"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.
We in the car
We ride slow
We doin' things that the girls don't do
The boys stare
We smile back
All my girls in the rainbow Cadillacs, yeah
Show stoppin' at the latest bar
The ride shinin' with the open top
Hydraulics make our heads go nod
Hair blowin' in the breeze
Yo, we superstars
Put in the keys
Make that engine purr
Three in the back, one in the passenger
Slow creepin' 'cause we look that fly
All the boys tryin' taste our candy ride
We in the car
We ride slow
We doin' things that the girls don't do
The boys stare
We smile back
All my girls in the rainbow Cadillacs, yeah
[Bridge]
Bet you ain't never seen
Chicks ridin' this clean
Louis Vuitton seats
We do it deadly
This how we keep it poppin'
Make sure that bass knockin'
So when you see us ridin'
We call it show stoppin'
[Chorus]
We show stoppin'
We show, show stoppin'
We show stoppin'
We show, show stoppin'
That's how we keep it poppin'
Make sure that bass knockin'
So when you see us ridin'
We call it show stoppin'
We sittin' on twenty-twos plus two
Mink bucket seats, neon blue
Color coordinate with them shoes
Yeah, we divas
But we ride like big boys do
Black tinted with a white stripe interstate
Lookin' in the mirror at my Bad Boy fitted, yup
Show stoppin' till they lose their breath
Turn the wheel to the right
Turn the wheel to the left
We in the car
We ride slow
We doin' things that the girls don't do
The boys stare
We smile back
All my girls in the rainbow Cadillacs, yeah
[Bridge]
[Chorus]
This is for my ladies in the 280s Mercedes
In the H3, baby Ranges, Bentley Coupes, my Escalades
Say oh, oh
Break 'em off somethin' proper
Like a real show stopper
This is for my chicas with the Beamers A6s
67 Chevy's, Maserati, or a Lexus
Say oh, oh
Break 'em off somethin' proper
Like a real show stopper
[Bridge]
[Chorus]
Tonight we goin' swervin'
Bustin' slides, hittin' curbs
And ghost ridin' on the whips
Hit tonight
That's what it's gonna be about
Watch my trunk go bouncy bounce
Girls gon' ridin'
I know you see a wifey
But peep my ride go hyphy
We ride slow
We doin' things that the girls don't do
The boys stare
We smile back
All my girls in the rainbow Cadillacs, yeah
Show stoppin' at the latest bar
The ride shinin' with the open top
Hydraulics make our heads go nod
Hair blowin' in the breeze
Yo, we superstars
Put in the keys
Make that engine purr
Three in the back, one in the passenger
Slow creepin' 'cause we look that fly
All the boys tryin' taste our candy ride
We in the car
We ride slow
We doin' things that the girls don't do
The boys stare
We smile back
All my girls in the rainbow Cadillacs, yeah
[Bridge]
Bet you ain't never seen
Chicks ridin' this clean
Louis Vuitton seats
We do it deadly
This how we keep it poppin'
Make sure that bass knockin'
So when you see us ridin'
We call it show stoppin'
[Chorus]
We show stoppin'
We show, show stoppin'
We show stoppin'
We show, show stoppin'
That's how we keep it poppin'
Make sure that bass knockin'
So when you see us ridin'
We call it show stoppin'
We sittin' on twenty-twos plus two
Mink bucket seats, neon blue
Color coordinate with them shoes
Yeah, we divas
But we ride like big boys do
Black tinted with a white stripe interstate
Lookin' in the mirror at my Bad Boy fitted, yup
Show stoppin' till they lose their breath
Turn the wheel to the right
Turn the wheel to the left
We in the car
We ride slow
We doin' things that the girls don't do
The boys stare
We smile back
All my girls in the rainbow Cadillacs, yeah
[Bridge]
[Chorus]
This is for my ladies in the 280s Mercedes
In the H3, baby Ranges, Bentley Coupes, my Escalades
Say oh, oh
Break 'em off somethin' proper
Like a real show stopper
This is for my chicas with the Beamers A6s
67 Chevy's, Maserati, or a Lexus
Say oh, oh
Break 'em off somethin' proper
Like a real show stopper
[Bridge]
[Chorus]
Tonight we goin' swervin'
Bustin' slides, hittin' curbs
And ghost ridin' on the whips
Hit tonight
That's what it's gonna be about
Watch my trunk go bouncy bounce
Girls gon' ridin'
I know you see a wifey
But peep my ride go hyphy
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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”
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.
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.
Ditto, sort of. All these songs are stupid. There's no meaning behind the lyrics. They fuck up the English language even more, then make the entire population stupid, and STD-prone.