"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.
Wants to kill me something
He wants to kill me off of the street
Don't wipe my tongue
Or spread me up and break me a fever
Give me something I can believe in
Give me something to walk me away
I'm a waste of time
And all they are a waste of a living
Waste of a living
Can't you see me walking the hall
I've been down to the haunted back
And I'm way too tired
Of blowing out the burning candle
I got no money but I want you so
I got no money but I want you so
I got so much I can not handle
Can not handle
I can not handle
And I'm just pissing around
Cut me loose of this fucking town
I ain't coming back
I got my ticket on to the next one
I got no money but I want you so
I got no money but I want you so
And I want and I want and I want and I want it
He wants to kill me off of the street
Don't wipe my tongue
Or spread me up and break me a fever
Give me something I can believe in
Give me something to walk me away
I'm a waste of time
And all they are a waste of a living
Waste of a living
Can't you see me walking the hall
I've been down to the haunted back
And I'm way too tired
Of blowing out the burning candle
I got no money but I want you so
I got no money but I want you so
I got so much I can not handle
Can not handle
I can not handle
And I'm just pissing around
Cut me loose of this fucking town
I ain't coming back
I got my ticket on to the next one
I got no money but I want you so
I got no money but I want you so
And I want and I want and I want and I want it
Lyrics submitted by llscience, edited by Fortunatus
No Money Lyrics as written by Ivan Nathan Followill Anthony Caleb Followill
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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“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.
This is one of my favorites on Come Around Sundown. It seems like he's a man fighting within himself. Looking back on the days before success, and the days since, and not fully able to say he was happy then, or happy now. He went from no money to having so much he can't handle it. It's been a long journey ("I've been down to the horns and back") but he knows it's not over yet, he's sick of getting older ("blowing out the burning candles"), and really just looking for a stable life and something to feel good about. Don't be so sad Caleb, you are definitely not a waste of a living!
I think there are a few mistakes in these lyrics. In the last verse I think he says, "I got my check, on to the next one," and I'm positive that it changes to: "I got my money, but I want you so." My interpretation of this song is that he could be talking about music. He wants music to give him what he needs (happiness and self-fulfillment) and to get him "off the street" (with money, of course). He feels like he's trapped in a nowhere town and people (possibly even his family) have been telling him he's a waste, who won't amount to anything. He feels as if he's been through hell and back (probably working dead end jobs), and the years are passing by with nothing changing. He wants to pursue music, but he knows that he is broke. It takes money to make music, and this type of career is definitely not promised. Much to his surprise, he actually makes it and now has so much money that he doesn't know what to do with it. So he has his money and he's ready to move away from his shitty life back home. When he says, "I got my money, but I want you so," I think he's referring to that fact that music has made him so much money that he could indeed quit, but he just loves it so much (no matter how exhausting the touring and all may be) that he just can't quite give it up.
fantastic song :) This album is AMAZING x