"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.
I became for you what you had asked, telepath
You're too young to ask out loud, I'm too old to not know that
I can talk like you've not heard, I know weapons, you think words
I exposed you to these terms, you still chose to roll unheard
That could work but, I'm so fast, you're so open, I'm so crass
I'm too weak to hold that back, you still think intrigue will last
You can't imagine of my past, I just can't explain all that
I wish I could trade your place, so romantic full of faith
I must spare you, I must learn, I refuse to be your first
First to put you in your place, first to make you speed your pace
I'm a man now (good or bad), you're a girl still (good for you)
Don't think this don't make me sad, this is something I must do
Keep your own time (leave me be), trying to spare you
Trying to be God melodic, man on fire
Coward long gone, all desire
Fuck you raw now, it's my fault
Fuck you raw dog, I can't stop
Should've listened, should've left
I can't stop unless you're dead
It's so simple, open head, I will knit my savage thread
Help me help you, walk away, leave this unamazing grace
You don't know from pure disgrace, you still think I'm here to save
I'm not even really here, I can't give what I can't take
What a ride, what a slide under the door, what a score
You think I'm a genius, I know I'm a whore
What a time, what a climb in for our lives, whats in store
You see lit forever, all I see is war
I will pull your hair back, fuck you on the floor
Pour myself into the act, poor myself, boohoo I'm bad
'Cause I know that these moments end, but telling you the truth is sad
You deserve the ignorance of bliss that I still wish I had
Don't you let me keep you here, don't ignore my greatest fear
I need you to not need me, you need not believe just flee
I will put myself inside you, find some way to run and hide you
I can't be responsible, do as I say, not as I do
Keep your own time, leave me be, I'm tryin to spare you
Tryin to be God melodic, man on fire, coward long gone, all desire
Fuck you raw now, it's my fault
Fuck you raw dog, I can't stop
Should've listened, should've left
I can't stop unless you're dead
It's so simple, open head, I will knit my savage thread
Help me help you, walk away, leave this unamazing grace
You don't know from pure disgrace, you still think I'm here to save
I'm not even really here, I can't give what I can't take
This is not my ego talkin, I know I'm no perfect draw
And I do love the way you lay there, I do like the way we talk
Maybe I'm just condescending, maybe this thing isn't wrong
Maybe you should lay right there, put your hands up in the air
Keep your own time, leave me be, I'm tryin to spare you
Tryin to be God melodic, man on fire, coward long gone, all desire
Fuck you raw now, it's your fault
Fuck you raw dog, I can't stop
Should've listened, should've left
I can't stop unless you're dead
It's so simple, open head, I will knit my savage thread
Help me help you, walk away, leave this unamazing grace
You don't know from pure disgrace, you still think I'm here to save
I was never even here, I can't give what I can't take
You still think I'm here to save
You still think I'm here to save
You still think I'm here to save
You still think I'm here to save
You still think I'm here to save
You still think I'm here to save
You still think I'm here to save
You still think I'm here to save
This is my type of religion
You're too young to ask out loud, I'm too old to not know that
I can talk like you've not heard, I know weapons, you think words
I exposed you to these terms, you still chose to roll unheard
That could work but, I'm so fast, you're so open, I'm so crass
I'm too weak to hold that back, you still think intrigue will last
You can't imagine of my past, I just can't explain all that
I wish I could trade your place, so romantic full of faith
I must spare you, I must learn, I refuse to be your first
First to put you in your place, first to make you speed your pace
I'm a man now (good or bad), you're a girl still (good for you)
Don't think this don't make me sad, this is something I must do
Keep your own time (leave me be), trying to spare you
Trying to be God melodic, man on fire
Coward long gone, all desire
Fuck you raw now, it's my fault
Fuck you raw dog, I can't stop
Should've listened, should've left
I can't stop unless you're dead
It's so simple, open head, I will knit my savage thread
Help me help you, walk away, leave this unamazing grace
You don't know from pure disgrace, you still think I'm here to save
I'm not even really here, I can't give what I can't take
What a ride, what a slide under the door, what a score
You think I'm a genius, I know I'm a whore
What a time, what a climb in for our lives, whats in store
You see lit forever, all I see is war
I will pull your hair back, fuck you on the floor
Pour myself into the act, poor myself, boohoo I'm bad
'Cause I know that these moments end, but telling you the truth is sad
You deserve the ignorance of bliss that I still wish I had
Don't you let me keep you here, don't ignore my greatest fear
I need you to not need me, you need not believe just flee
I will put myself inside you, find some way to run and hide you
I can't be responsible, do as I say, not as I do
Keep your own time, leave me be, I'm tryin to spare you
Tryin to be God melodic, man on fire, coward long gone, all desire
Fuck you raw now, it's my fault
Fuck you raw dog, I can't stop
Should've listened, should've left
I can't stop unless you're dead
It's so simple, open head, I will knit my savage thread
Help me help you, walk away, leave this unamazing grace
You don't know from pure disgrace, you still think I'm here to save
I'm not even really here, I can't give what I can't take
This is not my ego talkin, I know I'm no perfect draw
And I do love the way you lay there, I do like the way we talk
Maybe I'm just condescending, maybe this thing isn't wrong
Maybe you should lay right there, put your hands up in the air
Keep your own time, leave me be, I'm tryin to spare you
Tryin to be God melodic, man on fire, coward long gone, all desire
Fuck you raw now, it's your fault
Fuck you raw dog, I can't stop
Should've listened, should've left
I can't stop unless you're dead
It's so simple, open head, I will knit my savage thread
Help me help you, walk away, leave this unamazing grace
You don't know from pure disgrace, you still think I'm here to save
I was never even here, I can't give what I can't take
You still think I'm here to save
You still think I'm here to save
You still think I'm here to save
You still think I'm here to save
You still think I'm here to save
You still think I'm here to save
You still think I'm here to save
You still think I'm here to save
This is my type of religion
Lyrics submitted by Spider6333, edited by wolferton, preteenjesus
The Overly Dramatic Truth Lyrics as written by Jaime Meline
Lyrics © Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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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"
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,
Magical
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
How would you describe the feeling of being in love? For Ed Sheeran, the word is “Magical.” in HIS three-minute album opener, he makes an attempt to capture the beauty and delicacy of true love with words. He describes the magic of it all over a bright Pop song produced by Aaron Dessner.
American Town
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran shares a short story of reconnecting with an old flame on “American Town.” The track is about a holiday Ed Sheeran spends with his countrywoman who resides in America. The two are back together after a long period apart, and get around to enjoying a bunch of fun activities while rekindling the flames of their romance.
I think everyone's pretty much on the right track. It seems to be about a girl younger than him maybe 18 or 19 who seems to love him because he's older and more experienced in the world. The things he's seen have kinda jaded him though, and he doesn't want to corrupt her. He also starts to explain that he doesn't really love her, and he cant give love because he's taking no love from the relationship. ("I can't give what I can't take"). He does feel unworthy to be with her so he's glad to be able to f**k her. But at the same time he feels it's wrong, he doesn't want to weigh her down. But, he's so in love with the physcial gratification that he knows he won't stop it. So he wishes she would leave,before he drags her down into his jaded world, because he deserves more than that. Like some mentioned there kinda seems to be a glimpse of hope near the end of the song. He knows she sees more of him than he feels he is, perhaps part of him want's to be that ideal she has of him. And maybe he needs her to save him.
All in all great song.