"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.
Keeping myself in my mind
I fell in love with a (ghost and)
I'm gonna keep it (a scary flight)
Fell in love with a (ghost out)
In love with the past but I (said that love)
I fell in love with a (ghost out)
Thinking a lot about (changing light)
Fell in love with a (ghost out)
Trying to learn all the (sadness love)
I went away to a ghost land
And it felt like a perfect dream
I grabbed a hold of two ghost hands
And a voice said, "I'll always be"
You wanna take it, a good friend
Where it could bake in a dollar's light
Then she would hear me at my end
Where we could ever be billion night
Said they could mate in the moonbeams
And there could never be poison, I
Wanted to cherish my ghost gal
Sweetness that carried me up so high
I ran to tell all my dear friends
Of the new love I did find
But when I return to my homeland
I was confused by the changing tide
How can I live with the ghost gal
With the face like I wanna die
And I wasn't sure of my ghost plans
From a distance I heard her cry:
I'm so tired of disappearing
You're so beautiful, you can't hear me
Want to hold you, kiss you, feel me
Climb through the void and eternally cheer me
So I ran away with my ghost gal
I fell in love with a (ghost and)
I'm gonna keep it (a scary flight)
Fell in love with a (ghost out)
In love with the past but I (said that love)
I fell in love with a (ghost out)
Thinking a lot about (changing light)
Fell in love with a (ghost out)
Trying to learn all the (sadness love)
I went away to a ghost land
And it felt like a perfect dream
I grabbed a hold of two ghost hands
And a voice said, "I'll always be"
You wanna take it, a good friend
Where it could bake in a dollar's light
Then she would hear me at my end
Where we could ever be billion night
Said they could mate in the moonbeams
And there could never be poison, I
Wanted to cherish my ghost gal
Sweetness that carried me up so high
I ran to tell all my dear friends
Of the new love I did find
But when I return to my homeland
I was confused by the changing tide
How can I live with the ghost gal
With the face like I wanna die
And I wasn't sure of my ghost plans
From a distance I heard her cry:
I'm so tired of disappearing
You're so beautiful, you can't hear me
Want to hold you, kiss you, feel me
Climb through the void and eternally cheer me
So I ran away with my ghost gal
Lyrics submitted by plenusmerdae, edited by joelio13
Ghost of Books Lyrics as written by David Michael Portner
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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
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"
Mental Istid
Ebba Grön
Ebba Grön
This is one of my favorite songs. https://fnfgo.io
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”
Punchline
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran sings about missing his former partner and learning important life lessons in the process on “Punchline.” This track tells a story of battling to get rid of emotions for a former lover, whom he now realized might not have loved him the same way. He’s now caught between accepting that fact and learning life lessons from it and going back to beg her for another chance.
The lyrics on here are undone and pretty wrong to me, but I have a bit of an interpretation regardless.
I think this song is about having memories/delusions about someone that you love. "Keeping myself in my mind" is a pretty clear intro to this idea. Then especially with the bit that goes:
"I went away to a ghost land And it felt like a perfect dream I grabbed a hold of two ghost hands And a voice said, 'I'll always be'"
... sounds like he's thinking of an ex (or exes) and reminiscing over the good times they had or imagining life with them as if they never broke up. I think "ghost land" basically means a place where these people don't actually exist, like in his mind. I think Avey may be simply thinking about old memories of this ex or exes, but it could also be a type of dream state or psychedelic trip where he encounters all this. Either way, this mental state is really comforting, and it's in a place where they'll always be ("and a voice said, I'll always be").
Then, of course, reality sets in:
"I ran to tell all my dear friends Of the new love I did find But when I return to my homeland I was confused by the changing tide"
and the part that goes:
"I'm so tired of disappearing You're so beautiful, you can't hear me Want to hold you, kiss you, feel me Climb through the void and eternally cheer me"
These thoughts aren't real; the relationships with this person or these people are over. These thoughts he has of them are great but that's simply all he has in reality; he can't actually interact with them, and eventually he must get out of his mind. But there is a sort of longing for it to be a reality ("Want to hold you, kiss you, feel me, climb through the void and eternally cheer me.")
Then, the song ends on a sort of happy note (not really, but kinda). He repeats the line "so I ran away with my ghost gal," accepting the truth that the memories or thoughts he has of this "ghost gal." Dwelling over the want for them to be real is depressing, so the resolution is to just dream over it.
I don't know, but that's what I got out of this song. I love it.
Probably my favorite on the album, even though it is terribly sad.
My interpretation is this song is about his split with his wife (obviously). More specifically it seems like he is being extremely hard on himself. Saying he was in his sort of imaginary world where he thought things would be OK with her, despite being so different.
"I'm so tired of disappearing You're so beautiful You can't hear me Want to hold you Kiss you Feel me Climb through the void and eternally cheer me" My take from this is that Avey is depressed or something of the sort. Sounds like he is disappearing from the relationship despite loving his wife. Second half of the lyrics are easy. He wants to be with her, for her to magically cheer him up.
I have a lot more interpretation, but I don't want to ruin it for anyone else.
PS. Sounds like he is repeating "tape myself in her/my mind" at the first of the song to me. Most of the lyrics are wrong, but it's a pretty good outline.
I really think it's
"I ran to tell all my good friends of the new love that I did find"
and not "I read deep down on my dear friends That the new love that I define"
Keeping myself in my mind
(I fell in love with a) ghost and (I got into bed) trust implied (I fell in love with a) ghost I'm (In love with the breath or the) scent that the (I fell in love with that) ghost I've. (Been thinking a lot about) changing lives (I fell in love with that) ghost I've (Find a little bit) sadness, love
I went away to a ghost land It felt like a perfect dream I grabbed a hold of two ghost hands Heard a voice say I'll always be
Good She needed good friends Where it could ... in a thoughtless line Then she would read me at my ends Where we could have a few billion fights They're like them, they needed new ... And that could never be poison I Wanted to cherish my ghost gal Sweetness that carried me up so high
I ran to tell all my good friends Of the new love that I did find Oh when I returned to my homeland I was confused by the changing tide
How can I live with the ghost gal, with a face like I wanna die? Now all unsure of my ghost plans, from the distance I heard her cry
I'm so tired of disappearing You're so beautiful, you can't hear me Want to hold you, kiss you dearly Climb through the void and eternally cheer me
So I ran away with my ghost gal