"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.
Oh, well lesson dance
And shoot to God
A storm-suffered owl
You're not invisible inside your car
No matter what stupid sort of mission you're on
Well, you're not invisible inside your car
I go absolutely mental
Good ramblin' George
Well, you're not invisible inside your car
No matter, you could breathe it like your flies in a jar
Yeah, you're not invisible
I like the sailing, teeming
Well, it's true that the moon could pull it back and far away from me
I should just let it be
Well, it's true that the moon could pull it back and far away from me
(And it's sad)
Oh, we had to have some kind
Room shaped like a charm
Well, you weren't invisible
Not all along
No matter how many eagles came in the door
We were not invisible
I knew that
I like the sailing, teeming
Well, it's true that the moon could pull it back and far away from me
And there's the orphan sea
We were never invisible, but that I guess we did not see
Of course this all had been laid down
Way before we lay down for it all
Before we had a course, of course
Of course this all had been laid down
Of course we lay down
Of course we lay down
Of course we lay down
Of course we lay down
Of course we lay down
Of course we lay down
I like the sailing, teeming
Well, it's true that the moon could pull it back and far away from me
I like the orphan sea
Well, we were never invisible, but that I guess we could not see
We'll get crushed by the ocean
But it will not get us wet
Crushed by the ocean
But it will not get us wet
Crushed by the ocean
But it will not get us wet
Crushed by the ocean
But it will not get us wet
And shoot to God
A storm-suffered owl
You're not invisible inside your car
No matter what stupid sort of mission you're on
Well, you're not invisible inside your car
I go absolutely mental
Good ramblin' George
Well, you're not invisible inside your car
No matter, you could breathe it like your flies in a jar
Yeah, you're not invisible
I like the sailing, teeming
Well, it's true that the moon could pull it back and far away from me
I should just let it be
Well, it's true that the moon could pull it back and far away from me
(And it's sad)
Oh, we had to have some kind
Room shaped like a charm
Well, you weren't invisible
Not all along
No matter how many eagles came in the door
We were not invisible
I knew that
I like the sailing, teeming
Well, it's true that the moon could pull it back and far away from me
And there's the orphan sea
We were never invisible, but that I guess we did not see
Of course this all had been laid down
Way before we lay down for it all
Before we had a course, of course
Of course this all had been laid down
Of course we lay down
Of course we lay down
Of course we lay down
Of course we lay down
Of course we lay down
Of course we lay down
I like the sailing, teeming
Well, it's true that the moon could pull it back and far away from me
I like the orphan sea
Well, we were never invisible, but that I guess we could not see
We'll get crushed by the ocean
But it will not get us wet
Crushed by the ocean
But it will not get us wet
Crushed by the ocean
But it will not get us wet
Crushed by the ocean
But it will not get us wet
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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"
Bron-Y-Aur Stomp
Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin
This is about bronies. They communicate by stomping.
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.
Blue
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
“Blue” is a song about a love that is persisting in the discomfort of the person experiencing the emotion. Ed Sheeran reflects on love lost, and although he wishes his former partner find happiness, he cannot but admit his feelings are still very much there. He expresses the realization that he might never find another on this stringed instrumental by Aaron Dessner.
i wasn't even going to attempt to try and figure out this words. shoot. good job.