"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.
You must have pulled the trigger
Your eyes give you away
The gun in your hand's still smoking
You don't have to take the blame
You have to do what you have to do
You know I'd never judge you
Still time to close those eyes
Forget what happened, forget you lied
Put the mask back on
Put the mask back on
Don't take it off 'till everybody's gone
Put the mask back on
Put the mask back on
No disguise has ever lasted so long
Cover up
Cover up
Don't let them see the real you
If your secrets can't stay silent
All those rumors might just end up being true
You're free to do what you want
You never though of consequences
You created your own little world
Where you could always be different
A place where the rules do not apply
You could never be denied
You took advantage of a good think
Now the void you filled is empty
Put the mask back on
Put the mask back on
Don't take it off 'til everybody's gone
Put the mask back on
Put the mask back on
No disguise has ever lasted so long
Cover up
Cover up
Don't let them see the real you
If your secrets can't stay silent
All those rumors might just end up being true
Cover up
Cover up
Don't question anything you do
You have always get decoyed
But your conscience hunts you
Every time you choose
Does anyone, ever reach down to you?
Does anyone, ever seen your real face?
Does anyone, know what you've been doing?
Does the one we used to know fades away?
Cover up
Cover up
Don't let them see the real you
If your secrets can't stay silent
All those rumors might just end up being true
Cover up
Cover up
Don't question anything you do
You have always get decoyed
But your conscience hunts you
Every time you choose
Your eyes give you away
The gun in your hand's still smoking
You don't have to take the blame
You have to do what you have to do
You know I'd never judge you
Still time to close those eyes
Forget what happened, forget you lied
Put the mask back on
Put the mask back on
Don't take it off 'till everybody's gone
Put the mask back on
Put the mask back on
No disguise has ever lasted so long
Cover up
Cover up
Don't let them see the real you
If your secrets can't stay silent
All those rumors might just end up being true
You're free to do what you want
You never though of consequences
You created your own little world
Where you could always be different
A place where the rules do not apply
You could never be denied
You took advantage of a good think
Now the void you filled is empty
Put the mask back on
Put the mask back on
Don't take it off 'til everybody's gone
Put the mask back on
Put the mask back on
No disguise has ever lasted so long
Cover up
Cover up
Don't let them see the real you
If your secrets can't stay silent
All those rumors might just end up being true
Cover up
Cover up
Don't question anything you do
You have always get decoyed
But your conscience hunts you
Every time you choose
Does anyone, ever reach down to you?
Does anyone, ever seen your real face?
Does anyone, know what you've been doing?
Does the one we used to know fades away?
Cover up
Cover up
Don't let them see the real you
If your secrets can't stay silent
All those rumors might just end up being true
Cover up
Cover up
Don't question anything you do
You have always get decoyed
But your conscience hunts you
Every time you choose
Lyrics submitted by enpowermyhate
Cover Up Lyrics as written by Ali Campbell Jim Brown
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Songtrust Ave, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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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"
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,
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.
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.
I Too must agree, this is one of my favs from there album,
i related to this song cause of one of my ex-bestfriends who ended up being a lie and a fake,
to me this song is telling the story of a person who is a fake to the world, someone who lied to everyone so much that they eventually fell into there own world of lies "You created your own little world, Where you could always be different" and one person, in this case the lead singer, has realized that the person has been lying about everything and doesn't want nothing to do with them, and questions that if anyone they knew actually knew the real them "Has anyone ever reached out to you? Has anyone ever seen your real face?" And That They Are Slipping Up And People Are Slowly Realizing Who That Person Really Is "As the one we used to know fades away."