"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.
Early morn, train station, aching from the arthritis
This war veteran knows what a hard time is
He needs his pension, dementia and half blind is
The reason he rides the train with no car license
So he boards with an expired ticket has a swipe
Gets a fine cos the change he got don't add up right
We're taking about a man who never lived a lavish life
Caught up in the age of computer chips and satellites
A lovely lady boards looking tired and half awake
He smiles, she's reminds him of his wife that past away
She says something as she walks right past his way
His old hearing aid don't last quite half the day
Some young gentlemen alive with their laughter
Approach the old timer and put a knife to his heart to
Explain that money or bloods the price of their barter
To a man whose friends probably died for their fathers
[Chorus:]
Whatever it takes can justify
Whatever ends we make, whatever the price
To the end of a life, it?s just an observation
So take a ride we?re stopping all stations
It's been a long night the suns lifting on a cold
Morning but she's drugged and drunk tripping on her stroll
On the way home, she's done with stripping on a pole
But she can't pay for her son living on the dole
Jumps a train puts on her gloves she's wearing black
Being watched by some old mug she's glaring back
She's on edge and got the bug from sharing smack
So she says, Hey, what the fuck you staring at??
He smiles, an unsteady hand rubs on his dome
She takes a seat, a messy band of ruffs board alone
To the digger with a machete at his lungs and he's prone
He can barely stand but ready to stand up for his own
She tries to help him she doesn't choose to flee the car
And catches a blow with enough bruise to leave a scar
She starts fainting, the rooms moving and seeing stars
Ain't it amazing how courageous human beings are?
[Chorus:]
He knows nothing but toil, strife and hard yakka
Pissed at the world for playing wife in a slammer
This man was never given a life on a damn platter
So he jumps a train with knife and bandanna
Boys at his back, sleazy, hardened and far
From giving a fuck, an easy target his mark
He sees an old man and says "See we'll part with your hard
Earned cash or rest in peace we can start with your heart"
Some girl steps not afraid she's gonna cop it sweet
And gets decked before she made it even on her feet
The old man leaped to her aid and to his horror he'd
Thrusted his chest into the blade of his robbers piece
He grabbed the wallet, dropped the knife as he fled the car
Concerned about the loss of life he'd never went this far
What's done is done, he'd got the prize and he'd spent his half
Of two dollars in change and a pension card
[Chorus:]
This war veteran knows what a hard time is
He needs his pension, dementia and half blind is
The reason he rides the train with no car license
So he boards with an expired ticket has a swipe
Gets a fine cos the change he got don't add up right
We're taking about a man who never lived a lavish life
Caught up in the age of computer chips and satellites
A lovely lady boards looking tired and half awake
He smiles, she's reminds him of his wife that past away
She says something as she walks right past his way
His old hearing aid don't last quite half the day
Some young gentlemen alive with their laughter
Approach the old timer and put a knife to his heart to
Explain that money or bloods the price of their barter
To a man whose friends probably died for their fathers
[Chorus:]
Whatever it takes can justify
Whatever ends we make, whatever the price
To the end of a life, it?s just an observation
So take a ride we?re stopping all stations
It's been a long night the suns lifting on a cold
Morning but she's drugged and drunk tripping on her stroll
On the way home, she's done with stripping on a pole
But she can't pay for her son living on the dole
Jumps a train puts on her gloves she's wearing black
Being watched by some old mug she's glaring back
She's on edge and got the bug from sharing smack
So she says, Hey, what the fuck you staring at??
He smiles, an unsteady hand rubs on his dome
She takes a seat, a messy band of ruffs board alone
To the digger with a machete at his lungs and he's prone
He can barely stand but ready to stand up for his own
She tries to help him she doesn't choose to flee the car
And catches a blow with enough bruise to leave a scar
She starts fainting, the rooms moving and seeing stars
Ain't it amazing how courageous human beings are?
[Chorus:]
He knows nothing but toil, strife and hard yakka
Pissed at the world for playing wife in a slammer
This man was never given a life on a damn platter
So he jumps a train with knife and bandanna
Boys at his back, sleazy, hardened and far
From giving a fuck, an easy target his mark
He sees an old man and says "See we'll part with your hard
Earned cash or rest in peace we can start with your heart"
Some girl steps not afraid she's gonna cop it sweet
And gets decked before she made it even on her feet
The old man leaped to her aid and to his horror he'd
Thrusted his chest into the blade of his robbers piece
He grabbed the wallet, dropped the knife as he fled the car
Concerned about the loss of life he'd never went this far
What's done is done, he'd got the prize and he'd spent his half
Of two dollars in change and a pension card
[Chorus:]
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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.
Gentle Hour
Yo La Tengo
Yo La Tengo
This song was originally written by a guy called Peter Gutteridge. He was one of the founders of the "Dunedin Sound" a musical scene in the south of New Zealand in the early 80s. From there it was covered by "The Clean" one of the early bands of that scene (he had originally been a member of in it's early days, writing a couple of their best early songs). The Dunedin sound, and the Clean became popular on american college radio in the mid to late 80s. I guess Yo La Tengo heard that version.
Great version of a great song,
Blue
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
“Blue” is a song about a love that is persisting in the discomfort of the person experiencing the emotion. Ed Sheeran reflects on love lost, and although he wishes his former partner find happiness, he cannot but admit his feelings are still very much there. He expresses the realization that he might never find another on this stringed instrumental by Aaron Dessner.
possibly the best song lyrically on this album. I just love the way its told from different perspectives. great song..great album
Yeah this is definately a lyrical masterpiece... Such a sad story told from the 3 different people of how the old man gets stabbed in the end.. all for 2 dollars and and a pension card....
Also love it at the start how its got the Adelaide train station voice... Representing Adelaide!
one of the most original and fresh lyrics i have heard for the last 5 years from any artist, these guys just keep getting better and better who knows where they can go from this, I know i will be there when the next album is released.
I'm a relatively new fan to Hilltop Hoods, having only recently set the dial to Triple J. But now "Stopping All Stations" is my favourite song. Can't get enough of it. I love the entire meaning of the song. Really sad though. Should have done better on the Top 100 that 54 (or something). Scary how accurately it portrays life like that though.
I LOVE HILLTOP!! hahaha fuckin geniuses!
the words are brilliant! i did a year 11 school text analyst on the lyrics, i did it in the same way a poem is analyzed brilliant, the 3 ways the story is told. keep it up
love it at the begininning "the next train to adelaide ill depart from platform 1, stopping all stations" YEAH radelaide represent!!
hoods r fucking grand :D got such a way with words
I think that what the writers meant to portray with this song was the relations between different generations in our society today and also the difference between living today and 50 years ago. All of these people seem to have tough lives but the different people's way of handling their problems are very different. Even if we seem tot hink we are smarter and things today, in reality we are going back to our "default settings" more and more, accepting al sorts of things and our society. People are ruder and care less about their people around them when they want to make themselves feel better, totally walking over everyone else, in the end finding themselves with only gaining 2 dollars and a pension card.
The old man might actually represent ourselves and the rest of the story our fear for the future. We are scared to be blind and deaf to what is waiting for us, not being able to tell what is approaching us until it is too alte and we are stuck in the chest by a person who doesnt care about us.