"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'll never feel the weight of your hands
Inside mine like diamonds
Lace so fine ballerina
Cupcake and my earthquake
Wakes me from my sleep that
Never comes, are you breathing
Waiting for me
I didn't really want you
But I want you now
Was so foolish of me
Feel you tumbling down
Into that empty room, the lights went out
I want to rescue, want to scream out loud
I didn't think I needed you
But I need you now
Was so empty in me
Feel you crashing down
Into the empty world, the music stops
I want to rescue, want to scream out loud
You will always be mine
The room spins
they pull you from me, my body burns
Tell me all the rainbows
The colors that the rain throws
Ballerina, dance softly
She knows when to come only
When she's called on slowly coming to
I didn't really want you
But I need you
Was so foolish of me
Feel you tumbling down
Into that empty room, the lights went out
Want to rescue want to scream out loud
I didn't think I wanted you
But I want you now
Was so empty in me
Feel you crashing down
Into the empty world, the music stops
I want to rescue, want to scream out loud
You will always be mine
So so sorry
Just come back for me now
So so sorry
Just come back to me now
Or soon
I didn't think I wanted you
But I want you now
Was so foolish of me
Feel you tumbling down
Into that empty room, the lights went out
Wanted to rescue, want to scream out loud
I didn't think I needed you
But I need you now
Was so empty in me
Feel you tumbling down
Into that empty room, the lights went out
I want to rescue want to scream out loud
That you will always be mine
Inside mine like diamonds
Lace so fine ballerina
Cupcake and my earthquake
Wakes me from my sleep that
Never comes, are you breathing
Waiting for me
I didn't really want you
But I want you now
Was so foolish of me
Feel you tumbling down
Into that empty room, the lights went out
I want to rescue, want to scream out loud
I didn't think I needed you
But I need you now
Was so empty in me
Feel you crashing down
Into the empty world, the music stops
I want to rescue, want to scream out loud
You will always be mine
The room spins
they pull you from me, my body burns
Tell me all the rainbows
The colors that the rain throws
Ballerina, dance softly
She knows when to come only
When she's called on slowly coming to
I didn't really want you
But I need you
Was so foolish of me
Feel you tumbling down
Into that empty room, the lights went out
Want to rescue want to scream out loud
I didn't think I wanted you
But I want you now
Was so empty in me
Feel you crashing down
Into the empty world, the music stops
I want to rescue, want to scream out loud
You will always be mine
So so sorry
Just come back for me now
So so sorry
Just come back to me now
Or soon
I didn't think I wanted you
But I want you now
Was so foolish of me
Feel you tumbling down
Into that empty room, the lights went out
Wanted to rescue, want to scream out loud
I didn't think I needed you
But I need you now
Was so empty in me
Feel you tumbling down
Into that empty room, the lights went out
I want to rescue want to scream out loud
That you will always be mine
Add your thoughts
Log in now to tell us what you think this song means.
Don’t have an account? Create an account with SongMeanings to post comments, submit lyrics, and more. It’s super easy, we promise!
More Featured Meanings
Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman
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.
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.
Plastic Bag
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
“Plastic Bag” is a song about searching for an escape from personal problems and hoping to find it in the lively atmosphere of a Saturday night party. Ed Sheeran tells the story of his friend and the myriad of troubles he is going through. Unable to find any solutions, this friend seeks a last resort in a party and the vanity that comes with it.
“I overthink and have trouble sleepin’ / All purpose gone and don’t have a reason / And there’s no doctor to stop this bleedin’ / So I left home and jumped in the deep end,” Ed Sheeran sings in verse one. He continues by adding that this person is feeling the weight of having disappointed his father and doesn’t have any friends to rely on in this difficult moment. In the second verse, Ed sings about the role of grief in his friend’s plight and his dwindling faith in prayer. “Saturday night is givin’ me a reason to rely on the strobe lights / The lifeline of a promise in a shot glass, and I’ll take that / If you’re givin’ out love from a plastic bag,” Ed sings on the chorus, as his friend turns to new vices in hopes of feeling better.
Plastic Bag
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
“Plastic Bag” is a song about searching for an escape from personal problems and hoping to find it in the lively atmosphere of a Saturday night party. Ed Sheeran tells the story of his friend and the myriad of troubles he is going through. Unable to find any solutions, this friend seeks a last resort in a party and the vanity that comes with it.
“I overthink and have trouble sleepin’ / All purpose gone and don’t have a reason / And there’s no doctor to stop this bleedin’ / So I left home and jumped in the deep end,” Ed Sheeran sings in verse one. He continues by adding that this person is feeling the weight of having disappointed his father and doesn’t have any friends to rely on in this difficult moment. In the second verse, Ed sings about the role of grief in his friend’s plight and his dwindling faith in prayer. “Saturday night is givin’ me a reason to rely on the strobe lights / The lifeline of a promise in a shot glass, and I’ll take that / If you’re givin’ out love from a plastic bag,” Ed sings on the chorus, as his friend turns to new vices in hopes of feeling better.
I always thought that this song was about the proverbial "girl dumps guy and regrets it."
