"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.
Like a shipwrecked mariner adrift on an unknown sea
Clinging to the wreckage of the lost ship 'Fantasy'
I'm a castaway, stranded in a desolate land
I can see the footprints in the virtual sand
Net boy, net girl
Send your signal 'round the world
Let your fingers walk and talk
And set you free
Net boy, net girl
Send your impulse 'round the world
Put your message in a modem (put your message in a modem)
And throw it in the Cyber Sea (and throw it in the Cyber Sea)
Astronauts in the weightlessness of pixelated space
Exchange graffiti with a disembodied race
I can save the universe in a grain of sand
I can hold the future in my virtual hand
Net boy, net girl
Send your signal 'round the world
Let your fingers walk and talk
And set you free
Net boy, net girl
Send your impulse 'round the world
Put your message in a modem (put your message in a modem)
And throw it in the Cyber Sea (and throw it in the Cyber Sea)
Let's dance tonight
To a virtual song
Press this key
And you can play along
Let's fly tonight
On our virtual wings
Press this key
To see amazing things
To see amazing things
Like a pair of vagabonds who wave between two passing trains
Or the glimpse of a woman's smile through a window in the rain
I can smell her perfume, I can taste her lips
I can feel the voltage from her fingertips
Net boy, net girl
Send your heartbeat 'round the world
Let your fingers walk and talk
And set you free
Net boy, net girl
Send your impulse 'round the world
Put your message in a modem
And throw it in the Cyber Sea
Put your message in a modem (put your message in a modem)
And throw it in the Cyber Sea (and throw it in the Cyber Sea)
Clinging to the wreckage of the lost ship 'Fantasy'
I'm a castaway, stranded in a desolate land
I can see the footprints in the virtual sand
Net boy, net girl
Send your signal 'round the world
Let your fingers walk and talk
And set you free
Net boy, net girl
Send your impulse 'round the world
Put your message in a modem (put your message in a modem)
And throw it in the Cyber Sea (and throw it in the Cyber Sea)
Astronauts in the weightlessness of pixelated space
Exchange graffiti with a disembodied race
I can save the universe in a grain of sand
I can hold the future in my virtual hand
Net boy, net girl
Send your signal 'round the world
Let your fingers walk and talk
And set you free
Net boy, net girl
Send your impulse 'round the world
Put your message in a modem (put your message in a modem)
And throw it in the Cyber Sea (and throw it in the Cyber Sea)
Let's dance tonight
To a virtual song
Press this key
And you can play along
Let's fly tonight
On our virtual wings
Press this key
To see amazing things
To see amazing things
Like a pair of vagabonds who wave between two passing trains
Or the glimpse of a woman's smile through a window in the rain
I can smell her perfume, I can taste her lips
I can feel the voltage from her fingertips
Net boy, net girl
Send your heartbeat 'round the world
Let your fingers walk and talk
And set you free
Net boy, net girl
Send your impulse 'round the world
Put your message in a modem
And throw it in the Cyber Sea
Put your message in a modem (put your message in a modem)
And throw it in the Cyber Sea (and throw it in the Cyber Sea)
Lyrics submitted by NeoTwilight
Virtuality Lyrics as written by Alex Lifeson Geddy Lee
Lyrics © OLE MEDIA MANAGEMENT LP
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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More Featured Meanings
Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman
The Night We Met
Lord Huron
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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"
Cajun Girl
Little Feat
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Overall about difficult moments of disappointment and vulnerability. Having hope and longing, while remaining optimistic for the future. Encourages the belief that with each new morning there is a chance for things to improve.
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"
The bridge shows signs of longing and a plea for companionship. The Lyrics express a desire for authentic connection and the importance of Loving someone just as they are. "Just in passing, I'm not asking. That you be anyone but you”
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.
American Town
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran shares a short story of reconnecting with an old flame on “American Town.” The track is about a holiday Ed Sheeran spends with his countrywoman who resides in America. The two are back together after a long period apart, and get around to enjoying a bunch of fun activities while rekindling the flames of their romance.
It's about how the internet lets people interact, and one little press of a key can do amazing things.
I agree with "Yyzs" Net boy, net girl Send your signal 'round the world Let your fingers walk and talk And set you free
Woot... second post!!
very underrated Rush song. and yes it about how the internet helps people connect, in both good and bad ways. Neil Peart was ahead of his time in writing this