"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.
Grandma is a rhino
My brother is a dog
I can tell it's Animal Day
'Cause my best friend just turned into a frog
Bobby is a monkey
My girlfriend is a horse
But I'm not turning into anything??
I never caused animal wars!
Uh-oh!
Growin' hair on my hands!
I'd better run for mirror!
I'm an animal!
[Chorus]
It's Animal Day
It's Animal Day
It's Animal Day
It's Animal Day
Now the animals have cars
They're starting to run us over
Notches on the steering wheel
My pet is calling me Rover
Deers are hunting for humans
Seals keep crushing our heads
Animals betting on us at the track
My animal's in my bed
[Chorus]
My brother is a dog
I can tell it's Animal Day
'Cause my best friend just turned into a frog
Bobby is a monkey
My girlfriend is a horse
But I'm not turning into anything??
I never caused animal wars!
Uh-oh!
Growin' hair on my hands!
I'd better run for mirror!
I'm an animal!
[Chorus]
It's Animal Day
It's Animal Day
It's Animal Day
It's Animal Day
Now the animals have cars
They're starting to run us over
Notches on the steering wheel
My pet is calling me Rover
Deers are hunting for humans
Seals keep crushing our heads
Animals betting on us at the track
My animal's in my bed
[Chorus]
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
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.
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.
Magical
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
How would you describe the feeling of being in love? For Ed Sheeran, the word is “Magical.” in HIS three-minute album opener, he makes an attempt to capture the beauty and delicacy of true love with words. He describes the magic of it all over a bright Pop song produced by Aaron Dessner.
I think it's just a song about how Animals feel at the hands of Humans - obviously done in a humorous way that comes off as someone reading a children's book.
While the first passage sounds silly and naive, the second passage talks about how the 'animals have cars, run us over', 'hunt for humans', and 'bet at the track', which reference actions in which animals are exploited, but with Humans as their centerpiece.