"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.
Time & all you gave
I was the jerk who preferred the sea
To tussling in the waves
Tugging your skirt, singing please, please, please
But now I see love
Tracked on the floor where you walked outside
Now I see love
Looking for you in this other girl's eyes
Time & all you took
Only my freedom to fuck the whole world
Promising not to look
Promising light on the sidewalk girls
But now I see love
There in your car where I said those things
Now I see love
Tugging your skirt, singing please, please, please
Time & all you gave
There on your cross that I never saw
Well beyond the waves
Dunking my head when I heard you call
But now I see love
There in the scab where you pinched my leg
Now I see love
There on your side of my empty bed
I was the jerk who preferred the sea
To tussling in the waves
Tugging your skirt, singing please, please, please
But now I see love
Tracked on the floor where you walked outside
Now I see love
Looking for you in this other girl's eyes
Time & all you took
Only my freedom to fuck the whole world
Promising not to look
Promising light on the sidewalk girls
But now I see love
There in your car where I said those things
Now I see love
Tugging your skirt, singing please, please, please
Time & all you gave
There on your cross that I never saw
Well beyond the waves
Dunking my head when I heard you call
But now I see love
There in the scab where you pinched my leg
Now I see love
There on your side of my empty bed
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Fast Car
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The chorus offers a glimmer of optimism and a chance at a resolution and redemption in the future.
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Punchline
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Ed Sheeran
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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.
This is how I see it...
"Time and all you gave I was the jerk who preferred the sea To tussling in the waves Tugging your skirt, singing please, please, please"
He's reflecting and seeing that she actually gave him a lot of her love and time that he didn't see while they were together. The sea could represent freedom. He preferred freedom to being safe in the waves. Tugging your skirt seems pretty self explanatory; he was focused more on his physical needs than anything to do with her.
"But now I see love Tracked on the floor where you walked outside Now I see love Looking for you in this other girl's eyes"
He now sees how much he loved her by reflecting on her leaving him. Instead of finding love anywhere else, now, all he sees/wants is his lost girl.
"Time and all you took Only my freedom to fuck the whole world Promising not to look Promising light on the sidewalk girls"
As much as he blamed her for taking away his freedom, all she really took from him was an unfulfilling string of hook ups. He promised to remain faithful, despite his desire to stray.
"But now I see love There in your car where I said those things Now I see love Tugging your skirt, singing please, please, please"
He sees that he loved her when he remembers either when he told her of some sort of infidelity or just the fact that he was finished with her.
"Time and all you gave There on your cross that I never saw Well beyond the waves Dunking my head when I heard you call"
He never saw how much she gave and sacrificed for him. When he has his freedom he avoids her calls because of guilt for doing her wrong.
"But now I see love There in the scar where you pinched my leg Now I see love There on your side of my empty bed"
Maybe she pinched him when she found out that he was either leaving her or cheated on her. He sees that she loved him /he loved her in how hurt she was by his actions. She is gone and he is alone, and only then does he realize what he lost.