"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.
Touch
I'll stand for nothing less
Or never stand again
These are the limits when one's buried
This body's left the soul
Could we have known?
Never would I, helped to nail down
Careful of drifting off
Now losing taste and touch
Turning a pale blue, leaning in to say
This body's left the soul
The brain needs oxygen
Can't sneak around this bait
His catacomb has got me by the chin
This body's left the soul
Could we have known?
Never would I, helped to nail down
With nothing to gain
Here's the clincher
This should be you
Now saturate
Now saturate
Now saturate
Now saturate
And touch
Now saturate
Now saturate
Now saturate
The earth
Now saturate
Now saturate
Now saturate
The earth
Well, could we have known?
Never would I, helped to nail down (I'll stand for nothing less)
With nothing to gain
Here's the clincher
This should be you made cold and crippled
This happened to be never changing
Holding inside (or never stand again)
The phobia viewed made cold and crippled
Ending it all
Now saturate
Now saturate
Now saturate
Now saturate
The earth
Now saturate
Now saturate
Now saturate
I'll stand for nothing less
Or never stand again
These are the limits when one's buried
This body's left the soul
Could we have known?
Never would I, helped to nail down
Careful of drifting off
Now losing taste and touch
Turning a pale blue, leaning in to say
This body's left the soul
The brain needs oxygen
Can't sneak around this bait
His catacomb has got me by the chin
This body's left the soul
Could we have known?
Never would I, helped to nail down
With nothing to gain
Here's the clincher
This should be you
Now saturate
Now saturate
Now saturate
Now saturate
And touch
Now saturate
Now saturate
Now saturate
The earth
Now saturate
Now saturate
Now saturate
The earth
Well, could we have known?
Never would I, helped to nail down (I'll stand for nothing less)
With nothing to gain
Here's the clincher
This should be you made cold and crippled
This happened to be never changing
Holding inside (or never stand again)
The phobia viewed made cold and crippled
Ending it all
Now saturate
Now saturate
Now saturate
Now saturate
The earth
Now saturate
Now saturate
Now saturate
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More Featured Meanings
Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman
I Can't Go To Sleep
Wu-Tang Clan
Wu-Tang Clan
This song is written as the perspective of the boys in the street, as a whole, and what path they are going to choose as they get older and grow into men. (This is why the music video takes place in an orphanage.) The seen, and unseen collective suffering is imbedded in the boys’ mind, consciously or subconsciously, and is haunting them. Which path will the boys choose? Issac Hayes is the voice of reason, maybe God, the angel on his shoulder, or the voice of his forefathers from beyond the grave who can see the big picture and are pleading with the boys not to continue the violence and pattern of killing their brothers, but to rise above. The most beautiful song and has so many levels. Racism towards African Americans in America would not exist if everyone sat down and listened to this song and understood the history behind the words. The power, fear, pleading in RZA and Ghostface voices are genuine and powerful. Issac Hayes’ strong voice makes the perfect strong father figure, who is possibly from beyond the grave.
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.
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.
Could we have known/never would i/ helped to nail down / with nothign to gain Here's the clincher/ this should be you Now saturate/and touch/now saturate/the earth
Could we have known?: the sinner who realizes finally what Christ has done for him saying "if i had known that THIS was the cost, i would have never helped nail your hand to the cross."
Here's the clincher, this should be you, with nothing to gain: is the selflessness of his sacrifice. "here's the clincher, this hsould be you" is just a brutal reminder that YOU should be the one nailed to the cross, not the only innocent man to ever walk the earth
now saturate, and touch / the earth: a plea for the blood of Jesus to saturate and cover the earth
could we have known, never would i, helped to nail down (i'll stand for nothing less): now i'll stand for nothing less, no cause is as important as the cross of Jesus
With nothing to gain: ...regardless ofw hat it costs me or what the rewards are
here's the clincher, this should be you (made cold and crippled): (obvious)
I'm glad someone else got the real meaning of this song. Alot of Chevelle songs are Christian if you reread some of the lyrics.
NO corkey. Why can't we get past this shit? Chevelle is NOT a Christian band, they weren't even on a christian label, it was a record label backed by a christian company, but the label itself was not strictly christian<br /> <br /> actual quote from Pete: "To us, it was and is, not that big of a deal. Our first label was owned by a distributorship that distributed to Christian bookstores and things like that. And it doesn't bother us at all to be called a Christian band. Although we have made a specific point to keep our religion out of our band and out of our shows because we believe it is everybody's choice to go and do whatever they want. And though we do have our individual faiths and all those things, it is not something that we'll preach to the people out there. So there were never any misconceptions for us or for our label in that regards. It really was what everybody else was putting out there."
@Kruzen nice insights, but pete loeffler said that the song is indeed about claustrophobia.
@[starfox69} if they are actual Christians then it effects everything they do even if they are not trying to. even if its not a christian band.
@jarbar but it does NOT mean that their songs have Christian messages, such as those interpreted by @Kruzen. The singer has said that this song is about claustrophobia and it doesn't really matter what your religion is, the feelings of fear, desperation, anxiety etc. don't discriminate based on faith.<br /> <br /> Saying all that @Kruzen is entitled to their interpretation, after all the lyrics are still quite ambiguous, and music / art is open to the individuals beliefs, experiences and emotions.