"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.
Everything I once had
The bar on first Avenue, we went there solely for you
So you can flirt with my best friend
Kiss a girl, tell me why you're laughing
I won't hold on, I can't hold on to this
There's a hole in the trust that we mapped out
In my bed for six long months
There's a hole in the trust that we mapped out
In my bed for six long months
Well I won't hold on, to this
February, Valentine's Day
Did my best to avoid the red clichés
So you dumped me on the subway
On my way to work at nine in the morning
Everybody else is holding bouquets
Now I'm holding my face in the basement
Scratching away for any trace
Of affection you will leave
Falling victim to the public's prey
Well I won't hold on, no I can't hold on, I won't hold on to this
There's a hole in the trust that we mapped out
In my bed for six long months
There's a hole in the trust that we mapped out
In my bed
There's a hole in the trust that we mapped out
In my bed for six long months
Oh, I won't hold on to this
Anyone is suitable for you I, for you I guess tonight
Anyone is suitable for you I guess
You weren't fazed
It's over with
You my beautiful
You weren't fazed
It's over with
You my beautiful
Your beautiful blue and white
Your beautiful blue and white
The bar on first Avenue, we went there solely for you
So you can flirt with my best friend
Kiss a girl, tell me why you're laughing
I won't hold on, I can't hold on to this
There's a hole in the trust that we mapped out
In my bed for six long months
There's a hole in the trust that we mapped out
In my bed for six long months
Well I won't hold on, to this
February, Valentine's Day
Did my best to avoid the red clichés
So you dumped me on the subway
On my way to work at nine in the morning
Everybody else is holding bouquets
Now I'm holding my face in the basement
Scratching away for any trace
Of affection you will leave
Falling victim to the public's prey
Well I won't hold on, no I can't hold on, I won't hold on to this
There's a hole in the trust that we mapped out
In my bed for six long months
There's a hole in the trust that we mapped out
In my bed
There's a hole in the trust that we mapped out
In my bed for six long months
Oh, I won't hold on to this
Anyone is suitable for you I, for you I guess tonight
Anyone is suitable for you I guess
You weren't fazed
It's over with
You my beautiful
You weren't fazed
It's over with
You my beautiful
Your beautiful blue and white
Your beautiful blue and white
Lyrics submitted by sobeautiful, edited by plattek2002
Everything I Once Had Lyrics as written by Jarrod Gorbel
Lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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More Featured Meanings
Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman
The Night We Met
Lord Huron
Lord Huron
This is a hauntingly beautiful song about introspection, specifically about looking back at a relationship that started bad and ended so poorly, that the narrator wants to go back to the very beginning and tell himself to not even travel down that road. I believe that the relationship started poorly because of the lines:
"Take me back to the night we met:When the night was full of terrors: And your eyes were filled with tears: When you had not touched me yet"
So, the first night was not a great start, but the narrator pursued the relationship and eventually both overcame the rough start to fall in love with each other:
"I had all and then most of you"
Like many relationships that turn sour, it was not a quick decline, but a gradual one where the narrator and their partner fall out of love and gradually grow apart
"Some and now none of you"
Losing someone who was once everything in your world, who you could confide in, tell your secrets to, share all the most intimate parts of your life, to being strangers with that person is probably one of the most painful experiences a person can go through. So Painful, the narrator wants to go back in time and tell himself to not even pursue the relationship.
This was the perfect song for "13 Reasons Why"
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.
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.
Page
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
There aren’t many things that’ll hurt more than giving love a chance against your better judgement only to have your heart crushed yet again. Ed Sheeran tells such a story on “Page.” On this track, he is devastated to have lost his lover and even more saddened by the feeling that he may never move on from this.
The guy has a girlfriend that he loves, but she's unfaithful yet he still stays by her. But he can't hold on to her anymore, because there's a hole in the trust that they built up in the 6 months they were together in his bed. She dumped him on Valentine's Day as he was going to work at nine in the morning. He tried to avoid the (annoying) red cliches of the day, and while everybody else held bouquets of flowers he just held his face in the basement trying to get rid of the memory of her. "Falling victim to the public's prey" means that he's not alone and he's up for grabs by vicious society. Because come on, society can sometimes majorly suck for a newly single guy or girl.
In the last stanza he makes a remark about how his ex will hook up with anyone because she's a whore about it. She was just a phase he had to go through....She's beautiful, and he loves her but it's over. I can imagine the guy drunk, screaming and crying the last stanza. The line, "with your beautiful blue and white" might mean blue eyes and pale white skin?