"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.
Damas y caballeros
Están escuchando los mundialmente aclamados
Daddy Yankee, Will.I.Am, come on
Here we go now
Here we go now
Here we go now
Here we go now
(Yeah) here we go now
Here we go now
Here we go now
(Yeah) here we go now
And lets rock wit it
Lets rock wit it
Lets rock, lets rock, lets rock wit it
And lets rock wit it
Lets rock wit it
Lets rock
(Nos fuimos lejos, c'mon)
I'm gonna hop on a plane to PR
I'm gonna hop on a plane to PR
They got hot lil mamacitas
They got hot lil mamacitas
You gonna drop all down to PR
You gonna drop all down to PR
We got nice lil señoritas
We got nice lil señoritas
I know you see all them pretty mammas
See all them pretty mammas
See all them pretty mammas
See all them pretty mammas
Up in the house
Up in the house
Up in the house
Up, up in the house
I know you see all them sexy ladies
See all them sexy ladies
See all them sexy ladies
See all them sexy ladies
Shakin' their ass
Shakin' their ass
Shakin' their ass
Sha-, shakin' their ass
I'm your idol, your highest title, numero uno
Yes I'm Puerto Rican, but I'm speaking so that you know ma' y,
Arroz con habichuela siempre you know ma' y
Los que se tiran la tela fina you know ma' y
Welcome to mi casa la melaza
Donde las mujeres son una amenaza
La tumba del reggaetón y la salsa
Jode con mi música a ver lo que pasa
Evil eyes I can see lookin' at me and it happens every day
'Cause I'm young and I'm brown and I talk this way
They might think I'm Carlitos Way, man, give me a break
Don't try to push me 'cause I feel this way (no te calles, dile)
If you don't feel me your soul must beat it (c'mon)
I'm gonna hop on a plane to PR
I'm gonna hop on a plane to PR
They got hot lil mamacitas
They got hot lil mamacitas
You gonna drop all down to PR
You gonna drop all down to PR
We got nice lil señoritas
We got nice lil señoritas
I know you see all them pretty mammas
See all them pretty mammas
See all them pretty mammas
See all them pretty mammas
Up in the house
Up in the house
Up in the house
Up, up in the house
I know you see all them sexy ladies
See all them sexy ladies
See all them sexy ladies
See all them sexy ladies
Shakin' their ass
Shakin' their ass
Shakin' their ass
Sha-, shakin' their ass
(I'm gonna hop) take me down to PR
Where the señoritas are
I can speak a lil Spanish ¿tú cómo está?
¿Mami, quieres bailar? Dime lo que quieres
I got a lil fetish to be dancing with mujeres
Will.i.am chop up the funk like the shredders
When I'm done rocking they be like ay me jefe
Black man raised in the hood with the ese
Mami tiene que pensar be like dame leche
Dame, dame, dame, mami, mami, mami por favor
Por que esta canción es reggaetón
Daddy Yankee, Will.I.Am collaboration on
From P.R. To East Coast rocking on and on
Aprende mi gente, negros, café, we fighting one another
And I'm asking porque'
'Cause Latin's like blacks, and blacks like Latin's
Lets stop fighting, start fuckin what's happening
I'm gonna hop on a plane to PR
I'm gonna hop on a plane to PR
They got hot lil mamacitas
They got hot lil mamacitas
You gonna drop all down to PR
You gonna drop all down to PR
We got nice lil señoritas
We got nice lil señoritas
I know you see all them pretty mammas
See all them pretty mammas
See all them pretty mammas
See all them pretty mammas
Up in the house
Up in the house
Up in the house
Up, up in the house
I know you see all them sexy ladies
See all them sexy ladies
See all them sexy ladies
See all them sexy ladies
Shakin' their ass
Shakin' their ass
Shakin' their ass
Sha-, shakin' their ass
(I'm gonna hop) yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
You know who's this (Daddy)
Daddy Yankee yo
Will.I.Am collaboration
Cartel
The Big Boss, Daddy
Nosotros nos escuchamos en el mundo entero
Nos están escuchando allá en Júpiter
I'm gonna hop
Están escuchando los mundialmente aclamados
Daddy Yankee, Will.I.Am, come on
Here we go now
Here we go now
Here we go now
Here we go now
(Yeah) here we go now
Here we go now
Here we go now
(Yeah) here we go now
And lets rock wit it
Lets rock wit it
Lets rock, lets rock, lets rock wit it
And lets rock wit it
Lets rock wit it
Lets rock
(Nos fuimos lejos, c'mon)
I'm gonna hop on a plane to PR
I'm gonna hop on a plane to PR
