"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.
Man, I've been riding through the country for a while now
Ain't nothing like home, but y'all make everywhere fell like home for me
Let's go
They say home is where you hang your hat
But it's hard when you a music man
Gotta give my heart and soul every night to another fan
From Alabama out to Texas up to Washington
Then headin' home to wash some clothes and do it all again
Gotta head to Chattanooga, Knoxville, and to VA
To by god West Virginia country folks come out to play
Run down to North Carolina make a stop in Greenville
Head on over to Myrtle Beach, House Of Blues y'all know the deal
Everyday another place, every night another show
From Mississippi to Missouri man I gotta go
See every night is different, but really it's all the same
It's all about the fans, hell y'all can keep the fame
I spend my life on the road but I never feel alone
I can have a mansion on a hill but it's only brick and stone
I love small towns and I love big crowds, I guess that's just how I roll
'Cause I'm surrounded by the people that I love and that's what I call home
Headin' out to Billy Bob then hit Louisianan
Take off to Arkansas so I can spill some country grammar
Run out to Kansas city then visit Illinois
Country folks are everywhere y'all better make some country noise
Head up to Michigan then maybe Montreal
Step off in New York City so I can holla hey y'all
Head out to California I love some Arizona
Vegas and Oregon they always have some country fun
Stop in Oklahoma Wyoming and Nebraska
North and South Dakota, might even hit up Alaska
Wisconsin Minnesota, Iowa, and of course Kentucky
Ohio Pennsylvania, Georgia, Florida damn I'm lucky
I'll stop in Indiana or maybe Idaho
I love it in Montana and Colorado
No matter where I go, no matter where I roam
I truly love all y'all, you make it feel like home
I spend my life on the road but I never feel alone
I can have a mansion on a hill but it's only brick and stone
I love small towns and I love big crowds, I guess that's just how I roll
'Cause I'm surrounded by the people that I love and that's what I call home
Man every night I get to play music
For the greatest fans in the whole wide world
And I'm a keep on doin' what Colt Ford does
Cause that's all I know how to do
So whenever I come to your town out of the woods to that big city
Just remember it will be just like going home
Let's go
I spend my life on the road but I never feel alone
I can have a mansion on a hill but it's only brick and stone
I love small towns and I love big crowds, I guess that's just how I roll
Cause I'm surrounded by the people that I love and that's what I call home
I spend my life on the road but I never feel alone
I can have a mansion on a hill but it's only brick and stone
I love small towns and I love big crowds, I guess that's just how I roll
'Cause I'm surrounded by the people that I love and that's what I call home
Ain't nothing like home, but y'all make everywhere fell like home for me
Let's go
They say home is where you hang your hat
But it's hard when you a music man
Gotta give my heart and soul every night to another fan
From Alabama out to Texas up to Washington
Then headin' home to wash some clothes and do it all again
Gotta head to Chattanooga, Knoxville, and to VA
To by god West Virginia country folks come out to play
Run down to North Carolina make a stop in Greenville
Head on over to Myrtle Beach, House Of Blues y'all know the deal
Everyday another place, every night another show
From Mississippi to Missouri man I gotta go
See every night is different, but really it's all the same
It's all about the fans, hell y'all can keep the fame
I spend my life on the road but I never feel alone
I can have a mansion on a hill but it's only brick and stone
I love small towns and I love big crowds, I guess that's just how I roll
'Cause I'm surrounded by the people that I love and that's what I call home
Headin' out to Billy Bob then hit Louisianan
Take off to Arkansas so I can spill some country grammar
Run out to Kansas city then visit Illinois
Country folks are everywhere y'all better make some country noise
Head up to Michigan then maybe Montreal
Step off in New York City so I can holla hey y'all
Head out to California I love some Arizona
Vegas and Oregon they always have some country fun
Stop in Oklahoma Wyoming and Nebraska
North and South Dakota, might even hit up Alaska
Wisconsin Minnesota, Iowa, and of course Kentucky
Ohio Pennsylvania, Georgia, Florida damn I'm lucky
I'll stop in Indiana or maybe Idaho
I love it in Montana and Colorado
No matter where I go, no matter where I roam
I truly love all y'all, you make it feel like home
I spend my life on the road but I never feel alone
I can have a mansion on a hill but it's only brick and stone
I love small towns and I love big crowds, I guess that's just how I roll
'Cause I'm surrounded by the people that I love and that's what I call home
Man every night I get to play music
For the greatest fans in the whole wide world
And I'm a keep on doin' what Colt Ford does
Cause that's all I know how to do
So whenever I come to your town out of the woods to that big city
Just remember it will be just like going home
Let's go
I spend my life on the road but I never feel alone
I can have a mansion on a hill but it's only brick and stone
I love small towns and I love big crowds, I guess that's just how I roll
Cause I'm surrounded by the people that I love and that's what I call home
I spend my life on the road but I never feel alone
I can have a mansion on a hill but it's only brick and stone
I love small towns and I love big crowds, I guess that's just how I roll
'Cause I'm surrounded by the people that I love and that's what I call home
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
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”
Mountain Song
Jane's Addiction
Jane's Addiction
Jane's Addiction vocalist Perry Farrell gives Adam Reader some heartfelt insight into Jane’s Addiction's hard rock manifesto "Mountain Song", which was the second single from their revolutionary album Nothing's Shocking. Mountain song was first recorded in 1986 and appeared on the soundtrack to the film Dudes starring Jon Cryer. The version on Nothing's Shocking was re-recorded in 1988.
"'Mountain Song' was actually about... I hate to say it but... drugs. Climbing this mountain and getting as high as you can, and then coming down that mountain," reveals Farrell. "What it feels to descend from the mountain top... not easy at all. The ascension is tough but exhilarating. Getting down is... it's a real bummer. Drugs is not for everybody obviously. For me, I wanted to experience the heights, and the lows come along with it."
"There's a part - 'Cash in now honey, cash in Miss Smith.' Miss Smith is my Mother; our last name was Smith. Cashing in when she cashed in her life. So... she decided that, to her... at that time, she was desperate. Life wasn't worth it for her, that was her opinion. Some people think, never take your life, and some people find that their life isn't worth living. She was in love with my Dad, and my Dad was not faithful to her, and it broke her heart. She was very desperate and she did something that I know she regrets."
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,
Magical
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
How would you describe the feeling of being in love? For Ed Sheeran, the word is “Magical.” in HIS three-minute album opener, he makes an attempt to capture the beauty and delicacy of true love with words. He describes the magic of it all over a bright Pop song produced by Aaron Dessner.