For me this song means so much more. On September 30 of 2006, I gave birth to a beautiful baby girl. She was born still (deceased). This song symbolizes everything I feel for my daughter. Her pregnancy was very unexpected to my husband and me, and were very worried that it was just the wrong time to start our family. "I didn't think I wanted you." But as the pregnancy went on, I loved her more than anything. "But I need you now."
Maille Paige will always be my ballerina.
@mortyys I realize this is years later - but this would likely bother you for a long time. In my experience with this situation, babies that choose to leave the body during birth are changing their minds (their contracts) and it causes a lot of karma on that soul due to the pain is causes the parents and the entire family and friends expecting it. Sometimes they will come back at another time, again, later, but I wanted you to know that doesn't go unnoticed. It's a horrible heartbreak and I have dealt with it in counseling people who have experienced it - and that answer keeps coming back again and again. I hope this answer does not disturb you, if it doesn't mean something for you just toss it into the pile of crap in life, or call it "mind candy". something to just think about that may or may not be a possibility. Either way you have my heartfelt blessings - you have very very strong shoulders. I myself had 3 miscarriages pretty far along and even that was enough to put me in a stupor. I cannot imagine your great courage and strength. Namaste, C
I thought it's about losing a child when I first heard it. (Or maybe even abortion, even when this sounds like catched from very far ;) )It seems to be a lot deeper than all those break up and regret songs, it seems to be about loss. The 'empty room' where the 'lights went out' and the 'empty world' where the 'music stops' maybe stand for death. Also the beginning, 'I'll never feel the weight of your hands inside mine, like diamonds' make me think of a baby that you'll never see growing up, that you'll never hold in your arms. If the girl would be missng the guy she probably would have said 'never feel the weight of you hands AGAIN'.
Despite, I think ballerinas, lace and cupcakes have not much to do with a relationship ^_^ It's all that stuff children love - well, at least little girls do. In her song "Home" she sings a line like 'where I lost my only child', maybe it has something to do with that? Anyway, this song is so sad and so beautiful, I will be loving it forever.
I found Leona Naess because this song was at the end of an episode of Weeds. The scene is a montage of love scenes between characters, and the main character Nancy missing her deceased husband. It was an incredibly sad and moving moment, made so by this beautiful song.
I discovered this song and Naess via the same Weeds episode mentioned by a previous poster. My lord this is such a sad and beautiful song. When I hear it I think of my long lost best friend who disappeared from my life two years ago. I think of her almost every day and this song nails that feeling of loss, of regret.
This song is not about a loss of a boyfriend/lover, although it was a beautiful touch to the end of the Weeds episode in which Nancy crying as she watches old home movies of herself and her deceased husband. But it's not about the loss of a man. Most obvious clues are "ballerina," "cupcake," and "lace" (which are all girly things) and referring to the lost person as a "she." It is about the mother's regret about an abortion. A clue that it is a baby that dies and not an older child is that she says she'll never feel the weight of her hands inside hers. It says "pull you from me, my body burns." To me that means the doctors take the embryo/fetus out of her body. The "feel you tumbling/crashing down into that empty room" refers to the baby being drawn out of her and into the room at the abortion clinic. And the room spins because she's obviously drugged up and dealing with mixed emotions about what is happening. The lights go out and the music stops symbolizes the baby's death, leaving the mother in darkness. And the mother is torn up with emotions like she wants to change what has already happened, she wishes she could take save the baby but now she can't, and the "want to scream out loud" just shows the desperation she feels inside. The "tell me of the rainbows, the colors that the rain throws" are words to her lost baby, wondering what she is seeing in Heaven. And "she knows when to come only when she's called" to me means being called into Heaven by God, and "I'm slowly coming to" (which the lyrics above are incorrect with "on slowly coming to") means the mother is regaining consciousness from whatever drugs she was given to do the abortion procedure. When I first heard the song I thought it was about a stillborn baby, but then at the end I was convinced it was abortion when she says "so so sorry, just come back for/to me now."
Everytime I hear this song it just puts me in this mood like I've been here before... it just makes me so sad, but in a good way! I think she's describing all the little inside jokes they have... and that she didn't think she needed him anymore and she's describing all the feelings she's going through with him not there anymore but she's realized she needs him more than anything and she wants him to come back for her.
This song makes me soooooooooo sad, but I still love it! To me, it's about a girl that broke up with a guy but she regrets it in the end. Pretty simple, but just the way that Leona sings it makes it wonderful & sad & sweet.
I, too, heard this song at the end of the Weeds episode. It is truly beautiful...I love how Leona's voice is almost small yet filled with so much emotion.
I first heard her sing this song on Dave Letterman late one night. She was so emotional and was crying when the song was over. I am completely pro-choice, but I really think she wrote this song about an abortion she may have had. Perhaps she found out later it was a girl or she imagined it was a girl-hence the ballerina title.
I just heard this song tonight at a Ray LaMontagne show and I fell inlove with it. Her voice is absolutely amazing. I love women singers who's voice can just give you chills.,. and hers is one of them.