"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.
Lets get this party started!
Get smashed, gate crash!
Get smashed, gate crash!
On Friday night and we just arrived,
There's a fair few girls but mostly guys,
Got supplies now we in the drive,
I hope we got the house number right.
Knock loud and ring the bell,
Door swings and the music swells out,
It's quite catchy if you could tell,
In the hall welcome to hell.
Welcome to our world,
We are the wasted youth,
And we are the future too.
Welcome to our world,
We are the wasted youth,
And we are the future.
Let's get this party started
And rip the place apart.
Cut the brakes, text your mates
Let's tear this house apart
We're drinking, screaming, shagging,
We don't care what we doing,
Don't care when they come back,
Our parents will be screwing.
People being sick on the landing carpet,
Smoking up in the outside shed,
Passing out in the upstairs toilet,
Getting laid on the parent's bed.
Smashing up all the porcelain china,
We drank the alcohol cabinet clean,
But still that felt minor,
'Til we put the hifi through the tv screen.
Welcome to our world,
We are the wasted youth,
And we are the future too.
Welcome to our world,
We are the wasted youth,
And we are the future.
We feel so damn invincible.
We are not responsible.
Get smashed, gate crash!
Get smashed, gate crash!
Get smashed, gate crash!
She will be sick on the landing carpet,
Smoking up in the outside shed,
Passing out in the upstairs toilet,
Getting laid on the parent's bed.
Smashing up all the porcelain china,
We drank the alcohol cabinet clean,
But still that felt minor,
'Til we put the hifi through the tv screen
Get smashed, gate crash!
Get smashed, gate crash!
On Friday night and we just arrived,
There's a fair few girls but mostly guys,
Got supplies now we in the drive,
I hope we got the house number right.
Knock loud and ring the bell,
Door swings and the music swells out,
It's quite catchy if you could tell,
In the hall welcome to hell.
Welcome to our world,
We are the wasted youth,
And we are the future too.
Welcome to our world,
We are the wasted youth,
And we are the future.
Let's get this party started
And rip the place apart.
Cut the brakes, text your mates
Let's tear this house apart
We're drinking, screaming, shagging,
We don't care what we doing,
Don't care when they come back,
Our parents will be screwing.
People being sick on the landing carpet,
Smoking up in the outside shed,
Passing out in the upstairs toilet,
Getting laid on the parent's bed.
Smashing up all the porcelain china,
We drank the alcohol cabinet clean,
But still that felt minor,
'Til we put the hifi through the tv screen.
Welcome to our world,
We are the wasted youth,
And we are the future too.
Welcome to our world,
We are the wasted youth,
And we are the future.
We feel so damn invincible.
We are not responsible.
Get smashed, gate crash!
Get smashed, gate crash!
Get smashed, gate crash!
She will be sick on the landing carpet,
Smoking up in the outside shed,
Passing out in the upstairs toilet,
Getting laid on the parent's bed.
Smashing up all the porcelain china,
We drank the alcohol cabinet clean,
But still that felt minor,
'Til we put the hifi through the tv screen
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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.
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.
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.
Its like everyone else has been saying, its about an influence on kids due to drug and sex, but it mainly refers to just them throwing a giant party in their house and trashing the place, not caring about what their parents think when they return from wherever they are. i dont think Hadouken! would focus too much on something as serious as bad influences and having an important song to sing about it. they have aenough seriousness to do that, but thats not what this song is mainly about.