"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.
Some are reaching, few are there
Want to reign from a hero's chair
Some are scared to fly so high
Well this is how we have to try
Have no envy and no fear
Have no envy and no fear
Brother, brother we all see
You're hiding out so painfully
See yourself, come out to play
A lover's rain will wash away
Your envy and your fear
So have no envy and no fear
When your sister turns to leave
Only when she's most in need
Take away the cause of pain
By showing her we're all the same
Have no envy and no fear
Have no envy and no fear
Every day we try to find
Search our hearts and our minds
The place we used to call our home
Can't be found when we're alone
So have no envy, no fear
Have no envy and no fear
Want to reign from a hero's chair
Some are scared to fly so high
Well this is how we have to try
Have no envy and no fear
Have no envy and no fear
Brother, brother we all see
You're hiding out so painfully
See yourself, come out to play
A lover's rain will wash away
Your envy and your fear
So have no envy and no fear
When your sister turns to leave
Only when she's most in need
Take away the cause of pain
By showing her we're all the same
Have no envy and no fear
Have no envy and no fear
Every day we try to find
Search our hearts and our minds
The place we used to call our home
Can't be found when we're alone
So have no envy, no fear
Have no envy and no fear
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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"
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.
Head > Heels
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
“Head > Heels” is a track that aims to capture what it feels like to experience romance that exceeds expectations. Ed Sheeran dedicates his album outro to a lover who has blessed him with a unique experience that he seeks to describe through the song’s nuanced lyrics.
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.
I actually went to a josh radin concert and he said this songs is about when he first moved to LA and joined a group of emerging song writers and musicians. Ultimately it describes his personal journey as he comes to evolve into the person he is today.
this song is so pure. it's a beautiful way of putting things in perspective. and it's a great motto.
I really can't find the words to say how much I love this song and this singer.
i love this song.
the first time i heard this song, these lyrics were the ones that spoke to me most:
"Brother brother we all see You're hiding out so painfully See yourself come out to play"
and
"When your sister turns to leave Only when she's most in need Take away the cause of pain By showing her we're all the same "
they made me think about how people who are gay feel the need to hide the truth from people, for the fear of being criticized, and also envy towards the "normal" people who have absolutely nothing to worry about... :/
i agree with ilvdv about those two stanzas, even if it isnt what he actually meant when he wrote it. but interpretation is extremely versitile. either way, it adds to the overall message
i dedicated this song to my fiance over the radio, i feel like it was perfect because hes been 3 years sober, he was into drugs badly and he almost cried hearing it :)
This song always makes me think of the passage in 1 Corinthians people read a lot at religious weddings. “Love is patient, Love is kind, it does not envy it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others...”
Joshua Radin does such a good job in all of his songs of leading listeners to empathize and feel exactly what he’s trying to communicate. In this song he’s encouraging all of us to love one another not simply as an act but as a way of life. Let go of all the ill will you’re holding against anyone and we can all share a better world.