"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.
Tonight, I say we just get out of this town
Let's go to Seattle and watch rain fall on the ground
And on our tongues, "I love you's" run into each other
But could I really trust her?
She said, "Hey, baby, baby boy, why you always look so sad?"
"You've got the whole world in the palm of your hand."
But it don't mean a thing if you're not next to me
I'm so sick, so sick, of just always dreaming
I'm sleeping on the couch
She's married to a mattress
I think the hardest times are finally gonna pass us
Is the glass half-full?
So watch my eyes
Oh babe, I promise that I'll never let what happened last time (x2)
The rain is coming down like oh, cats and dogs
It's harder to see you through all of the fog
I know you're there so I'm not scared
Let's be crazy
How 'bout we just get married?
She said, "Hey, baby, baby boy, I loved you from the day that we met."
"Don't care what mom says, or if we're ready just yet."
Cause it don't mean a thing if you're not next to me
You're who I want to wake up to every morning
I'm sleeping on the couch
She's married to a mattress
I think the hardest times are finally gonna pass us
Is the glass half-full?
So watch my eyes
Oh babe, I promise that I'll never let what happened last time (x2)
(Let's just get married)
Wait, I'm on one knee...
(Let's just get married)
Can you believe this is happening?
So let's kiss the clock just for luck
(Let's just get married)
What timing; 11:11 just struck
I'm sleeping on the couch
She's married to a mattress
I think the hardest times are finally gonna pass us
Is the glass half-full?
So watch my eyes
Oh babe, I promise that I'll never let what happened last time
I'm sleeping on the couch
(Let's just get married)
She's married to a mattress
(Oh, baby, yeah, I'll marry you)
I think the hardest times are finally gonna pass us
Is the glass half-full?
(Let's just get married)
So watch my eyes
(Let's just get married)
Oh babe, I promise that I'll never let what happened last time
(Oh, baby) (x2)
Oh, baby, baby, let's get married
Let's just get married
Oh, baby, yeah, I'll marry you
Let's go to Seattle and watch rain fall on the ground
And on our tongues, "I love you's" run into each other
But could I really trust her?
She said, "Hey, baby, baby boy, why you always look so sad?"
"You've got the whole world in the palm of your hand."
But it don't mean a thing if you're not next to me
I'm so sick, so sick, of just always dreaming
I'm sleeping on the couch
She's married to a mattress
I think the hardest times are finally gonna pass us
Is the glass half-full?
So watch my eyes
Oh babe, I promise that I'll never let what happened last time (x2)
The rain is coming down like oh, cats and dogs
It's harder to see you through all of the fog
I know you're there so I'm not scared
Let's be crazy
How 'bout we just get married?
She said, "Hey, baby, baby boy, I loved you from the day that we met."
"Don't care what mom says, or if we're ready just yet."
Cause it don't mean a thing if you're not next to me
You're who I want to wake up to every morning
I'm sleeping on the couch
She's married to a mattress
I think the hardest times are finally gonna pass us
Is the glass half-full?
So watch my eyes
Oh babe, I promise that I'll never let what happened last time (x2)
(Let's just get married)
Wait, I'm on one knee...
(Let's just get married)
Can you believe this is happening?
So let's kiss the clock just for luck
(Let's just get married)
What timing; 11:11 just struck
I'm sleeping on the couch
She's married to a mattress
I think the hardest times are finally gonna pass us
Is the glass half-full?
So watch my eyes
Oh babe, I promise that I'll never let what happened last time
I'm sleeping on the couch
(Let's just get married)
She's married to a mattress
(Oh, baby, yeah, I'll marry you)
I think the hardest times are finally gonna pass us
Is the glass half-full?
(Let's just get married)
So watch my eyes
(Let's just get married)
Oh babe, I promise that I'll never let what happened last time
(Oh, baby) (x2)
Oh, baby, baby, let's get married
Let's just get married
Oh, baby, yeah, I'll marry you
Lyrics submitted by killstar
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
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.
