"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.
All the girls standing in the line for the bathroom
All the girls standing in the line for the bathroom
All the girls standing in the (all the girls standing in the, yeah)
All the girls standing in the line for the bathroom
Yeah
You know, it's been a minute since, um
We expressed ourselves
It takes a lot of courage to say this, but, um
I see sounds
You and your girls are goin' out tonight
Y'all been plannin' this all week right? (Right)
You got somethin' boys can't deny
Here's a hint, it's like apple pie
Cut you open and you're just wired
You ain't tired, you wanna cause a riot
Who, who could say no to you?
Wait 'til they get a load of you
A hundred dollar bills look (at you, at you)
A hundred dollar bills look (at you, at you)
A hundred dollar bills look (at you, at you)
A hundred dollar bills look (at you, at you)
(Because)
All the girls standing in the line for the bathroom
All the girls standing in the line for the bathroom
All the girls standing in the (all the girls standing in the)
All the girls standing in the line for the bathroom
Superstar, ask you what you have
Bartender give you drink, we just laugh
(He talkin' bout a autograph)
You just wanna dance in your reckless path
Close your eyes, see colorful things
You wanna let go, feel wonderful things
Just a bit more just to get in the lane
So we can enter the brain, you can flip with the pain
A hundred dollar bills look (at you, at you)
A hundred dollar bills look (at you, at you)
A hundred dollar bills look (at you, at you)
A hundred dollar bills look (at you, at you)
(Because)
All the girls standing in the line for the bathroom
All the girls standing in the line for the bathroom
All the girls standing in the (all the girls standing in the)
All the girls standing in the line for the bathroom
(At you) baby
You partied all night in sixth gear
Just so you know (at you)
The AC is blowin' over here
Don't worry
I won't blow (at you) your high
Talkin' 'bout your life and how it is all wrong
Just know if you go (at you) outside
And see the sunrise as all the stars are gone
Tell your (at you) friends they can go
You're okay, you're just chillin' with me
Here's a towel (at you)
Wipe your face, cool down
Have a drink it's on me (at you)
Here's a towel (here's a towel)
Wipe your face (wipe your face)
Cool down (cool down)
Have a drink it's on me (at you)
Here's a towel (here's a towel)
Wipe your face (wipe your face)
Cool down (cool down)
But you would rather party 'cause
All the girls standing in the line for the bathroom
All the girls standing in the line for the bathroom
All the girls standing in the (all the girls standing in the)
All the girls standing in the line for the bathroom
All the girls standing in the line for the bathroom
All the girls standing in the line for the bathroom
All the girls standing in the (all the girls standing in the)
All the girls standing in the
Yeah-yeah
All the girls standing in the line for the bathroom
All the girls standing in the (all the girls standing in the, yeah)
All the girls standing in the line for the bathroom
Yeah
You know, it's been a minute since, um
We expressed ourselves
It takes a lot of courage to say this, but, um
I see sounds
You and your girls are goin' out tonight
Y'all been plannin' this all week right? (Right)
You got somethin' boys can't deny
Here's a hint, it's like apple pie
Cut you open and you're just wired
You ain't tired, you wanna cause a riot
Who, who could say no to you?
Wait 'til they get a load of you
A hundred dollar bills look (at you, at you)
A hundred dollar bills look (at you, at you)
A hundred dollar bills look (at you, at you)
A hundred dollar bills look (at you, at you)
(Because)
All the girls standing in the line for the bathroom
All the girls standing in the line for the bathroom
All the girls standing in the (all the girls standing in the)
All the girls standing in the line for the bathroom
Superstar, ask you what you have
Bartender give you drink, we just laugh
(He talkin' bout a autograph)
You just wanna dance in your reckless path
Close your eyes, see colorful things
You wanna let go, feel wonderful things
Just a bit more just to get in the lane
So we can enter the brain, you can flip with the pain
A hundred dollar bills look (at you, at you)
A hundred dollar bills look (at you, at you)
A hundred dollar bills look (at you, at you)
A hundred dollar bills look (at you, at you)
(Because)
All the girls standing in the line for the bathroom
All the girls standing in the line for the bathroom
All the girls standing in the (all the girls standing in the)
All the girls standing in the line for the bathroom
(At you) baby
You partied all night in sixth gear
Just so you know (at you)
The AC is blowin' over here
Don't worry
I won't blow (at you) your high
Talkin' 'bout your life and how it is all wrong
Just know if you go (at you) outside
And see the sunrise as all the stars are gone
Tell your (at you) friends they can go
You're okay, you're just chillin' with me
Here's a towel (at you)
Wipe your face, cool down
Have a drink it's on me (at you)
Here's a towel (here's a towel)
Wipe your face (wipe your face)
Cool down (cool down)
Have a drink it's on me (at you)
Here's a towel (here's a towel)
Wipe your face (wipe your face)
Cool down (cool down)
But you would rather party 'cause
All the girls standing in the line for the bathroom
All the girls standing in the line for the bathroom
All the girls standing in the (all the girls standing in the)
All the girls standing in the line for the bathroom
All the girls standing in the line for the bathroom
All the girls standing in the line for the bathroom
All the girls standing in the (all the girls standing in the)
All the girls standing in the
Yeah-yeah
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More Featured Meanings
Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman
The Night We Met
Lord Huron
Lord Huron
This is a hauntingly beautiful song about introspection, specifically about looking back at a relationship that started bad and ended so poorly, that the narrator wants to go back to the very beginning and tell himself to not even travel down that road. I believe that the relationship started poorly because of the lines:
"Take me back to the night we met:When the night was full of terrors: And your eyes were filled with tears: When you had not touched me yet"
So, the first night was not a great start, but the narrator pursued the relationship and eventually both overcame the rough start to fall in love with each other:
"I had all and then most of you"
Like many relationships that turn sour, it was not a quick decline, but a gradual one where the narrator and their partner fall out of love and gradually grow apart
"Some and now none of you"
Losing someone who was once everything in your world, who you could confide in, tell your secrets to, share all the most intimate parts of your life, to being strangers with that person is probably one of the most painful experiences a person can go through. So Painful, the narrator wants to go back in time and tell himself to not even pursue the relationship.
This was the perfect song for "13 Reasons Why"
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.
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.
Blue
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
“Blue” is a song about a love that is persisting in the discomfort of the person experiencing the emotion. Ed Sheeran reflects on love lost, and although he wishes his former partner find happiness, he cannot but admit his feelings are still very much there. He expresses the realization that he might never find another on this stringed instrumental by Aaron Dessner.
Nothing too deep here. Some clever and some not so clever jokes about starlets using crack. It's nice to see CRS together again, though!