"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.
who i am
retort to toiletmouth
now louder answer
the firmest fist and kiss its
asked me again
how gameshow season never ends
the same old reason i won't win
suspended in this animation
i could use a new vacation
namelessly the nameless and the faceless go to make up
tell me i'm not spending too much time on happy endings
and my life does not rely on how much love you might be lending me
above there's so much i'm depending on remembering more instead
you send me door to door to have the family cat attack the stranger
back by popular demand
stand as you were
before you saw your parting gift in stores
you poured your empty heart in it but finished what you started
when you practiced and rehearsed
to find the god before he finds you first
in dirty words and poison dreams
like girls who flirt while boys are teens
you're only asking for one thing
it's never only make believe to me
tell me i'm not spending too much time on happy endings
and my life does not rely on how much love you might be lending me
above there's so much i'm depending on remembering more instead of
war with me, myself, and i
i'm headed for the stranger in the sky
resort in paradise
now louder answer
the wish and kiss is good
retort to toiletmouth
now louder answer
the firmest fist and kiss its
asked me again
how gameshow season never ends
the same old reason i won't win
suspended in this animation
i could use a new vacation
namelessly the nameless and the faceless go to make up
tell me i'm not spending too much time on happy endings
and my life does not rely on how much love you might be lending me
above there's so much i'm depending on remembering more instead
you send me door to door to have the family cat attack the stranger
back by popular demand
stand as you were
before you saw your parting gift in stores
you poured your empty heart in it but finished what you started
when you practiced and rehearsed
to find the god before he finds you first
in dirty words and poison dreams
like girls who flirt while boys are teens
you're only asking for one thing
it's never only make believe to me
tell me i'm not spending too much time on happy endings
and my life does not rely on how much love you might be lending me
above there's so much i'm depending on remembering more instead of
war with me, myself, and i
i'm headed for the stranger in the sky
resort in paradise
now louder answer
the wish and kiss is good
Lyrics submitted by _whatjusthappened
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More Featured Meanings
Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman
Bron-Y-Aur Stomp
Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin
This is about bronies. They communicate by stomping.
Dreamwalker
Silent Planet
Silent Planet
I think much like another song “Anti-Matter” (that's also on the same album as this song), this one is also is inspired by a horrifying van crash the band experienced on Nov 3, 2022. This, much like the other track, sounds like it's an extension what they shared while huddled in the wreckage, as they helped frontman Garrett Russell stem the bleeding from his head wound while he was under the temporary effects of a concussion. The track speaks of where the mind goes at the most desperate & desolate of times, when it just about slips away to all but disconnect itself, and the aftermath.
When We Were Young
Blink-182
Blink-182
This is a sequel to 2001's "Reckless Abandon", and features the band looking back on their clumsy youth fondly.
No Surprises
Radiohead
Radiohead
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.
i can relate to the "tell me im not spending too much time on happy endings, that my life does not rely on how much love you might be lending me above this, so much im depending on remembering more instead"
i do rely on how much he loves me, and i really shouldn't. but i do, and i regret that but i really dont want to change it. just as im sure jason doesnt