Mountain Song
Jane's Addiction
Jane's Addiction
Jane's Addiction vocalist Perry Farrell gives Adam Reader some heartfelt insight into Jane’s Addiction's hard rock manifesto "Mountain Song", which was the second single from their revolutionary album Nothing's Shocking. Mountain song was first recorded in 1986 and appeared on the soundtrack to the film Dudes starring Jon Cryer. The version on Nothing's Shocking was re-recorded in 1988.
"'Mountain Song' was actually about... I hate to say it but... drugs. Climbing this mountain and getting as high as you can, and then coming down that mountain," reveals Farrell. "What it feels to descend from the mountain top... not easy at all. The ascension is tough but exhilarating. Getting down is... it's a real bummer. Drugs is not for everybody obviously. For me, I wanted to experience the heights, and the lows come along with it."
"There's a part - 'Cash in now honey, cash in Miss Smith.' Miss Smith is my Mother; our last name was Smith. Cashing in when she cashed in her life. So... she decided that, to her... at that time, she was desperate. Life wasn't worth it for her, that was her opinion. Some people think, never take your life, and some people find that their life isn't worth living. She was in love with my Dad, and my Dad was not faithful to her, and it broke her heart. She was very desperate and she did something that I know she regrets."
Punchline
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran sings about missing his former partner and learning important life lessons in the process on “Punchline.” This track tells a story of battling to get rid of emotions for a former lover, whom he now realized might not have loved him the same way. He’s now caught between accepting that fact and learning life lessons from it and going back to beg her for another chance.
Page
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
There aren’t many things that’ll hurt more than giving love a chance against your better judgement only to have your heart crushed yet again. Ed Sheeran tells such a story on “Page.” On this track, he is devastated to have lost his lover and even more saddened by the feeling that he may never move on from this.
i love this song! it's great. catchy chorus
my boyfriend is on a trip right now. a week trip with no communication with me at all. i heard this song and it put a big smile on my face cuz we are ALWAYS talking about getting married. it put an even bigger smile on my face when i heard the guy say "what time is it? 11:11 just struck" cuz me and my boyfriend always watch the time at night to make a wish at 11:11
anyways....
this song is soo self explanitory. they want to get married asap. the girl doesnt care what her mom thinks. they are going through some hard times right now cuz they want to be together all the time and they know it will soon pass once they just get married.
:]]]
i love this song! soco/jm fan?
their little catchphrase is "this is a story..."
11:11?
pretty coincidental man.
anyways, the meaning really is self-explanatory. marriage. such a cute little tune!
error: Let's go to Seattle, watch me fall on the ground!
correction: Let's go to Seattle, watch rain on the ground.
other than that. this song is my favorite. it has been for a long time.
ahh i dont know hwo to delete comments but i meant to type
"Lets go to Seattle watch, watch rain FALL on the ground."
x3 let's go to seattle, watch rain fall TO the ground.
i love this song. it almost makes me think of a long distance relationship- "it don't mean a thing if you're not here with me, you're who i want to wake up to every morning?" and "i'm sleeping on the couch, she's married to a mattress"- you can almost see it movie style, split screen, both of em doing the 'laying in bed daydreaming of eachother' type thing ya know? idk. i just love the song.
this is an awesome song Archie Star is a star.
I think the marriage part can be taken metaphorically or literal. I think them being together is irrational in any sense, but he doesn't care, so he's saying "lets just get married!". as in.. lets just go for it all, forget what everyone else thinks, forget what we SHOULD do. or, yeah, it could be taken straight out and literal.
Archie Star is Pat D'Andrea, the singer from the band October Fall. Its funny, I think I might like pat better as archie than in Oc fall. But s'all good either way.
As long as he keeps up both.
-N
Archie Star is Pat D'Andrea, the singer from the band October Fall. Its funny, I think I might like pat better as archie than in Oc fall. But s'all good either way.
As long as he keeps up both.
-N