"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.
Hideaway, well they'll seat us in the sun
By the way, though you've always been the one
You'll ask your reasons why
What once was yours is mine
My baby is gone
By the way, gonna take me from my man
By the way, though they'll never understand
We'll have a bit of fun
Watchin' everyone pass us by
You'll ask your reasons why
What once was yours is mine
My baby is gone
Hideaway, well they'll seat us in the sun
By the way, though you've always been the one
You'll ask your reasons why
What once was yours is mine
My baby is gone
By the way, gonna take me from my man
By the way, though they'll never understand
We'll have a bit of fun
Watchin' everyone pass us by
You'll ask your reasons why
What once was yours is mine
My baby is gone
By the way, though you've always been the one
You'll ask your reasons why
What once was yours is mine
My baby is gone
By the way, gonna take me from my man
By the way, though they'll never understand
We'll have a bit of fun
Watchin' everyone pass us by
You'll ask your reasons why
What once was yours is mine
My baby is gone
Hideaway, well they'll seat us in the sun
By the way, though you've always been the one
You'll ask your reasons why
What once was yours is mine
My baby is gone
By the way, gonna take me from my man
By the way, though they'll never understand
We'll have a bit of fun
Watchin' everyone pass us by
You'll ask your reasons why
What once was yours is mine
My baby is gone
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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"
I Can't Go To Sleep
Wu-Tang Clan
Wu-Tang Clan
This song is written as the perspective of the boys in the street, as a whole, and what path they are going to choose as they get older and grow into men. (This is why the music video takes place in an orphanage.) The seen, and unseen collective suffering is imbedded in the boys’ mind, consciously or subconsciously, and is haunting them. Which path will the boys choose? Issac Hayes is the voice of reason, maybe God, the angel on his shoulder, or the voice of his forefathers from beyond the grave who can see the big picture and are pleading with the boys not to continue the violence and pattern of killing their brothers, but to rise above. The most beautiful song and has so many levels. Racism towards African Americans in America would not exist if everyone sat down and listened to this song and understood the history behind the words. The power, fear, pleading in RZA and Ghostface voices are genuine and powerful. Issac Hayes’ strong voice makes the perfect strong father figure, who is possibly from beyond the grave.
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.
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.
For some reason, I imagine it to be: "No, you've always been the one" instead of "Know you've always been the one."
Could just be me, though.
I think she is preparing a person who is leaving "Ride away gonna take me from my man". I think when she says "know you've always been the one" and "Know they'll never understand" she is prepping them for those around them that don't understand why the one she loves is leaving, they don't really get their relationship. She tells the one she loves to "Know you've always been the one" because she doesn't want him to forget her or her love. She knows that while he is gone they will be surrounded by people who are making further commitments in their relationships or doing the things the two of them are putting on hold so that he can do whatever it is he is doing "We'll have a bit of fun watching everyone pass us by"
I think this song is about being with someone who is not your significant other. I think it's about cheating but it's justified. Other people cant understand why these people (cheaters) are together ("Gonna take me from my man...No they'll never understand") but they feel like they have always needed to be together, despite what other people say. This song is about heartbreak and needing to be with someone.
I also think it could be about preparing for a journey
I absolutely adore this song. I don't have much an interpretation, I though it's meaning was simply told as a story. It's slow and lovely, my favorite from Where the Wild Things Are soundtrack.
I feel totally connected with this song and "After Hours" by the velvet underground. I think it's about how lonely people feel with personality disorders, and how their world is different from others.
But that's just my interpretation.
I almost completely agree. I think it's about a lonely person singing to herself.<br /> You'll ask your reasons why<br /> What once was yours is mine<br /> My baby's gone<br /> I think that line makes more sense that way.