They got hot lil mamacitas
They got hot lil mamacitas
You gonna drop all down to PR
You gonna drop all down to PR
We got nice lil señoritas
We got nice lil señoritas
I know you see all them pretty mammas
See all them pretty mammas
See all them pretty mammas
See all them pretty mammas
Up in the house
Up in the house
Up in the house
Up, up in the house
I know you see all them sexy ladies
See all them sexy ladies
See all them sexy ladies
See all them sexy ladies
Shakin' their ass
Shakin' their ass
Shakin' their ass
Sha-, shakin' their ass
I'm your idol, your highest title, numero uno
Yes I'm Puerto Rican, but I'm speaking so that you know ma' y,
Arroz con habichuela siempre you know ma' y
Los que se tiran la tela fina you know ma' y
Welcome to mi casa la melaza
Donde las mujeres son una amenaza
La tumba del reggaetón y la salsa
Jode con mi música a ver lo que pasa
Evil eyes I can see lookin' at me and it happens every day
'Cause I'm young and I'm brown and I talk this way
They might think I'm Carlitos Way, man, give me a break
Don't try to push me 'cause I feel this way (no te calles, dile)
If you don't feel me your soul must beat it (c'mon)
I'm gonna hop on a plane to PR
I'm gonna hop on a plane to PR
They got hot lil mamacitas
They got hot lil mamacitas
You gonna drop all down to PR
You gonna drop all down to PR
We got nice lil señoritas
We got nice lil señoritas
I know you see all them pretty mammas
See all them pretty mammas
See all them pretty mammas
See all them pretty mammas
Up in the house
Up in the house
Up in the house
Up, up in the house
I know you see all them sexy ladies
See all them sexy ladies
See all them sexy ladies
See all them sexy ladies
Shakin' their ass
Shakin' their ass
Shakin' their ass
Sha-, shakin' their ass
(I'm gonna hop) take me down to PR
Where the señoritas are
I can speak a lil Spanish ¿tú cómo está?
¿Mami, quieres bailar? Dime lo que quieres
I got a lil fetish to be dancing with mujeres
Will.i.am chop up the funk like the shredders
When I'm done rocking they be like ay me jefe
Black man raised in the hood with the ese
Mami tiene que pensar be like dame leche
Dame, dame, dame, mami, mami, mami por favor
Por que esta canción es reggaetón
Daddy Yankee, Will.I.Am collaboration on
From P.R. To East Coast rocking on and on
Aprende mi gente, negros, café, we fighting one another
And I'm asking porque'
'Cause Latin's like blacks, and blacks like Latin's
Lets stop fighting, start fuckin what's happening
I'm gonna hop on a plane to PR
I'm gonna hop on a plane to PR
They got hot lil mamacitas
They got hot lil mamacitas
You gonna drop all down to PR
You gonna drop all down to PR
We got nice lil señoritas
We got nice lil señoritas
I know you see all them pretty mammas
See all them pretty mammas
See all them pretty mammas
See all them pretty mammas
Up in the house
Up in the house
Up in the house
Up, up in the house
I know you see all them sexy ladies
See all them sexy ladies
See all them sexy ladies
See all them sexy ladies
Shakin' their ass
Shakin' their ass
Shakin' their ass
Sha-, shakin' their ass
(I'm gonna hop) yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
You know who's this (Daddy)
Daddy Yankee yo
Will.I.Am collaboration
Cartel
The Big Boss, Daddy
Nosotros nos escuchamos en el mundo entero
Nos están escuchando allá en Júpiter
I'm gonna hop
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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,
Punchline
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran sings about missing his former partner and learning important life lessons in the process on “Punchline.” This track tells a story of battling to get rid of emotions for a former lover, whom he now realized might not have loved him the same way. He’s now caught between accepting that fact and learning life lessons from it and going back to beg her for another chance.
Page
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
There aren’t many things that’ll hurt more than giving love a chance against your better judgement only to have your heart crushed yet again. Ed Sheeran tells such a story on “Page.” On this track, he is devastated to have lost his lover and even more saddened by the feeling that he may never move on from this.