"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.
In the spotlight
Deadline sends a tingle through your spine
Like light flashes before your eyes.
I've found a new religion based on you.
My friends and I were only out to seek the truth
Would you give it all up to see the dream?
Would you wash it all down if you don't believe? (Straight up and go)
Like a close call
So pressed for time
From the music to these lips
Let these lips send chills down through your fingertips
I've found a new religion based on you
My heart and I were only out to seek the truth
Like a cut-throat sing-along
So influential
Like a cut-throat sing-along
So influential (We are so influential)
Like a cut-throat sing-along, so influential (Make it now, make it now, it's time to decide)
Like a cut-throat sing-along, so influential (Make it now, make it now, it's time to decide)
Would you give it all up to see the dream?
Would you wash it all down if you don't believe? (If you don't believe)
(Make it now, make it now)
Would you give it all up, to see the dream?
Would you wash it all down, if you don't believe? (Straight up and go)
Deadline sends a tingle through your spine
Like light flashes before your eyes.
I've found a new religion based on you.
My friends and I were only out to seek the truth
Would you give it all up to see the dream?
Would you wash it all down if you don't believe? (Straight up and go)
Like a close call
So pressed for time
From the music to these lips
Let these lips send chills down through your fingertips
I've found a new religion based on you
My heart and I were only out to seek the truth
Like a cut-throat sing-along
So influential
Like a cut-throat sing-along
So influential (We are so influential)
Like a cut-throat sing-along, so influential (Make it now, make it now, it's time to decide)
Like a cut-throat sing-along, so influential (Make it now, make it now, it's time to decide)
Would you give it all up to see the dream?
Would you wash it all down if you don't believe? (If you don't believe)
(Make it now, make it now)
Would you give it all up, to see the dream?
Would you wash it all down, if you don't believe? (Straight up and go)
Lyrics submitted by 0Zero0
Add your thoughts
Log in now to tell us what you think this song means.
Don’t have an account? Create an account with SongMeanings to post comments, submit lyrics, and more. It’s super easy, we promise!
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”
I Can't Go To Sleep
Wu-Tang Clan
Wu-Tang Clan
This song is written as the perspective of the boys in the street, as a whole, and what path they are going to choose as they get older and grow into men. (This is why the music video takes place in an orphanage.) The seen, and unseen collective suffering is imbedded in the boys’ mind, consciously or subconsciously, and is haunting them. Which path will the boys choose? Issac Hayes is the voice of reason, maybe God, the angel on his shoulder, or the voice of his forefathers from beyond the grave who can see the big picture and are pleading with the boys not to continue the violence and pattern of killing their brothers, but to rise above. The most beautiful song and has so many levels. Racism towards African Americans in America would not exist if everyone sat down and listened to this song and understood the history behind the words. The power, fear, pleading in RZA and Ghostface voices are genuine and powerful. Issac Hayes’ strong voice makes the perfect strong father figure, who is possibly from beyond the grave.
Punchline
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran sings about missing his former partner and learning important life lessons in the process on “Punchline.” This track tells a story of battling to get rid of emotions for a former lover, whom he now realized might not have loved him the same way. He’s now caught between accepting that fact and learning life lessons from it and going back to beg her for another chance.
Plastic Bag
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
“Plastic Bag” is a song about searching for an escape from personal problems and hoping to find it in the lively atmosphere of a Saturday night party. Ed Sheeran tells the story of his friend and the myriad of troubles he is going through. Unable to find any solutions, this friend seeks a last resort in a party and the vanity that comes with it.
“I overthink and have trouble sleepin’ / All purpose gone and don’t have a reason / And there’s no doctor to stop this bleedin’ / So I left home and jumped in the deep end,” Ed Sheeran sings in verse one. He continues by adding that this person is feeling the weight of having disappointed his father and doesn’t have any friends to rely on in this difficult moment. In the second verse, Ed sings about the role of grief in his friend’s plight and his dwindling faith in prayer. “Saturday night is givin’ me a reason to rely on the strobe lights / The lifeline of a promise in a shot glass, and I’ll take that / If you’re givin’ out love from a plastic bag,” Ed sings on the chorus, as his friend turns to new vices in hopes of feeling better.
"Would you give it all up to see the dream? Would you wash it all down if you don't believe?"
These have to be the two most powerful lines in the whole song. If you just were to listen to the chorus one could easily infer that this song is about how badly you want something. How much do your dreams really mean to you? Are you willing to sacrifice everything for your dreams? Would you give-up if you lost hope? Thats all that is saying. How badly do you want it?
However every other line in the song really has no relation to the chorus. Or at least I can't make a match. The opening stanza is obviously talking about pressure in situations when you need to make a quick and important decision. But the religion line throws me off completely.
I don't know. It's a tricky song to decode. But definitely one of my favorites. The mind-blowing vocals, the upbeat rhythm, everything about it is just grade 'A'.