"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.
[Louis Farrakhan talking]
"Brothers and sisters...friends....and I see some enemies.
[Laughter and then applause]
In fact I think we'd be fooling our self's if we had a audience
this large and didn't realize that there were some enemies present."
[Verse One]
I'm a weapon that fires
Lyrical projectiles with no mercy
I'm cold blooded like reptiles
Touch a pregnant bitch and make her give birth to a dead child
Every time I flex styles
Niggas vacate the premises and become exiles
I manufacture rhymes like textiles of x-files
And lighten juveniles
Living life with no purpose
Organize a army that will make the devils nervous
Competition is worthless
Like the electoral vote
If you provoke I'll break your motherfucking neck in a yoke
Your better off throwing your shitty life away sniffing coke
Technique will choke you into a spiritual state
And it will take a lake of hydrochloric acid to soften this
I'll fake your parents suicide and kill you in the orphanage
But I inspire ideological metamorphosis
Stop talking shit or I'll make your existence a memory
So you can have me frozen cryogenically for centuries
But I'll break the ice if anyone on the planet mentions me
I'll burn a hypocritical flag intentionally
Explosive revolutionary
Chemistry's my destiny
[Chorus: 2x]
No mercy is what I chemically bomb on enemies
Your life's a fucking mistake, Technique is the remedy
Destroy you before you become what you intended to be
And in the future you'll worship those that descended from me
[Verse Two]
When I fight you I won't snipe you
I'll use a HIV infected needle to strike you
As well as anyone that vaguely resembles or looks like you
And just to spite you I'll force your children
At gun point to bite you
And rip a piece off
To start the beef off of the rest of your petty limited life
I'm coming at cha to catch ya by surprising the sight
Nobodies stupid enough to back ya when tactically attack ya
Because my style is nasty like protruding bone fractures
And you're a played out dirty pussy devil
Like Margaret Thatcher
But technique never get captured inside the rapture
Cause I mastered the art of causing natural disasters
You should learn the difference
In between the students and the master
My stature is the dispatcher of damaging decibels
And even though my starving people are considered expendable
I consecutively escape the racist court puritanical
I spit raw kinetic energy that's immeasurable
Retaliation for perpetration is unendable
Mercy is not extendible
I'll break your fucking brain down into psychological chemicals
[Chorus: 2x]
"Brothers and sisters...friends....and I see some enemies.
[Laughter and then applause]
In fact I think we'd be fooling our self's if we had a audience
this large and didn't realize that there were some enemies present."
[Verse One]
I'm a weapon that fires
Lyrical projectiles with no mercy
I'm cold blooded like reptiles
Touch a pregnant bitch and make her give birth to a dead child
Every time I flex styles
Niggas vacate the premises and become exiles
I manufacture rhymes like textiles of x-files
And lighten juveniles
Living life with no purpose
Organize a army that will make the devils nervous
Competition is worthless
Like the electoral vote
If you provoke I'll break your motherfucking neck in a yoke
Your better off throwing your shitty life away sniffing coke
Technique will choke you into a spiritual state
And it will take a lake of hydrochloric acid to soften this
I'll fake your parents suicide and kill you in the orphanage
But I inspire ideological metamorphosis
Stop talking shit or I'll make your existence a memory
So you can have me frozen cryogenically for centuries
But I'll break the ice if anyone on the planet mentions me
I'll burn a hypocritical flag intentionally
Explosive revolutionary
Chemistry's my destiny
[Chorus: 2x]
No mercy is what I chemically bomb on enemies
Your life's a fucking mistake, Technique is the remedy
Destroy you before you become what you intended to be
And in the future you'll worship those that descended from me
[Verse Two]
When I fight you I won't snipe you
I'll use a HIV infected needle to strike you
As well as anyone that vaguely resembles or looks like you
And just to spite you I'll force your children
At gun point to bite you
And rip a piece off
To start the beef off of the rest of your petty limited life
I'm coming at cha to catch ya by surprising the sight
Nobodies stupid enough to back ya when tactically attack ya
Because my style is nasty like protruding bone fractures
And you're a played out dirty pussy devil
Like Margaret Thatcher
But technique never get captured inside the rapture
Cause I mastered the art of causing natural disasters
You should learn the difference
In between the students and the master
My stature is the dispatcher of damaging decibels
And even though my starving people are considered expendable
I consecutively escape the racist court puritanical
I spit raw kinetic energy that's immeasurable
Retaliation for perpetration is unendable
Mercy is not extendible
I'll break your fucking brain down into psychological chemicals
[Chorus: 2x]
Lyrics submitted by speeed, edited by fieldtoosh
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More Featured Meanings
Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman
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,
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.
Just A Little Lovin'
Dusty Springfield
Dusty Springfield
I don't think it's necessarily about sex. It's about wanting to start the day with some love and affection. Maybe a warm cuddle. I'm not alone in interpreting it that way! For example:
"'Just a Little Lovin’ is a timeless country song originally recorded by Eddy Arnold in 1954. The song, written by Eddie Miller and Jimmy Campbell, explores the delicate nuances of love and showcases Arnold’s emotive vocals. It delves into the universal theme of love and how even the smallest gesture of affection can have a profound impact on our lives." https://oldtimemusic.com/the-meaning-behind-the-song-just-a-little-lovin-by-eddy-arnold/
It's Margaret Thatcher, not Datcher. Former UK Prime Minister and horrible, horrible human being.