"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.
Love is like an aeroplane
Jump and then you pray
Lucky ones remain
In the clouds for days
Life is just a stage
Let's put on the best show
And let everyone know
'Cause if I have to die tonight
I'd rather be with you
Cut the parachute before you die
Baby don't you cry
You had to bring me down
We had some fun before we hit the ground
Love is like a hurricane
You know it's on the way
You think you can be brave
Underneath the waves
Life is just a dream
Which of us is dreaming?
And who will wake up screaming?
'Cause if I have to die tonight
I'd rather be with you
Cut the parachute before you die
Baby don't you cry
You had to bring me down
We had some fun before we hit the ground
'Cause if I have to die tonight
I'd rather be with you
Cut the parachute before you die
Baby don't you cry
You had to bring me down
We had some fun before we hit the ground
'Cause if I have to die tonight
I'd rather be with you
Cut the parachute before you die
Baby don't you cry
You had to bring me down
We had some fun before we hit the ground
Jump and then you pray
Lucky ones remain
In the clouds for days
Life is just a stage
Let's put on the best show
And let everyone know
'Cause if I have to die tonight
I'd rather be with you
Cut the parachute before you die
Baby don't you cry
You had to bring me down
We had some fun before we hit the ground
Love is like a hurricane
You know it's on the way
You think you can be brave
Underneath the waves
Life is just a dream
Which of us is dreaming?
And who will wake up screaming?
'Cause if I have to die tonight
I'd rather be with you
Cut the parachute before you die
Baby don't you cry
You had to bring me down
We had some fun before we hit the ground
'Cause if I have to die tonight
I'd rather be with you
Cut the parachute before you die
Baby don't you cry
You had to bring me down
We had some fun before we hit the ground
'Cause if I have to die tonight
I'd rather be with you
Cut the parachute before you die
Baby don't you cry
You had to bring me down
We had some fun before we hit the ground
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
The Night We Met
Lord Huron
Lord Huron
This is a hauntingly beautiful song about introspection, specifically about looking back at a relationship that started bad and ended so poorly, that the narrator wants to go back to the very beginning and tell himself to not even travel down that road. I believe that the relationship started poorly because of the lines:
"Take me back to the night we met:When the night was full of terrors: And your eyes were filled with tears: When you had not touched me yet"
So, the first night was not a great start, but the narrator pursued the relationship and eventually both overcame the rough start to fall in love with each other:
"I had all and then most of you"
Like many relationships that turn sour, it was not a quick decline, but a gradual one where the narrator and their partner fall out of love and gradually grow apart
"Some and now none of you"
Losing someone who was once everything in your world, who you could confide in, tell your secrets to, share all the most intimate parts of your life, to being strangers with that person is probably one of the most painful experiences a person can go through. So Painful, the narrator wants to go back in time and tell himself to not even pursue the relationship.
This was the perfect song for "13 Reasons Why"
Holiday
Bee Gees
Bee Gees
@[Diderik:33655] "Your a holiday!" Was a popular term used in the 50s/60s to compliment someone on their all around. For example, not only are they beautiful, but they are fun and kind too ... just an all around "holiday".
I think your first comment is closer to being accurate. The singer/song writers state "Millions of eyes can see, yet why am i so blind!? When the someone else is me, its unkind its unkind". I believe hes referring to the girl toying with him and using him. He wants something deeper with her, thats why he allows himself to be as a puppet (even though for her fun and games) as long as it makes her happy. But he knows deep down that she doesnt really want to be serious with him and thats what makes him.
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.
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.
it's basically about the RISK YOU TAKE when you fall in love* a metaphore of jumping into taking a risk when you allow yourself to fall in love.... just enjoy the journey while it lasts :) nothing is permanent and it may end one day...but it's the journey that makes life worth living.
x x x x x
The last time the chorus repeats, aren't the lyrics actually "'Cause if I have to die tonight I'd rather it was you" ? I think this song is about being with someone, but liking someone else, and having a love/hate relationship with that person. "I'd rather be with you" implies being with a certain person in place of another, and "I'd rather it was you" implies that he wants that person to die (hence the love/hate relationship). And, of course, it's all about the risk. "The lucky ones remain in the clouds for days"
alkdsnasda AMAZING. he's obviously talking about love is and how IN LOVE he is.
i agree that it's about the risk you take when you fall in love. and it's about a guy who well in love with a girl and the relationship ended but he still cares so much about her.
"'Cause if I have to die tonight I'd rather be with you Cut the parachute before the dive Baby don't you cry You have to bring me down We had some fun before we hit the ground"
describes how he feels about her. even thought it's over he'd still be there for her. even though it ended he can still say "well, at least we had some fun before it's done"