"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.
I gotcha back, but you best to watch your front
Cause it's the niggas that front, they be pulling stunts
I gotcha back, but you best to watch your front
Cause it's the niggas who front (they be pulling stunts)
I was always taught my do's and don'ts
For do's I did, and for don'ts, I said I won't
I'm from Brooklyn, a place where stars are born
Streets are shot up, apartment buildings are torn
And ripped up, stripped up, shacked up and backed up
From fiends, cause the bosses on the scene, they got it cracked up
Kids are slinging in my lobby
Little Steve and Bobby
Getting paid but it's a life-threatening hobby
Yeah, they still play hide-and-seek
The fiends seek for the crack, and they hide and let the cops peep
Grown folks say they should be out on their own
Before the gangs come and blow up their mom's home
Because they lifestyle is hectic, so fucking hectic
Blaow! Blaow! Blaow! Bullets are ejected
My lifestyle was so far from well
Could've wrote a book with a title "Age 12 and Going Through Hell"
Then I realized the plan
I'm trapped in a deadly video game, with just one man
So I don't only watch my back, I watch my front
Cause it's the niggas who front, they be pulling stunts
Back on the Ave of Lavonia and Bristol with a pistol
Sticking up Pamela and Crystal
You know your town is dangerous when you see the strangest
Kid come home from doing the bid and nothing changes
What is the meaning of CRIME (what?)
Is it Criminals Robbing Innocent Motherfuckers Everytime?
Little shorties take walks to the schoolyard
Trying to solve the puzzles to why is life so hard
Then as soon as they reached the playground, blaow!
Shots ring off and now one of them lay down
It's so hard to escape the gunfire
I wish I could rule it out like an umpire
But it's an everlasting game, and it never cease to exist
Only the players change, so
I gotcha back, but you best to watch your front
Cause it's the niggas that front, they be pulling stunts
I gotcha back, but you best to watch your front
Cause it's the niggas who front (they be pulling stunts)
I gotcha back, but you best to watch your front
Cause it's the niggas that front, they be pulling stunts
I gotcha back, but you best to watch your front
Cause it's the niggas who front (they be pulling stunts)
I gotcha back, but you best to watch your front
Cause it's the niggas that front, they be pulling stunts
I gotcha back, but you best to watch your front
Cause it's the niggas who front (they be pulling stunts)
I gotcha back
I gotcha back so you best to watch your front
Cause it's the niggas who front, that be pulling stunts
I gotcha back but you best to watch your front
It's the niggas who front, that be pulling stunts
Cause it's the niggas that front, they be pulling stunts
I gotcha back, but you best to watch your front
Cause it's the niggas who front (they be pulling stunts)
I was always taught my do's and don'ts
For do's I did, and for don'ts, I said I won't
I'm from Brooklyn, a place where stars are born
Streets are shot up, apartment buildings are torn
And ripped up, stripped up, shacked up and backed up
From fiends, cause the bosses on the scene, they got it cracked up
Kids are slinging in my lobby
Little Steve and Bobby
Getting paid but it's a life-threatening hobby
Yeah, they still play hide-and-seek
The fiends seek for the crack, and they hide and let the cops peep
Grown folks say they should be out on their own
Before the gangs come and blow up their mom's home
Because they lifestyle is hectic, so fucking hectic
Blaow! Blaow! Blaow! Bullets are ejected
My lifestyle was so far from well
Could've wrote a book with a title "Age 12 and Going Through Hell"
Then I realized the plan
I'm trapped in a deadly video game, with just one man
So I don't only watch my back, I watch my front
Cause it's the niggas who front, they be pulling stunts
Back on the Ave of Lavonia and Bristol with a pistol
Sticking up Pamela and Crystal
You know your town is dangerous when you see the strangest
Kid come home from doing the bid and nothing changes
What is the meaning of CRIME (what?)
Is it Criminals Robbing Innocent Motherfuckers Everytime?
Little shorties take walks to the schoolyard
Trying to solve the puzzles to why is life so hard
Then as soon as they reached the playground, blaow!
Shots ring off and now one of them lay down
It's so hard to escape the gunfire
I wish I could rule it out like an umpire
But it's an everlasting game, and it never cease to exist
Only the players change, so
I gotcha back, but you best to watch your front
Cause it's the niggas that front, they be pulling stunts
I gotcha back, but you best to watch your front
Cause it's the niggas who front (they be pulling stunts)
I gotcha back, but you best to watch your front
Cause it's the niggas that front, they be pulling stunts
I gotcha back, but you best to watch your front
Cause it's the niggas who front (they be pulling stunts)
I gotcha back, but you best to watch your front
Cause it's the niggas that front, they be pulling stunts
I gotcha back, but you best to watch your front
Cause it's the niggas who front (they be pulling stunts)
I gotcha back
I gotcha back so you best to watch your front
Cause it's the niggas who front, that be pulling stunts
I gotcha back but you best to watch your front
It's the niggas who front, that be pulling stunts
Lyrics submitted by Richard Enahobo
I Gotcha Back Lyrics as written by Robert F. Diggs Gary E. Grice
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
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"
No Surprises
Radiohead
Radiohead
Same ideas expressed in Fitter, Happier are expressed in this song. We're told to strive for some sort of ideal life, which includes getting a good job, being kind to everyone, finding a partner, getting married, having a couple kids, living in a quiet neighborhood in a nice big house, etc. But in Fitter, Happier the narrator(?) realizes that it's incredibly robotic to live this life. People are being used by those in power "like a pig in a cage on antibiotics"--being pacified with things like new phones and cool gadgets and houses while being sucked dry. On No Surprises, the narrator is realizing how this life is killing him slowly. In the video, his helmet is slowly filling up with water, drowning him. But he's so complacent with it. This is a good summary of the song. This boring, "perfect" life foisted upon us by some higher powers (not spiritual, but political, economic, etc. politicians and businessmen, perhaps) is not the way to live. But there is seemingly no way out but death. He'd rather die peacefully right now than live in this cage. While our lives are often shielded, we're in our own protective bubbles, or protective helmets like the one Thom wears, if we look a little harder we can see all the corruption, lies, manipulation, etc. that is going on in the world, often run by huge yet nearly invisible organizations, corporations, and 'leaders'. It's a very hopeless song because it reflects real life.
Just A Little Lovin'
Dusty Springfield
Dusty Springfield
I don't think it's necessarily about sex. It's about wanting to start the day with some love and affection. Maybe a warm cuddle. I'm not alone in interpreting it that way! For example:
"'Just a Little Lovin’ is a timeless country song originally recorded by Eddy Arnold in 1954. The song, written by Eddie Miller and Jimmy Campbell, explores the delicate nuances of love and showcases Arnold’s emotive vocals. It delves into the universal theme of love and how even the smallest gesture of affection can have a profound impact on our lives." https://oldtimemusic.com/the-meaning-behind-the-song-just-a-little-lovin-by-eddy-arnold/
Amazing
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran tells a story of unsuccessfully trying to feel “Amazing.” This track is about the being weighed down by emotional stress despite valiant attempts to find some positivity in the situation. This track was written by Ed Sheeran from the perspective of his friend. From the track, we see this person fall deeper into the negative thoughts and slide further down the path of mental torment with every lyric.
This song is both philosophical but very down-to-earth. It has the Wu-Tang flavour, tales of the streets and how they teach lessons of life. It's about the many perils of ghetto life and how some get past it and other fall victim to the system. The chorus is great as well. I gotcha back, meaning you got friends to help, but you need to do your part and stay vigilant and prepared for life's many obstacles.