"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.
Trained for this moment since the day I was born
since before I made tapes that ignored
since before I had a rap name or started to record
I've been chilling in the back getting prepared for war
I got a strategy, this isn't random rapid fire
this is one shot, headed for Goliath (I can't miss)
target practice on topics, flipping rhymes off the top
waiting for this one chance to throw my rock (rock on)
the least expected to defeat the beast
judgements passed to blast my confidence, I won't surrender or retreat
return my gifts to the sender, this is worship in the chaos
this is heavy concentration (got my game face on)
an eruption of noise flooding from a mouth of silence
I'm nobody, a spec of dust battling a giant
he stands and mocks me, everyone things I'm crazy
laughing as if I'm not aware of who I'm facing
Goliath, I sat back and watched for to long
you can't hold me down anymore
Goliath, it's been going on for to long
I'm sick and tired, now I'm taking out the giant
Goliath, I sat back and watched for to long
you can't hold us down anymore
Goliath, it's been going on for to long
I'm sick and tired, now I'm taking out the giant
And his shadow covers the country side, we're dwelling in the darkness
running away, while he's running things
calling shots, got us locked in bondage
his threats hold us hostage, afraid to be free from his grip
I can't hold my tongue, I'm holding this stone
hands sweaty and callus, mentally un-balanced, I'm ready for the challenge
seen many before me back down and crack under pressure
it's time to take drastic measure, let it loose
intimidation factor tries to set in, I'm grab my weapon
not arrogant, but it's apparent that he's feeling threatened
I'm stepping in his direction, the point of no return
with every action backed by the power of words
Goliath, I sat back and watched for to long
you can't hold me down anymore
Goliath, it's been going on for to long
I'm sick and tired, now I'm taking out the giant
Goliath, I sat back and watched for to long
you can't hold us down anymore
Goliath, it's been going on for to long
I'm sick and tired, now I'm taking out the giant
My armor is weak, I don't expect to be hit at all
I'm entering, knowing I'm protected (he can't touch me)
mental simulations, got me picturing victory
he's snickering and slithering, I'm setting him strait
full speed ahead, he's surprised by my approach
probably thinking I'ma try and swing a sword to his throat
but I go for what I know, throw a stone with precision
accurate and cracking his skull, when it hits it
he's tripping, he's shaking, I'm taking him out
and before he could react he fell flat on the ground
the whole earth shook, I returned to finish him
chopped of his head and carried it through the villages
the city people cheered, I delivered a speech
they all danced in the streets celebrating his defeat
I said, he was dead, before the battle started
to take him out you just gotta aim for the right target
since before I made tapes that ignored
since before I had a rap name or started to record
I've been chilling in the back getting prepared for war
I got a strategy, this isn't random rapid fire
this is one shot, headed for Goliath (I can't miss)
target practice on topics, flipping rhymes off the top
waiting for this one chance to throw my rock (rock on)
the least expected to defeat the beast
judgements passed to blast my confidence, I won't surrender or retreat
return my gifts to the sender, this is worship in the chaos
this is heavy concentration (got my game face on)
an eruption of noise flooding from a mouth of silence
I'm nobody, a spec of dust battling a giant
he stands and mocks me, everyone things I'm crazy
laughing as if I'm not aware of who I'm facing
Goliath, I sat back and watched for to long
you can't hold me down anymore
Goliath, it's been going on for to long
I'm sick and tired, now I'm taking out the giant
Goliath, I sat back and watched for to long
you can't hold us down anymore
Goliath, it's been going on for to long
I'm sick and tired, now I'm taking out the giant
And his shadow covers the country side, we're dwelling in the darkness
running away, while he's running things
calling shots, got us locked in bondage
his threats hold us hostage, afraid to be free from his grip
I can't hold my tongue, I'm holding this stone
hands sweaty and callus, mentally un-balanced, I'm ready for the challenge
seen many before me back down and crack under pressure
it's time to take drastic measure, let it loose
intimidation factor tries to set in, I'm grab my weapon
not arrogant, but it's apparent that he's feeling threatened
I'm stepping in his direction, the point of no return
with every action backed by the power of words
Goliath, I sat back and watched for to long
you can't hold me down anymore
Goliath, it's been going on for to long
I'm sick and tired, now I'm taking out the giant
Goliath, I sat back and watched for to long
you can't hold us down anymore
Goliath, it's been going on for to long
I'm sick and tired, now I'm taking out the giant
My armor is weak, I don't expect to be hit at all
I'm entering, knowing I'm protected (he can't touch me)
mental simulations, got me picturing victory
he's snickering and slithering, I'm setting him strait
full speed ahead, he's surprised by my approach
probably thinking I'ma try and swing a sword to his throat
but I go for what I know, throw a stone with precision
accurate and cracking his skull, when it hits it
he's tripping, he's shaking, I'm taking him out
and before he could react he fell flat on the ground
the whole earth shook, I returned to finish him
chopped of his head and carried it through the villages
the city people cheered, I delivered a speech
they all danced in the streets celebrating his defeat
I said, he was dead, before the battle started
to take him out you just gotta aim for the right target
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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"
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.
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,