"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.
Psychotherapist once claimed I had acute neurosis
Well I only said a couple words and he made his diagnosis
He said I could say whatever I want because I never chose this
So I spat, grinned, then I looked at him and I blew him a glass cold kiss behind
Knows just when I let a bottom be dead
Never too sure if it's the truth or a lie
I'm not asking for your pity, woe is me sarcastically
I'm not losing sleep pathetically while waxing so poetically
But I'm waning waiting alphabetically
As I keep dropping bombs
Dropping bombs
Dropping bombs apologetically
It was a wicked whimpering winter plagued night
When my tongue grew wings and took to flight
The thought had never crossed my mind before that moment
Is the truth so bent, it can't be broken
Jealousy got the best of me and had a conference with the rest of me
And said if this is all that's left for me then there's so little room for regret
Little voice
Little voice
Little voice inside
Said if you don't regret nothing then you might as well be dead
Might as well be dead
So I apologize, mostly to the four of my guys
Who stand behind me on the stage every night
As the mic starts to whisper
And the words start to blister in my mouth, that I know aren't right
I gotta get back to who I was before my last ten years on auto-pilot
It's the mask that quite often starts to eat into your face
So wear it lightly like a cap that can quickly be replaced
I gotta get back to who I was before my last ten years on auto-pilot
So tell me again how my life should have been before I was spineless
Before I gave in
Because everybody thinks it's timeless
Well time's running out
One thing I'll never regret is I never shed my face
Well I only said a couple words and he made his diagnosis
He said I could say whatever I want because I never chose this
So I spat, grinned, then I looked at him and I blew him a glass cold kiss behind
Knows just when I let a bottom be dead
Never too sure if it's the truth or a lie
I'm not asking for your pity, woe is me sarcastically
I'm not losing sleep pathetically while waxing so poetically
But I'm waning waiting alphabetically
As I keep dropping bombs
Dropping bombs
Dropping bombs apologetically
It was a wicked whimpering winter plagued night
When my tongue grew wings and took to flight
The thought had never crossed my mind before that moment
Is the truth so bent, it can't be broken
Jealousy got the best of me and had a conference with the rest of me
And said if this is all that's left for me then there's so little room for regret
Little voice
Little voice
Little voice inside
Said if you don't regret nothing then you might as well be dead
Might as well be dead
So I apologize, mostly to the four of my guys
Who stand behind me on the stage every night
As the mic starts to whisper
And the words start to blister in my mouth, that I know aren't right
I gotta get back to who I was before my last ten years on auto-pilot
It's the mask that quite often starts to eat into your face
So wear it lightly like a cap that can quickly be replaced
I gotta get back to who I was before my last ten years on auto-pilot
So tell me again how my life should have been before I was spineless
Before I gave in
Because everybody thinks it's timeless
Well time's running out
One thing I'll never regret is I never shed my face
Add your thoughts
Log in now to tell us what you think this song means.
Don’t have an account? Create an account with SongMeanings to post comments, submit lyrics, and more. It’s super easy, we promise!
More Featured Meanings
Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman
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.
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.
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.
it should be "glasgow kiss", not glass cold kiss. A glasgow kiss is a headbutt