"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.
Let me tell you what priceless is, some advice to give
A sacrifice is what I made for the wife and kids
They say life's a bitch, but it's one life to live
I want my baby where that cake and the icing is
Out of them crisis-es, off of them vices-es
They see what we do and grow up in our likenesses
Really I don't wanna see 'em having to fight for this
Story of the family biz, I'ma rewrite the script
Daughter of a hip-hopper, hustla like her grandpoppa
Her destiny done been determined so you can't stop her
From being independent, earning paper and proper
More like a lawyer or a doctor, not a man-watcher
That's where your man got ya, it's a big world out'chea
I'm tryna make a black diamond or a pearl out'chea
And hip the people to the way the world twirl out'chea
And when I thank heaven for my little girl
Please let her be a hustla, baby be a hustla
Hope my baby girl grows up to be a hustla
Better be a hustla, baby be a hustla
If not, then you're only a customer
Please let him be a hustla, baby be a hustla
Hope my baby boy grows up to be a hustla
Better be a hustla, baby be a hustla
If not, then you're only a customer
Sugar Slim, I'm slicker than a squid, nigga no kids
No baby mama, Sugar free from the drama
Sugar be where he wanna, no sweat like a sauna
No judge, your honor can't tell me to raise mine
Figured that in due time, if and when I do find
True love, boo'd up, maybe you can blue-line
Ooh, I'm caught up in the moment for the meantime
G, I'm all about the green like tree pines
See I'm tryna get the scratch like a feline
Hopin' that my seed don't know the struggle like me, I'm
Hustlin' to make a buck, make a buck and fuck it up
Fuck it up and suck it up then go and make another buck
Get the money, get the money, that's what I know
I'm hopin' that my seeds know a little more than I know
I know, I know, but baby this what I know
If we ever settle down, well baby, this what I hope
Please let her be a hustla, baby be a hustla
Hope my baby girl grows up to be a hustla
Better be a hustla, baby be a hustla
If not, then you're only a customer
Please let him be a hustla, baby be a hustla
Hope my baby boy grows up to be a hustla
Better be a hustla, baby be a hustla
If not, then you're only a customer
A sacrifice is what I made for the wife and kids
They say life's a bitch, but it's one life to live
I want my baby where that cake and the icing is
Out of them crisis-es, off of them vices-es
They see what we do and grow up in our likenesses
Really I don't wanna see 'em having to fight for this
Story of the family biz, I'ma rewrite the script
Daughter of a hip-hopper, hustla like her grandpoppa
Her destiny done been determined so you can't stop her
From being independent, earning paper and proper
More like a lawyer or a doctor, not a man-watcher
That's where your man got ya, it's a big world out'chea
I'm tryna make a black diamond or a pearl out'chea
And hip the people to the way the world twirl out'chea
And when I thank heaven for my little girl
Please let her be a hustla, baby be a hustla
Hope my baby girl grows up to be a hustla
Better be a hustla, baby be a hustla
If not, then you're only a customer
Please let him be a hustla, baby be a hustla
Hope my baby boy grows up to be a hustla
Better be a hustla, baby be a hustla
If not, then you're only a customer
Sugar Slim, I'm slicker than a squid, nigga no kids
No baby mama, Sugar free from the drama
Sugar be where he wanna, no sweat like a sauna
No judge, your honor can't tell me to raise mine
Figured that in due time, if and when I do find
True love, boo'd up, maybe you can blue-line
Ooh, I'm caught up in the moment for the meantime
G, I'm all about the green like tree pines
See I'm tryna get the scratch like a feline
Hopin' that my seed don't know the struggle like me, I'm
Hustlin' to make a buck, make a buck and fuck it up
Fuck it up and suck it up then go and make another buck
Get the money, get the money, that's what I know
I'm hopin' that my seeds know a little more than I know
I know, I know, but baby this what I know
If we ever settle down, well baby, this what I hope
Please let her be a hustla, baby be a hustla
Hope my baby girl grows up to be a hustla
Better be a hustla, baby be a hustla
If not, then you're only a customer
Please let him be a hustla, baby be a hustla
Hope my baby boy grows up to be a hustla
Better be a hustla, baby be a hustla
If not, then you're only a customer
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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"
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,
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.
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.
This track is amazing. I hadn't heard of Sugar Tongue Slim before this track, but his flow is incredible.