"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.
If you can't get it
I can't get it
Fly
Soul is single
Wind beneath us
I can't take it
If you can't take it
Fly
Soul is single
Wind beneath us
shades of sixteen
You're with me
Shades of sixteen
Remember
I can't get it
Fly
Soul is single
Wind beneath us
I can't take it
If you can't take it
Fly
Soul is single
Wind beneath us
shades of sixteen
You're with me
Shades of sixteen
Remember
Lyrics submitted by HANGINGlikeaHEX
Trilobite Lyrics as written by Troy Sanders Brent Hinds
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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Fast Car
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I don't think it's necessarily about sex. It's about wanting to start the day with some love and affection. Maybe a warm cuddle. I'm not alone in interpreting it that way! For example:
"'Just a Little Lovin’ is a timeless country song originally recorded by Eddy Arnold in 1954. The song, written by Eddie Miller and Jimmy Campbell, explores the delicate nuances of love and showcases Arnold’s emotive vocals. It delves into the universal theme of love and how even the smallest gesture of affection can have a profound impact on our lives." https://oldtimemusic.com/the-meaning-behind-the-song-just-a-little-lovin-by-eddy-arnold/
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Ed Sheeran
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Maybe about when you're sixteen and your whole life is ahead of you and youre somewhat "free" (fly - soul is single - wind beneath us)
I just don't agree with Ddadutta. The song revolves around two people bound together somehow:<br /> <br /> "if you can't get it, I can't get it" and following lines which refer to some kind of reliance on each other. Could it be two different people, or perhaps if there is some space-time continuum thing, we could have an older version of a person talking to his younger self (reflection made manifest)<br /> <br /> The shades of sixteen part you can dissect into a million meanings but I just cannot think of it as age; that makes no sense to me.<br /> <br /> Shades of sixteen can possibly be in reference to 16 shades of a color, gray perhaps but I have two other thoughts.<br /> <br /> In mythology a shade is a "presence" of someone who resides in the Underworld; the shade is their manifestation in "our" world. Could is be that there could be 16 shades that are confronting the two? (And if you want to get into specifics of the significance of the number 16, in Numerology Number sixteen warns of some strange calamity, defeat of plans, disgrace, accidents, deception, and adversity. It indicates the karma of former illegitimate love affairs. Number sixteen offers the test of optimism and faith. "If number sixteen is found as the total of the soul's urge, it shows false friends and broken dreams. If it appears as the destiny number, it warns of loss of name, position, fortune, and power. If it is the number of the total birthpath, then all the tragedies must be learned - love to lose, rise to fall. You must not cling to the material.)<br /> <br /> Perhaps this song is a Shade talking to a loved one for all we know; perhaps that loved one recently died and is crossing the Styx (it all seems farfetched but mythology such as this is right up Mastodon's alley)
Ddadutta's explination has a ring of correctness...
No idea what it could mean, nor do I know what an extinct branch of sea creatures has to do with the song.
Bad ass, though. I could see myself driving - at sixteen, mind you - with this playing.
Looking at yourself in the past, maybe when you were sixteen and realizing that you really haven't changed