"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.
Were the teachers any good at it
Were they good at their jobs
It must be hard can they handle it
When we become what they said we'd not
Now we work and we pay for it
Doing any old chore
It makes money so we stick it trhough
And day to day
The days go by and by and by and by well
I just don't want to die like a fooll
I'm not lost
I'm somewhat off the way
I'm gonna do what I said I'd do at school
And be the one that says hey
This ain't so hard and it's kind of cool
When we look at the clock we know
How much longer we have
It's not the hours and the minutes that go
It's everything that we said
And it's gone are you glad
Now we're struggling to pay the bills
With the money we've got
And the world seems to frown on us
And we're learning more than we've ever learnt
And I like it a lot
I just don't want to die like a fool
I'm not lost
I'm somewhat off the way
I'm gonna do what I said i'd do at school
And be the one that says hey
This ain't so hard and it's kind of cool
Were they good at their jobs
It must be hard can they handle it
When we become what they said we'd not
Now we work and we pay for it
Doing any old chore
It makes money so we stick it trhough
And day to day
The days go by and by and by and by well
I just don't want to die like a fooll
I'm not lost
I'm somewhat off the way
I'm gonna do what I said I'd do at school
And be the one that says hey
This ain't so hard and it's kind of cool
When we look at the clock we know
How much longer we have
It's not the hours and the minutes that go
It's everything that we said
And it's gone are you glad
Now we're struggling to pay the bills
With the money we've got
And the world seems to frown on us
And we're learning more than we've ever learnt
And I like it a lot
I just don't want to die like a fool
I'm not lost
I'm somewhat off the way
I'm gonna do what I said i'd do at school
And be the one that says hey
This ain't so hard and it's kind of cool
Lyrics submitted by agckill
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Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
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This is one of my favorite songs. https://fnfgo.io
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The chorus offers a glimmer of optimism and a chance at a resolution and redemption in the future.
Captures the rollercoaster of emotions of feeling lost while loving someone who is not there for you, feeling let down and abandoned while waiting for a lover. Lost with no direction, "Now I'm up in the air with the rain in my hair, Nowhere to go, I can go anywhere"
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Blink-182
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Pretty obvious meaning... the guy doesn't wanna waste his life away in a dead end job so goes for whatever dream he has. It's a great song though :)
It's also about going through Higher Education for not real reason other than "it's what you do". And then leaving education for the first time at 21 or 22, and not knowing what to do, not having fun in a boring job and doubting whether or not it was worth all those years.
It almost seems a letter to an old teacher. The teacher had such high hopes for the student, but he didn't turn out the way the teacher had planned. This seems to be the students explaining to the teacher that he really wanted to do better, and that he's not beyond all hope quite yet.