"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.
tell me
come on tell me what you can
even as you wait for death your wiser then i am
tell me what does it mean to exist
i am not a scientist i must believe theres more to this
and I can not accept
that everything is real
is only what our eyes can see
and our hands can feel
(chorus)
not even earth can hold us
not even life controls us
not even the ground can keep us down
the memories in my head
i just realized the time we spent
you always be close to me
my friend
this is not the end
I see
I can see your so afraid
we are like the silver herd on u even feel obscured
I wish I wish i had some words to give
but all i can think to say
is i will be with you everyday
(chorus)
not even earth can hold us
not even life controls us
not even the ground can keep us down
the memories in my head
i just realized the time we spent
you always be close to me
my friend
this is not the end
la la la la la
this is not the end
la la la l al la
this is not the end
I don't care
I don't care what you believe
as long as you are in my heart
your just as real as me
maybe even more
and one has touched so many lifes
and never never die
(chorus)
not even earth can hold us
not even life controls us
not even the ground can keep us down
the memories in my head
i just realized the time we spent
you always be close to me
my friend
this is not the end
come on tell me what you can
even as you wait for death your wiser then i am
tell me what does it mean to exist
i am not a scientist i must believe theres more to this
and I can not accept
that everything is real
is only what our eyes can see
and our hands can feel
(chorus)
not even earth can hold us
not even life controls us
not even the ground can keep us down
the memories in my head
i just realized the time we spent
you always be close to me
my friend
this is not the end
I see
I can see your so afraid
we are like the silver herd on u even feel obscured
I wish I wish i had some words to give
but all i can think to say
is i will be with you everyday
(chorus)
not even earth can hold us
not even life controls us
not even the ground can keep us down
the memories in my head
i just realized the time we spent
you always be close to me
my friend
this is not the end
la la la la la
this is not the end
la la la l al la
this is not the end
I don't care
I don't care what you believe
as long as you are in my heart
your just as real as me
maybe even more
and one has touched so many lifes
and never never die
(chorus)
not even earth can hold us
not even life controls us
not even the ground can keep us down
the memories in my head
i just realized the time we spent
you always be close to me
my friend
this is not the end
Lyrics submitted by xylina13d
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More Featured Meanings
Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman
Cajun Girl
Little Feat
Little Feat
Overall about difficult moments of disappointment and vulnerability. Having hope and longing, while remaining optimistic for the future. Encourages the belief that with each new morning there is a chance for things to improve.
The chorus offers a glimmer of optimism and a chance at a resolution and redemption in the future.
Captures the rollercoaster of emotions of feeling lost while loving someone who is not there for you, feeling let down and abandoned while waiting for a lover. Lost with no direction, "Now I'm up in the air with the rain in my hair, Nowhere to go, I can go anywhere"
The bridge shows signs of longing and a plea for companionship. The Lyrics express a desire for authentic connection and the importance of Loving someone just as they are. "Just in passing, I'm not asking. That you be anyone but you”
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.
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.
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.
correction:
(chorus) not even earth can hold us not even life controls us not even the ground can keep us down the memories in my head ARE JUST AS REAL the time we spent you always be close to me my friend this is not the end
small error but thanx XD
probably the best song on the album but not as good as the worst songs onthe first album
i have no idea why it seems like trying to provide hope to a friend whois going to die. it is difficult especially when your friend believes in no possiblity of ever regaining what they will leave behind. i love the part where he says he does not care what she belives some things are true whether you belive in them or not
to me it sounds like he is trying to convince himself just as much as the dying friend that there is more to this.
this is a lovely song. i think without knowing the story behind it you can't appreciate the song as much..it was written for a friend of sam's who's in a coma. she's an atheist and they thought she might die.
even though this song is pretty depressing, it still rocks. i agree that he is trying to convince himself as well. i was wondering who this song was for.
I don't know about that friend in a coma, but for me this is about what happens to you after you die. The singer needs to believe in something after your death, but he's not pressing that opinion on the other (dying) one- "I don't care what you believe / as long as you are in my heart".
I think it's a very deep song, about death, religion, tolerance and friendship/love. Definitely one of my favorites from Bravery.
"we are like the silver herd on u even feel obscured"
That makes no sense.
It's: "You wear it like a silver hood, on you even fear looks good."
I think it is just him reassuring someone who is dying that the times they had together will make (her?) immortal in a sense and that you can never really die because you've touched so many people that (cheesy coming up ->) a piece of you will always be with them even after death, you may not be alive literally but your past actions will keep you alive in other peoples hearts.. But the person telling her all this isn't even sure if he can live with just memories.
This song is about believing in some sort of an afterlife because the notion of death is too hard to fathom.