"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.
Witness to a youthful lust
who made the same mistake
guess he didn't know
Didn't know it would cost him everything he'd make
Spied that young one
through my window,
on the subtle path
he didn't know the loss
he didn't see the cost
it could've cost him everything
Now he can't find
now he dont understand why
but you see
cuz you cheat and think
that you're free but you know
Now he can't find the way
can someone please come
please come and take it away
before it's to late
wave
goodbye
she'll kill you with a smile
and slit your throat
with a wink of her eye
why
oh brutal heart for a lie
I was that man once
I tell you I'd rather die
Die
He can't just see why
he doesnt see the truth
cuz you know it feels so good
it takes away you
now Disciples would you rise
I know there is sin you despise will you let it go?
and wave goodbye to your friends
and live like it's so
Now he cant find
Why can he see?
Wont you stop him now?
Wont you reach out?
Wont you do something please?
I guess you too busy to see
It brings a real friend to say
In the face of your own Identity.
Please stop him someone
wave
goodbye
she'll kill you with a smile
and slit your throat
with a wink of her eye
why
oh brutal heart for a lie
I was that man once
I tell you I'd rather die
I was!
I was that man once
I'd rather die
DIE!
Why can't you understand why
I only got one heart
and it's the wellspring of life
LIFE!
why oh why will you die?
Give your heart to one love
JESUS CHRIST!
You can change this all now
You can let it go
And walk into the light
Please leave this darkness behind
Now
you'll finally know your own mind you can't run this time
desperate to rest
in the peace of the light
I'll be kneeling there
right by your side
Battering hell and I declare tonight.
Hell Relinquish Your Hold On My Sons!
Hell Relinquish Your Hold On My Sons!
who made the same mistake
guess he didn't know
Didn't know it would cost him everything he'd make
Spied that young one
through my window,
on the subtle path
he didn't know the loss
he didn't see the cost
it could've cost him everything
Now he can't find
now he dont understand why
but you see
cuz you cheat and think
that you're free but you know
Now he can't find the way
can someone please come
please come and take it away
before it's to late
wave
goodbye
she'll kill you with a smile
and slit your throat
with a wink of her eye
why
oh brutal heart for a lie
I was that man once
I tell you I'd rather die
Die
He can't just see why
he doesnt see the truth
cuz you know it feels so good
it takes away you
now Disciples would you rise
I know there is sin you despise will you let it go?
and wave goodbye to your friends
and live like it's so
Now he cant find
Why can he see?
Wont you stop him now?
Wont you reach out?
Wont you do something please?
I guess you too busy to see
It brings a real friend to say
In the face of your own Identity.
Please stop him someone
wave
goodbye
she'll kill you with a smile
and slit your throat
with a wink of her eye
why
oh brutal heart for a lie
I was that man once
I tell you I'd rather die
I was!
I was that man once
I'd rather die
DIE!
Why can't you understand why
I only got one heart
and it's the wellspring of life
LIFE!
why oh why will you die?
Give your heart to one love
JESUS CHRIST!
You can change this all now
You can let it go
And walk into the light
Please leave this darkness behind
Now
you'll finally know your own mind you can't run this time
desperate to rest
in the peace of the light
I'll be kneeling there
right by your side
Battering hell and I declare tonight.
Hell Relinquish Your Hold On My Sons!
Hell Relinquish Your Hold On My Sons!
Lyrics submitted by rockstarbowker, edited by DRTHER
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
Mental Istid
Ebba Grön
Ebba Grön
This is one of my favorite songs. https://fnfgo.io
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”
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,
When We Were Young
Blink-182
Blink-182
This is a sequel to 2001's "Reckless Abandon", and features the band looking back on their clumsy youth fondly.
i think this song is about a man ,boy, whatever you want to think commites adultry and sleeping giant is singing about repentance and so forth
yea ballstothewall is right...i think thom is just telling the story of his past life before he knew Christ and telling a message saying that we should not give our lives to worldly things like our lustful eyes, or sexual sin but rather commit our entire lives to God...so basically whoremonger is thom's past tied in with how all of us should learn from his life before christ and how our own pleasures should not override the ones we get from Jesus
This is amazing live, because singing instead of the bit before the breakdown, Thom sings an old hymn that goes like "What can wash away my sins? What can make me whole again?" It's beautiful.
It's about pornography's hold on young men. They must stop the addiction, and give their heart entirely to Christ.
he came out a live show and told everyone this song was about how when he was 18 he had sex a married woman and the husband ended up killing himself and how he had to live with that for the rest of his life
I saw Sleeping Giant live a couple of days ago and it was truly life-changing. Just before they played this song, Thom fully came out and told the crowd what this song is about. During the song he became so emotional he cried. It went something like this:
When he was 18 years old he was going through some struggles in life and met a nice couple who helped him get through it. A couple of months later, that couple was involved in an accident and the husband was permanently paralyzed, he became a quadroplegic(sp?). Anyway, since they had helped him through his struggles he decided to help them. He helped them around the house, did errands, even helped earn some side income. A couple of months later, the wife started getting closer and closer to him, and he said that honestly, he was flattered. A beatiful lady coming on to him. Well, what happened was he ended up having an affair with her. Two months later, the husband commited suicide. He had found out.
This song is about God's love and how he will save you no matter who you are and what you have done. Thom felt like THE lowest being on the planet when this incident happened, that you can't possibly get lower than that, but he found God and now his broken life is healed. A very moving song.
when i saw them live he talked about how when he was 18 he was having sex with his best friends wife and his best friend found out his wife was cheating on him and he did not find out with who killed him self and he and the guy felt like he murdered his best friend so he had a gun to his own head and he thought well if i am going to do this i should pray about it 1st and his prayer was God i do not believe in you and i hate your poeple but if your real then do something about this so he then pulled the trigger and the gun jamed so i think this song is a review of this whole part of his life before he was a Christan
very very bad grammar. id stick with the recent posts lol
Actually, I know this band. The song is about Thom, before discovering God. He engaged in relations with a married woman, and it continued for a while. This womans husband then found out about the affair and took his own life. This song is mainly about the guilt he has on his shoulders now. How he can never take back his actions. How he felt so helpless. How he should have never done what he did. That is the exact meaning of this song, and he will gladly disclose that with anyone willing to listen. Thom was going through all of this without the Lord by his side. Once he found God, he decided to put all of his faith into Him, and get rid of the weight on his shoulders. It's a powerful song. If you get the chance to witness them live, it will bring you to tears. They are very uplifting, and you will enjoy the preformance. Very great band, great friends, great music!
So alot of people talking about how the lead singer tell the story of this song before they play it tought I would just post a link to a video of this youtube.com/​watch