"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'm gonna take a stab at this
Sure you will be alright
Make a decision with a kiss
Baby I have false spite
And when I trek alone back home
I make sure that I trek in the snow
Would it fall?
Tissue and bones, it was a trick
This isn't a gunfight
Checking it off my list
Unable to rewrite
Five years cast once and far alone
Hope I'm ready, able to make my own
Goodbye
They go, we go, I want you to know what I did, I did
They go, we go, I want you to know what I did, I did
They go, we go, I want you to know what I did, I did
They go, we go, I want you to know what I did, I did
They go, we go, I want you to know what I did, I did
They go, we go, I want you to know what I did, I did
Sure you will be alright
Make a decision with a kiss
Baby I have false spite
And when I trek alone back home
I make sure that I trek in the snow
Would it fall?
Tissue and bones, it was a trick
This isn't a gunfight
Checking it off my list
Unable to rewrite
Five years cast once and far alone
Hope I'm ready, able to make my own
Goodbye
They go, we go, I want you to know what I did, I did
They go, we go, I want you to know what I did, I did
They go, we go, I want you to know what I did, I did
They go, we go, I want you to know what I did, I did
They go, we go, I want you to know what I did, I did
They go, we go, I want you to know what I did, I did
Lyrics submitted by rainandrev, edited by Aesopiano, simoneeb, skizerz, daphne1132, everyotherusernameistaken
Ready, Able Lyrics as written by Edward Droste Christopher Bear
Lyrics © SC PUBLISHING DBA SECRETLY CANADIAN PUB., Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.
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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"
When We Were Young
Blink-182
Blink-182
This is a sequel to 2001's "Reckless Abandon", and features the band looking back on their clumsy youth fondly.
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.
American Town
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran shares a short story of reconnecting with an old flame on “American Town.” The track is about a holiday Ed Sheeran spends with his countrywoman who resides in America. The two are back together after a long period apart, and get around to enjoying a bunch of fun activities while rekindling the flames of their romance.
I’m gonna take a stab at this Surely we’ll be alright Make a decision with a kiss Maybe I have frostbite 1^ Confession-Infidelity, surely she will understand and forgive me, difficult so extremely difficult to admit, it's painful, cold, it hurts... guilt
And when I shuffled on back home I made sure all my tracks in the snow were gone 1^ I went to her, I confessed.. everything, everything, every sorted detail, I made sure all of my tracks in the snow were gone, I didn't leave out anything, not a thing
Tissue and bone it was a tryst 2^ Wow, that's all it was... I meant nothing to him, tissue and bone, I was just another one of his...
This isn’t a gunfight 2^ Whatever, I'm not going to fight it, what's the point, he's made his decision, wow, I'm so done, what's the point, broken, completely broken
Checking it off of my list Unable to write ^2 I don't deserve this, I wash myself clean, I'm through, I have no words to say, promises tossed away
Five years, countless months and a loan ^2 (defenses are up... thinking back to all those years of trusting him, being with him, anger/dismay) I gave him five years of my life, I gave him everything, seriously... seriously!
Hope I’m ready, able to make my own, good home ^1 I need to get it right, and not make the same mistakes, I need to be a better person...
They go we go, I want you to know, what I did I did, They go we go, I want you to know, what I did I did. ^2 Relationships, they go, we do the dance, repeat, All of his confession are repeating, repeating, repeating, in my mind, I look back at him and can't believe what just happen, (the ugliness of sin...)
They go we go, I want you to know, what I did I did, They go we go, I want you to know, what I did I did.
::vocalizing::
They go we go, I want you to know, what I did I did, They go we go, I want you to know, what I did I did.