"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.
Man, you're really one heck of a guy
Best friend since junior high
You showed me Playboy for the very first time
That was rad
We saw Bon Jovi, we sat in the front row
I pierced your ear right before the show
We stole your brother's beer
And he didn't know
Your new girlfriend is a son of a gun
Did you fall in love
Or did you just wanna get some?
That girl is crazy, she's a loco-motion
I know you know she used to be my girl
You better run for cover
'Cause she's ticking like a time bomb
And did I mention that you both suck.com
Now you're stuck with her
Like Mellencamp is stuck with Cougar
I guess that makes me the luckiest loser
I met her at a kegger, passed out in the yard
Getting in her pants wasn't really that hard
6 months later, she crashed my car
That was rad
She's got a glow from her spray on tan
Marilyn Manson is her favorite band
I really think she might worship Satan
Not a band
Your new boyfriend is a son of a gun
Did you fall in love
Or did you just wanna get some?
That girl is crazy, she's a loco-motion
I know you know she used to be my girl
You better run for cover
'Cause she's ticking like a time bomb
And did I mention that you both suck.com?
Now she's stuck with you
Like a frat guy with a bad tattoo
Like Celebrity Golf with Alice Cooper
Guess that makes me the luckiest loser
Mel Gibson, Danny Glover
You deserve each other
A 'Lethal Weapon' when you take her home
To meet your mother
She was a superstar
Back seat of my car
Those days are over
Now life goes on, yeah
Your new girlfriend is a son of a gun
Did you fall in love
Or did you just wanna get some?
That girl is crazy, she's a loco-motion
I know you know she used to be my girl
You better run for cover
'Cause she's ticking like a time bomb
And did I mention that you both suck.com?
Now your stuck with her
Like Mellencamp is stuck with Cougar
Like number two on a pooper scooper
I guess that makes me the luckiest loser
(That girl is crazy, she's a loco-motion)
Luckiest loser
(I know you know she used to be my girl)
Luckiest loser
(You better run for cover)
Luckiest loser
('Cause she's ticking like a time bomb)
(And did I mention that you both suck?)
Best friend since junior high
You showed me Playboy for the very first time
That was rad
We saw Bon Jovi, we sat in the front row
I pierced your ear right before the show
We stole your brother's beer
And he didn't know
Your new girlfriend is a son of a gun
Did you fall in love
Or did you just wanna get some?
That girl is crazy, she's a loco-motion
I know you know she used to be my girl
You better run for cover
'Cause she's ticking like a time bomb
And did I mention that you both suck.com
Now you're stuck with her
Like Mellencamp is stuck with Cougar
I guess that makes me the luckiest loser
I met her at a kegger, passed out in the yard
Getting in her pants wasn't really that hard
6 months later, she crashed my car
That was rad
She's got a glow from her spray on tan
Marilyn Manson is her favorite band
I really think she might worship Satan
Not a band
Your new boyfriend is a son of a gun
Did you fall in love
Or did you just wanna get some?
That girl is crazy, she's a loco-motion
I know you know she used to be my girl
You better run for cover
'Cause she's ticking like a time bomb
And did I mention that you both suck.com?
Now she's stuck with you
Like a frat guy with a bad tattoo
Like Celebrity Golf with Alice Cooper
Guess that makes me the luckiest loser
Mel Gibson, Danny Glover
You deserve each other
A 'Lethal Weapon' when you take her home
To meet your mother
She was a superstar
Back seat of my car
Those days are over
Now life goes on, yeah
Your new girlfriend is a son of a gun
Did you fall in love
Or did you just wanna get some?
That girl is crazy, she's a loco-motion
I know you know she used to be my girl
You better run for cover
'Cause she's ticking like a time bomb
And did I mention that you both suck.com?
Now your stuck with her
Like Mellencamp is stuck with Cougar
Like number two on a pooper scooper
I guess that makes me the luckiest loser
(That girl is crazy, she's a loco-motion)
Luckiest loser
(I know you know she used to be my girl)
Luckiest loser
(You better run for cover)
Luckiest loser
('Cause she's ticking like a time bomb)
(And did I mention that you both suck?)
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More Featured Meanings
Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman
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.
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.
Plastic Bag
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
“Plastic Bag” is a song about searching for an escape from personal problems and hoping to find it in the lively atmosphere of a Saturday night party. Ed Sheeran tells the story of his friend and the myriad of troubles he is going through. Unable to find any solutions, this friend seeks a last resort in a party and the vanity that comes with it.
“I overthink and have trouble sleepin’ / All purpose gone and don’t have a reason / And there’s no doctor to stop this bleedin’ / So I left home and jumped in the deep end,” Ed Sheeran sings in verse one. He continues by adding that this person is feeling the weight of having disappointed his father and doesn’t have any friends to rely on in this difficult moment. In the second verse, Ed sings about the role of grief in his friend’s plight and his dwindling faith in prayer. “Saturday night is givin’ me a reason to rely on the strobe lights / The lifeline of a promise in a shot glass, and I’ll take that / If you’re givin’ out love from a plastic bag,” Ed sings on the chorus, as his friend turns to new vices in hopes of feeling better.
I love this song, its quite typical BFS. But the last line of the second verse "not a band" is actually "not a fan" it says so on their website. Just thought i'd mention it.
yep changed it, I am a bit deaf sometimes heh
youbothsuck.com is a real website haha.
haha i didnt know it was real so i went there. erm..interesting pic on that site
I think it's meant to be
Mel Gibson, Danny Glover you deserve each other A leathal weapon when you take her home to