"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.
Can you cut that tendon at the back of my hip
I can’t run away, my bones congeal
The stakes are simple, shit and bile
But you just don’t get it (No you just don’t get it)
You must hook up with me for a year round summer
’Cos when the cold comes, you stay and sit number
But I’m sure ice would melt in your glove
And you just don’t get it (No you just don’t get it)
And it just can’t hurt any worse than before
Strike a match and bolt the door
You get nothing back ‘cos you’re gonna go down
By my own hand (By my own hand)
By my own hand (By my own hand) Yeh
So I’m one bad gig out of the Jason recliner
One bad song and I’m back at the diner
Yeh, eating your scraps, cleanin’ your crap
But you just don’t get it (You want chips with that?)
I hate your ambition, hell I even hate mine
Makes me holograms and little things and water out of wine
But you won, yeh hon, well fuck it I’m done
And I just don’t get it (No you just don’t get it)
And it just can’t hurt any worse than before
You get it now, I was nothing more
You get nothing more, you’re gonna go down
By my own hand (By my own hand)
By my own hand (By my own hand)
Pills for pills sake (pills for pills sake)
Liquor for God sake (liquor for God sake)
Your tryin’ to fix a shark wound
With a cotton ball, Yeh
My own hand (By my own hand)
My own hand (By my own hand)
So get me to the airport and throw me on a plane
Do the sentimental tango and send me off again
I’ll bounce right back ‘cos I’m gonna go down
By my own hand (By my own hand)
By my own hand (By my own hand) Yeh
Bring on the new sound
I can’t run away, my bones congeal
The stakes are simple, shit and bile
But you just don’t get it (No you just don’t get it)
You must hook up with me for a year round summer
’Cos when the cold comes, you stay and sit number
But I’m sure ice would melt in your glove
And you just don’t get it (No you just don’t get it)
And it just can’t hurt any worse than before
Strike a match and bolt the door
You get nothing back ‘cos you’re gonna go down
By my own hand (By my own hand)
By my own hand (By my own hand) Yeh
So I’m one bad gig out of the Jason recliner
One bad song and I’m back at the diner
Yeh, eating your scraps, cleanin’ your crap
But you just don’t get it (You want chips with that?)
I hate your ambition, hell I even hate mine
Makes me holograms and little things and water out of wine
But you won, yeh hon, well fuck it I’m done
And I just don’t get it (No you just don’t get it)
And it just can’t hurt any worse than before
You get it now, I was nothing more
You get nothing more, you’re gonna go down
By my own hand (By my own hand)
By my own hand (By my own hand)
Pills for pills sake (pills for pills sake)
Liquor for God sake (liquor for God sake)
Your tryin’ to fix a shark wound
With a cotton ball, Yeh
My own hand (By my own hand)
My own hand (By my own hand)
So get me to the airport and throw me on a plane
Do the sentimental tango and send me off again
I’ll bounce right back ‘cos I’m gonna go down
By my own hand (By my own hand)
By my own hand (By my own hand) Yeh
Bring on the new sound
Lyrics submitted by blood is thin
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
Bron-Y-Aur Stomp
Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin
This is about bronies. They communicate by stomping.
Holiday
Bee Gees
Bee Gees
@[Diderik:33655] "Your a holiday!" Was a popular term used in the 50s/60s to compliment someone on their all around. For example, not only are they beautiful, but they are fun and kind too ... just an all around "holiday".
I think your first comment is closer to being accurate. The singer/song writers state "Millions of eyes can see, yet why am i so blind!? When the someone else is me, its unkind its unkind". I believe hes referring to the girl toying with him and using him. He wants something deeper with her, thats why he allows himself to be as a puppet (even though for her fun and games) as long as it makes her happy. But he knows deep down that she doesnt really want to be serious with him and thats what makes him.
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.