"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.
I open my eyes
I try to see but I'm blinded by the white light
I can't remember how, I can't remember why
I'm lyin' here tonight
And I can't stand the pain
And I can't make it go away
No, I can't stand the pain
How could this happen to me?
I've made my mistakes, got nowhere to run
The night goes on as I'm fading away
I'm sick of this life, I just wanna scream
How could this happen to me?
Everybody's screaming
I try to make a sound, but no one hears me
I'm slippin' off the edge, I'm hangin' by a thread
I wanna start this over again
So I try to hold
Onto a time when nothin' mattered
And I can't explain what happened
And I can't erase the things that I've done
No, I can't
How could this happen to me?
I've made my mistakes, got nowhere to run
The night goes on as I'm fading away
I'm sick of this life, I just wanna scream
How could this happen to me?
I've made my mistakes, I've got nowhere to run
The night goes on as I'm fading away
I'm sick of this life, I just wanna scream
How could this happen to me?
I try to see but I'm blinded by the white light
I can't remember how, I can't remember why
I'm lyin' here tonight
And I can't stand the pain
And I can't make it go away
No, I can't stand the pain
How could this happen to me?
I've made my mistakes, got nowhere to run
The night goes on as I'm fading away
I'm sick of this life, I just wanna scream
How could this happen to me?
Everybody's screaming
I try to make a sound, but no one hears me
I'm slippin' off the edge, I'm hangin' by a thread
I wanna start this over again
So I try to hold
Onto a time when nothin' mattered
And I can't explain what happened
And I can't erase the things that I've done
No, I can't
How could this happen to me?
I've made my mistakes, got nowhere to run
The night goes on as I'm fading away
I'm sick of this life, I just wanna scream
How could this happen to me?
I've made my mistakes, I've got nowhere to run
The night goes on as I'm fading away
I'm sick of this life, I just wanna scream
How could this happen to me?
Lyrics submitted by yoocamel, edited by GameOver64
Untitled (How Could This Happen to Me?) Lyrics as written by Pierre Bouvier Charles-andre Comeau
Lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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More Featured Meanings
Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman
No Surprises
Radiohead
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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.
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.
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.
it seems this song is of someone who was in an fatal accident and they are young. most of the song is of what the person is thinking, "how could this happen to me, i've made my mistakes, i've got no where to run, the night goes on as i'm fading away"
they know they are dying, and don't understand why. it's sad, very emotional song, it makes you realize that you aren't invincible and anything can happen to anyone at any time.
what about regretted/attempted suicide? coz the 'sick of this life' thing and 'wanna start this over again' reminds me of someone who regretted his decisions... i've had that view all along while listening to the song
@biohazard This is how I relate to the song. I'm glad that someone else sees it this way.
So I don't know if anyone saw the video, but the video highly explains the song (at least from SP's point of view). In the video, the lead singer is driving back home in a storm, had way too much to drink, and doesn't see an oncomming car. He subsequently smashes into the car, killing the young driver inside. Despite the girl being brought to the hospital and the personel trying to revive her, they ultimately fail. The song switches between the girl dying and her family noticing nothing. Near the end of the song, the family is quite literally thrown around and their house is busted up because of the severity of the death; someone within their life died and it (in the song's sense) tore their lives apart. All the time the lead singer is singing the song in the position that he killed the girl and has extremely high guilt for what he did.
From that perspective, the song is easily identifiable and very powerful, but the idea that it's title (Untitled) also gives credence to other horible deaths and events make it that much more powerful.
Also, I don't care how butch you are, this song WILL make you cry the first time you hear it. It's that powerful. Good song and great emotion.
the first time i heard this song, i was crying so hard i couldn't breathe....it's a very emotional song....i think it's about someone who tried to commit suicde, and they wound up in the hospital, and when they got out, everyone started yelling at them, asking why they did it.....i can pretty much relate to it...
@punkrockchc164 Yes, me too.
Every time I listen to this song I get a different meaning.
It's like, I think of my idiot friends, my love life, my mom, my home, my grades, it's like... It's like... It's like having some one holding me every time I cry.
I really would like to know who it was who wrotethe song and what their thoughts on it were.
Could it be the aftermath of an accident?
"I try to see But I'm blinded by the white light I can't remember how I can't remember why I'm lying here tonight"
The white light refers to the light in the operation room, and he fainted so he can't remember how he got here and the next few lines containing the word "pain" suggest the injuries he suffered.
"Everybody's screaming I try to make a sound But no one hears me I'm slipping off the edge I'm hanging by a thread I wanna start this over again?
This could be at the scene of the accident where everyone's screaming. And maybe he is trapped and is too weak to call out for help, or no one can hear him. "slipping off the edge" "hanging on a thread" suggest that his time is about to be up.
I heard this from a friend and thought it made sense but nevertheless, Little Nemo had a great answer and phrased it well too
umm...rapchickslide???...that's a great idea. telling someone who, who knows, might really be a cutter and tell them that their thoughts on a song that might be a big part of their life is 'dumb'. whoa. claps for you. you accomplished nothing. no effence though.
yeah i love this song and it's really fun trying to play it on the piano. pierre and david freakin rock singing together.
this is definently an emotional song its kinda about someone who is looking at their life in perspective and how unhappy they are with everything they may have done, said etc. its about someone who wishes they could make everything better and just start everything over again. at the beginning i think its saying that the person is probably dying in some way and they are looking back at an unhappy life and wishing they could redo everything. i dont know it might have a suicidal undertone but i dont think theyd do that
I love this song, it is one of my favorites. When I listened to it I got two meanings. I can't decide if it is about someone who committed suicide, and as they were dieing, they realized they made a mistake and didn't want to die anymore because they had things to fix, or if it was an accident and they don't understand why it happened to them. I guess it kinda goes both ways. All I can say is that whether it was suicide or an acident, the person is dieing and as they are, they are thinking to their mistakes and wanting a redo for their life. And I also wondered about the name of the song being untitled. I like rapchickslide's idea about that, I had never thought of that. This song is emotional and it easily brings down your mood when you listen to it because it makes you think of your own life and mistakes. This first time I listened to it, I too was close to crying. This song certianly did have a lot of thought and emotion put into it.
this amazing girl i knew died in a car accident last year, her brother was driving, he survived but she died. this song must be exactly what he feels like and how he will probably feel for the rest of his life.