i'm not very good. and the recording is messy.
I'm curious.
In the live recording, the words seem to be different. For instance, the lines "counting sheep I lay me down to sleep but I see a sheep that will not leave"
appear to be: counting sheep I lay me down to sleep Please don't leave me with my awful dreams.
Is this true, or do my ears deceive me yet again? :P
Also, the bit about America doesn't sound like it's being said in the recording. The words seem to be similar, but is the word "America" there?
Simply gorgeous song. Feels like such a lullaby (in quite the creepy way, mind you!)... which I find interesting when I match that with something tiltinghead has mentioned.
I'm sure CabaretKittie has nailed the meaning right to the wall, so I haven't much to pitch in. :)
I think this one's about having that one last strand of hope snap - when you're left as a sobbing heap on your floor, praying to an entity that you don't necessarily believe in. The sort of peaceful lull of the song is exactly how I've felt when I have hit rock bottom in the past, like "okay, there is no way I can plummet any further, so if you're up there, great. If not, I have nothing left to lose now."
Oh, the Sheep Song. It's gotten me through oh-so-much.
Anyone care to agree?
To dispute?
the "...cutting by numbers is kinder..." etc. is a bit like Bad Habit. maybe i'm the only on e that thinks that, but i love it. i love both songs. amazing. as to the meaning, i have no flipping idea. the raising a sheep from a lamb idea works, but i think i agree more with the 'last bit of hope' idea. don't ask me why. 'Cancerous Adversary', you're right, it reminds me of a creepy lulaby too. man its amazing.
Ahh, I love your idea that it's about war.
I went to their show at the NorVa last night and she told a story about the inspiration for this song. Evidently the first time she visited Austrailia she stayed overnight in a small town called Hay (apparently it was a really really small conservative town..."If I was like I stayed in Hay, Texas you'd all be like 'uh-uh'.") At any rate, what I got from the story was that everyone was a sheep herder and they grew their own pot and ground it in a coffee grinder and some how she escaped within inches of her life. I shit you not. Kind of reminded me of the movie "Wolf Creek." Unfortunately the only clip I could find of her talking about it is here: youtube.com/watch
Does anyone have information on these 4H projects? I am writing my HSC Extension Two English paper on them, in Australia.
Really need to extra information... Do they really sell them to meat-producing companies?
Thankyou in advance.