"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.
Would you leave me alone, my sweet Simone?
If I lay on my back down below on the track
Remember the night, how I'd wade in the water
Be counting the stars and starting me over
They shine your eyes
Gonna make me rain, gonna make you rise
When I'm gone baby, don't you forget it
I did all I did just to get through to heaven
Got no mother, she can't find me
Got no father, he gonna blind me
Little girls might twitch at the way I itch
But when I burn it's a son of a bitch
Hold on, hold on
Hold on, all misery gone
Hold on, hold on
Hold on, all misery gone
Make me, shake me, bleed all over
Going down to the ground in deep black water
Let's ride, suicide
Say what you want but you make it, don't lie
Don't let me down, baby, on a bed of hard thistle
Gonna die when I drown just to have it away
Those lies in my eyes
Push you down in the river till you testify
My mother, she don't know me
And my father, he can't own me
Little girls might twitch at the way I itch
But the way I burn is a son of a bitch
Make me, shake me, deep black water
Gonna run through my pain, gonna make it rain
Baby I'm gone, so don't you forget it
I did all I did just to get through to heaven
Hold on, hold on
Hold on, all misery gone
Hold on, hold on
Hold on, all misery gone
If you could hear me love
I'd tell to you my story
To you and only you
So love that you might save me
I woke up from a dream
I woke up, I was crying
I saw an animal
With eyes like mine on fire
I saw my own true love
She was there selling flowers
Has she forget-me-nots
White lilies or red roses?
And then from far away
Who's that I see come riding?
Upon a pale white horse
Come riding fast as lightning
Oh, if you can hear me love
I'd tell you my story
So that you might save me
So that you might save me
So that you might save me
So that you might save me
If I lay on my back down below on the track
Remember the night, how I'd wade in the water
Be counting the stars and starting me over
They shine your eyes
Gonna make me rain, gonna make you rise
When I'm gone baby, don't you forget it
I did all I did just to get through to heaven
Got no mother, she can't find me
Got no father, he gonna blind me
Little girls might twitch at the way I itch
But when I burn it's a son of a bitch
Hold on, hold on
Hold on, all misery gone
Hold on, hold on
Hold on, all misery gone
Make me, shake me, bleed all over
Going down to the ground in deep black water
Let's ride, suicide
Say what you want but you make it, don't lie
Don't let me down, baby, on a bed of hard thistle
Gonna die when I drown just to have it away
Those lies in my eyes
Push you down in the river till you testify
My mother, she don't know me
And my father, he can't own me
Little girls might twitch at the way I itch
But the way I burn is a son of a bitch
Make me, shake me, deep black water
Gonna run through my pain, gonna make it rain
Baby I'm gone, so don't you forget it
I did all I did just to get through to heaven
Hold on, hold on
Hold on, all misery gone
Hold on, hold on
Hold on, all misery gone
If you could hear me love
I'd tell to you my story
To you and only you
So love that you might save me
I woke up from a dream
I woke up, I was crying
I saw an animal
With eyes like mine on fire
I saw my own true love
She was there selling flowers
Has she forget-me-nots
White lilies or red roses?
And then from far away
Who's that I see come riding?
Upon a pale white horse
Come riding fast as lightning
Oh, if you can hear me love
I'd tell you my story
So that you might save me
So that you might save me
So that you might save me
So that you might save me
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”
Dreamwalker
Silent Planet
Silent Planet
I think much like another song “Anti-Matter” (that's also on the same album as this song), this one is also is inspired by a horrifying van crash the band experienced on Nov 3, 2022. This, much like the other track, sounds like it's an extension what they shared while huddled in the wreckage, as they helped frontman Garrett Russell stem the bleeding from his head wound while he was under the temporary effects of a concussion. The track speaks of where the mind goes at the most desperate & desolate of times, when it just about slips away to all but disconnect itself, and the aftermath.
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.
the lyrics are unbelievable. it sounds like something william blake would write. it's nice to know there is some talent left in the world