"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.
This town was built on muddy stilts
By the lunatic parade
Well, it rains like Revelations
Gonna wash these freaks away
Some girls wanna hold your hand
And some girls like to pray
My girl takes her drinks
With dusty-rusted razor blades
As I lay between these covers
I wanna tell her that I love it
When she chokes me in the
Backseat of her riverboat 'cause
She's my man
And we got all the balls we need
When you taste that pavement
You're amazed
She smells your sympathy
So bye bye ladies
May the best queen hold the crown
For the most bush sold on the levee
My my, how word gets around
She strangles for a good time
And she kills my self-control
She's my man, don't be too sad sonny
'Cause she'll never be your woman no more, hey
Someday soon, this dank lagoon's
Gonna sink right into hell
They'll hide you from Big Ida
At the Sho' Enough Hotel
The Ladies of the evening's just
A tombstone in your bed
Well my girl eats a wounded preacher
'Tween two loaves of bread
I know she's up to something
But how can I run when she's just
Keel-hauled twenty-one to nothing
I'll stay next to the steel coal oven 'cause
She's my man
And we got all the balls we need
When you taste that pavement
You're amazed
She smells your sympathy
So bye bye ladies
May the best queen hold the crown
For the most bush sold on the levee
My my, how word gets around
She strangles for a good time
And she kills my self-control
She's my man, don't be too sad sonny
'Cause she'll never be your woman no more, hey
All you need's just a fist of a tear-stained bunny
When the good ship comes to town
Who said loves a bitch'll sit next to me honey
'Cause this old boat's gonna run aground
'Cause I don't want to be the burden
Or your jealous bastard
I don't wanna be the Tarzan of your next epic disaster
She's my man
And we got all the balls we need
When you taste that pavement
You're amazed
She smells your sympathy
So bye bye ladies
May the best queen hold the crown
For the most bush sold on the levee
My my, how word gets around
She strangles for a good time
And she kills my self-control
She's my man, don't be too sad sonny
'Cause she'll never be your woman no more, hey
She's my man, can't you feel her comin'?
She's my man, she's gonna keep you runnin'
She's my man, she's gonna teach you something
She's my, she's my man
She's my man, can't you feel her comin'?
She's my man, she's gonna keep you runnin'
She's my man, she's gonna teach you something
She's my, she's my man
She's my man, can't you feel her comin'?
She's my man, she's gonna keep you runnin'
She's my man, she's gonna teach you something
She's my, she's my man
By the lunatic parade
Well, it rains like Revelations
Gonna wash these freaks away
Some girls wanna hold your hand
And some girls like to pray
My girl takes her drinks
With dusty-rusted razor blades
As I lay between these covers
I wanna tell her that I love it
When she chokes me in the
Backseat of her riverboat 'cause
She's my man
And we got all the balls we need
When you taste that pavement
You're amazed
She smells your sympathy
So bye bye ladies
May the best queen hold the crown
For the most bush sold on the levee
My my, how word gets around
She strangles for a good time
And she kills my self-control
She's my man, don't be too sad sonny
'Cause she'll never be your woman no more, hey
Someday soon, this dank lagoon's
Gonna sink right into hell
They'll hide you from Big Ida
At the Sho' Enough Hotel
The Ladies of the evening's just
A tombstone in your bed
Well my girl eats a wounded preacher
'Tween two loaves of bread
I know she's up to something
But how can I run when she's just
Keel-hauled twenty-one to nothing
I'll stay next to the steel coal oven 'cause
She's my man
And we got all the balls we need
When you taste that pavement
You're amazed
She smells your sympathy
So bye bye ladies
May the best queen hold the crown
For the most bush sold on the levee
My my, how word gets around
She strangles for a good time
And she kills my self-control
She's my man, don't be too sad sonny
'Cause she'll never be your woman no more, hey
All you need's just a fist of a tear-stained bunny
When the good ship comes to town
Who said loves a bitch'll sit next to me honey
'Cause this old boat's gonna run aground
'Cause I don't want to be the burden
Or your jealous bastard
I don't wanna be the Tarzan of your next epic disaster
She's my man
And we got all the balls we need
When you taste that pavement
You're amazed
She smells your sympathy
So bye bye ladies
May the best queen hold the crown
For the most bush sold on the levee
My my, how word gets around
She strangles for a good time
And she kills my self-control
She's my man, don't be too sad sonny
'Cause she'll never be your woman no more, hey
She's my man, can't you feel her comin'?
She's my man, she's gonna keep you runnin'
She's my man, she's gonna teach you something
She's my, she's my man
She's my man, can't you feel her comin'?
She's my man, she's gonna keep you runnin'
She's my man, she's gonna teach you something
She's my, she's my man
She's my man, can't you feel her comin'?
She's my man, she's gonna keep you runnin'
She's my man, she's gonna teach you something
She's my, she's my man
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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.
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,
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.
I should point out that the song needn't be referring to two men in its sexual connotations. When I hear it, I hear it more as a heterosexual Dom/Sub relationship, with possible traces of good ol' Sadomasochism, with the singer being the Sub.
As I lie between these covers I wanna tell her that I love it When she chokes me in the Backseat of her riverboat
She has the power (the balls, if you will) in the relationship, and would be the Top in any sex act.
I guess my analysis could refer to a homosexual relationship as well, but I picture the one he's talking about being a Dom woman.
dedicated to a butch? i LOVE this song. classic scissos sisters.
library.thinkquest.org/J001779/anniec.htm
I checked out the Annie Christmas item. It appears to be correct. They even teach Annie Christmas to third graders as a metaphor for strength.
So the song appears to be about liking a very butch woman who's so butch she's like Annie Christmas. Annie Christmas had a mustache. And she used to drive a boat in New Orleans. she was so strong she lifted bails of hail and Mike Fink came up to her and told her she shouldn't be working bailing hay but instead at home sewing like a woman should. She Threw the bail of hay in the river and it caused a tital wave 150 ft ft high and carried Mike Fink all the way to Nantuckett. In other words, this is a hard job but Annie was the best at it, better than any man so f*ck off.
i love this song it is so jake shears... i like this cd alot more than the first
I would really like to know what this song is about. And what has it got to do with the video clip?
This has got to be my favorite song on the album! It just never gets old no matter how much I listen to it. I love how the vocals sound, especially at the beginning of the verses. I think the title says it all....
My friend made me listen to this, and I love it! Usually she has horrible taste. Not this time!
Video is bitchin'
This song is actually about a cross-dressing pirate named Annie Christmas, she was a murderer in New Orleans
No one was thinking... a relationship with a transgender person?
Umm... I think this song is sortuv a tribute to New Orleans, LA. "..most bush sold on the levee..." and "...muddy stilts..." It seems its a reference to the party lifestyle of the city. Perhaps even Southern Decadence (look it up if you don't know).