"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.
The lions roar
And young men soar
The flames all scorch
The circus floor
Puppets on strings
All dance and sing
And flap their wings
Trumpets play sick lullabies
Delicate dame
Her fragile face
Was scared away
Without a trace
Out in the cold
Where did she go?
Into unknown
A place I'll never know
And the desperate search began
All across this sea and land
I just knew I'd find you here
I just knew I found you
Elephant's rear
And young men steer
The audience
Just claps and cheers
I asked around
Half-empty towns
About a girl
Nowhere to be found
And the desperate search began
All across this sea and land
I just knew I'd find you here
I just knew I found you
We didn't know
We could not go
The circus songs
Just carried on
Out of the crowd
Three men rush out
And scream and shout
"Everybody stop!"
And young men soar
The flames all scorch
The circus floor
Puppets on strings
All dance and sing
And flap their wings
Trumpets play sick lullabies
Delicate dame
Her fragile face
Was scared away
Without a trace
Out in the cold
Where did she go?
Into unknown
A place I'll never know
And the desperate search began
All across this sea and land
I just knew I'd find you here
I just knew I found you
Elephant's rear
And young men steer
The audience
Just claps and cheers
I asked around
Half-empty towns
About a girl
Nowhere to be found
And the desperate search began
All across this sea and land
I just knew I'd find you here
I just knew I found you
We didn't know
We could not go
The circus songs
Just carried on
Out of the crowd
Three men rush out
And scream and shout
"Everybody stop!"
Lyrics submitted by kasandra
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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”
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.
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.
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.
Ok I always thought it was about a girl who ran away and joined the circus and then the singer is going to go find her. He is about to find her but then the circus catches on fire and she disappears again. I dont know, thats just my idea.