"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.
You found me lost
Loved me like a desert rain
I tried, I fought
But I just don't feel the same
I feel possessed
I speak but can't express
I lay in bed
Replaying life we once lived
Dime dónde voy
Dime dónde fui
I'm going back and forth
Like branches in the breeze
Dime dónde voy
Dime dónde fui
I don't know how to tell you
Tell you
I feel like I'm the outside looking in
When I'm with him
I don't know how to love now, I pretend
When I'm with him
He wanted more than I could ever be
I'm falling back
And you can't even see me
I feel possessed
I can't help but repress
All of the signs
Telling me I'm not fine
Dime dónde voy
Dime dónde fui
I'm driving myself crazy sitting silently
Dime dónde voy
Dime dónde fui
I don't know how to tell you
Tell you
I feel like I'm the outside looking in
When I'm with him
I don't know how to love now, I pretend
When I'm with him
I'm playing a part
It's getting too hard
Awake in the dark
It's too late to tell you
Tell you
I feel like I'm the outside looking in
When I'm with him
I don't know how to love now, I pretend
When I'm with him
Loved me like a desert rain
I tried, I fought
But I just don't feel the same
I feel possessed
I speak but can't express
I lay in bed
Replaying life we once lived
Dime dónde voy
Dime dónde fui
I'm going back and forth
Like branches in the breeze
Dime dónde voy
Dime dónde fui
I don't know how to tell you
Tell you
I feel like I'm the outside looking in
When I'm with him
I don't know how to love now, I pretend
When I'm with him
He wanted more than I could ever be
I'm falling back
And you can't even see me
I feel possessed
I can't help but repress
All of the signs
Telling me I'm not fine
Dime dónde voy
Dime dónde fui
I'm driving myself crazy sitting silently
Dime dónde voy
Dime dónde fui
I don't know how to tell you
Tell you
I feel like I'm the outside looking in
When I'm with him
I don't know how to love now, I pretend
When I'm with him
I'm playing a part
It's getting too hard
Awake in the dark
It's too late to tell you
Tell you
I feel like I'm the outside looking in
When I'm with him
I don't know how to love now, I pretend
When I'm with him
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More Featured Meanings
Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman
Cajun Girl
Little Feat
Little Feat
Overall about difficult moments of disappointment and vulnerability. Having hope and longing, while remaining optimistic for the future. Encourages the belief that with each new morning there is a chance for things to improve.
The chorus offers a glimmer of optimism and a chance at a resolution and redemption in the future.
Captures the rollercoaster of emotions of feeling lost while loving someone who is not there for you, feeling let down and abandoned while waiting for a lover. Lost with no direction, "Now I'm up in the air with the rain in my hair, Nowhere to go, I can go anywhere"
The bridge shows signs of longing and a plea for companionship. The Lyrics express a desire for authentic connection and the importance of Loving someone just as they are. "Just in passing, I'm not asking. That you be anyone but you”
Gentle Hour
Yo La Tengo
Yo La Tengo
This song was originally written by a guy called Peter Gutteridge. He was one of the founders of the "Dunedin Sound" a musical scene in the south of New Zealand in the early 80s. From there it was covered by "The Clean" one of the early bands of that scene (he had originally been a member of in it's early days, writing a couple of their best early songs). The Dunedin sound, and the Clean became popular on american college radio in the mid to late 80s. I guess Yo La Tengo heard that version.
Great version of a great song,
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.
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.
Originally a poem by Sharon Olds. Reads as:
"I wonder now only when it will happen, when the young mother will hear the noise like somebody's pressure cooker down the block, going off. She'll go out on the yard, holding her small daughter in her arms, and there, above the end of the street, in the air above the line of the tress, she will see it rising, lifting up over the horizon, the upper rim of the gold ball, large as a giant planet starting to lift up over ours. She will stand there in the yard holding her daughter, looking at it rise and grow and blossom and rise, and the child will open her arms to it, it will look so beautiful."
I imagine that's what is being read at the end of the song.