"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.
Salt in the sky in the sweet summer air while mammoths depart
Abandon dispair with thirsty affairs of the heart
But the chances of escaping my heart are inadaquate, and when all is said and done I'm left with my history
Goodbye, my eyes shed heavy tears
One for every soul still sitting on the fence between pain and arrogance
Ebb, ebb to the left flow to the right
The exit's unflawed
The boys on the train
The almighty tongue, the prose spilled in vain
Goodbye, my eyes shed heavy tears
One for every soul still sitting on the fence between pain and arrogance
We fall beneath the sea of dreams and fail to breathe until we awaken.
We fall beneath the sea of dreams and fail to breathe until we awaken again.
(X3)Sing softly, sing me to the lake (the flame is gone)
Sing softly, bring me to the lake (the fire remains)
Sing.
Through all of this, i've felt just the same.
The flame is gone, the fire remains.
Abandon dispair with thirsty affairs of the heart
But the chances of escaping my heart are inadaquate, and when all is said and done I'm left with my history
Goodbye, my eyes shed heavy tears
One for every soul still sitting on the fence between pain and arrogance
Ebb, ebb to the left flow to the right
The exit's unflawed
The boys on the train
The almighty tongue, the prose spilled in vain
Goodbye, my eyes shed heavy tears
One for every soul still sitting on the fence between pain and arrogance
We fall beneath the sea of dreams and fail to breathe until we awaken.
We fall beneath the sea of dreams and fail to breathe until we awaken again.
(X3)Sing softly, sing me to the lake (the flame is gone)
Sing softly, bring me to the lake (the fire remains)
Sing.
Through all of this, i've felt just the same.
The flame is gone, the fire remains.
Lyrics submitted by ciesl279, edited by mattrobtron
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Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
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“Head > Heels” is a track that aims to capture what it feels like to experience romance that exceeds expectations. Ed Sheeran dedicates his album outro to a lover who has blessed him with a unique experience that he seeks to describe through the song’s nuanced lyrics.
I agree completely.