"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'm on a holiday wasting my time away
Writing a book on you born on a holiday
In the December snow wasting my time away
Writing a book on you born on a holiday
Somewhere in this song
A little clue to something (clue to something)
Parts of it seem over now
You expect a real solution (real solution)
I've got to go with what I know
Taking it on a holiday away
I've done my share of drugs (they drag me down)
I've done my share of speed (it kept me up)
I've had the strangest love (it's all I need)
I've had the things I need (I need it now)
When everthing seems wrong
I need to look to something (look to something)
People outside inside staying
Out for nothing (out for nothing)
And if you're in I can't let go
Short of the long holiday
I think you know what I've been saying
When there's nothing left to all
The colors that you sprayed upon it
Passing judgment on my life
You never really got it right
I can't believe in anything
I don't believe in anything
Do you believe in anything
Do you believe me now
Look like Jesus Christ
Act like Jesus Christ I know...
Here's your Jesus Christ
I'm your Jesus Christ I know...
Bleeding to death again (my bleeding heart)
Stuck in the heart again (goes out to you)
Somebody nail my hands (I needed pain)
Somebody take my hand (I bleed again)
I knew it all along and now
We're screwed forever (screwed forever)
Shake these demons off my back
And I can make it better (make it better)
But I can't go on knowing I am
Permanent on this holiday
I think you know what I am saying
I became the big disgrace
I know that I'm the ugly face
I need some time to reconcile
I need some time to heal a while
You'll be sorry when I'm gone
I guess you knew this all along
Writing a book on you born on a holiday
In the December snow wasting my time away
Writing a book on you born on a holiday
Somewhere in this song
A little clue to something (clue to something)
Parts of it seem over now
You expect a real solution (real solution)
I've got to go with what I know
Taking it on a holiday away
I've done my share of drugs (they drag me down)
I've done my share of speed (it kept me up)
I've had the strangest love (it's all I need)
I've had the things I need (I need it now)
When everthing seems wrong
I need to look to something (look to something)
People outside inside staying
Out for nothing (out for nothing)
And if you're in I can't let go
Short of the long holiday
I think you know what I've been saying
When there's nothing left to all
The colors that you sprayed upon it
Passing judgment on my life
You never really got it right
I can't believe in anything
I don't believe in anything
Do you believe in anything
Do you believe me now
Look like Jesus Christ
Act like Jesus Christ I know...
Here's your Jesus Christ
I'm your Jesus Christ I know...
Bleeding to death again (my bleeding heart)
Stuck in the heart again (goes out to you)
Somebody nail my hands (I needed pain)
Somebody take my hand (I bleed again)
I knew it all along and now
We're screwed forever (screwed forever)
Shake these demons off my back
And I can make it better (make it better)
But I can't go on knowing I am
Permanent on this holiday
I think you know what I am saying
I became the big disgrace
I know that I'm the ugly face
I need some time to reconcile
I need some time to heal a while
You'll be sorry when I'm gone
I guess you knew this all along
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
Cajun Girl
Little Feat
Little Feat
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.
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.
As Bob has revealed in his published autobiography, this song is a sequel of sorts to the track "Poison Years".
It's neat that "foreverdrone" picked up on the melody taken from the earlier song because there is, in fact, a clue hidden in the lyrics of the line that follows:
"Parts Of It Seem Over Now / You Expect A Real Solution" = P O I S O N Y E A R S
"Somewhere in this song a little clue to something"
Bob sings this line with almost precisely the same melody as a line in an older song, "Poison Years" from his solo album Workbook:
"Treason is the reason for my poison years"
And this, apparently, is a clue. To what?
"Poison Years" (which includes a straightforward reference to death by hanging) is--at least, in part--about Husker Du manager David Savoy's suicide.
Then the bitterly angry "JC Auto" (so it sounds to me) has the line, "You'll be sorry when I'm gone"
Obviously (in retrospect) Bob didn't go through with it...but one guesses that a follow-up was on his mind. A lot.
"I can't let go/Short of the long holiday/I think you know what I've been saying"
The title is short for "jesus christ autobiography" I would think. The Bob-as-Christ-figure symbolism is all over Beaster, including the title and cover art. and the song does have a kind of autobiographical feel, as if he's making a gigantic effort to exorcise a lifetime's worth of demon's in a few minutes.