"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.
Well I bit on my lip, and I kicked at my toes
No, I don't need your lecture cause your lecture won't show
That you told me so I told you so
But I would have managed, I would have been fine
I'd do it myself and I'd do it just my way,
I'm a big man for thinking just so.
But somebody told me that your mother was born
Wa-wa-wandering woman with a spirit so sworn of the riverside
And it never surprised me but it meant that my love was immobilized
Well, it meant that my love was immobilized
Cause when it comes, it comes when it does.
But you came in the middle and you fell in my hands
Oh a, wonderful woman and an average man.
See that makes me the lucky man
I won't be deserving, but I won't be denied
See, I fell in this position, I will still teach my kids pride
Because failure's a part of it all
And if failure don't hurt then failure don't work at all
But somebody told me that your nephew was born
Oh, a beautiful baby, so smart and so sure of his little self
And in a wonderful way he was making me feel so small
Was making me feel so small, was making me feel so small.
And I don't think I've felt this before.
In all the reasons to come, well they override my body and,
I point to the sun, cause where it's warm is where the wilderness grows
And it grows, and it grows 'til it all becomes nothing
And nothing is left as you know.
(We walked it for a thousand years, with broken eyes and salted ears
Complaining 'bout the weather like we ever had a choice.
Through all the noise and self abuse, you waited for your fill of truth
Oh I'm terrified I'll achieve nothing at all.)
No, I don't need your lecture cause your lecture won't show
That you told me so I told you so
But I would have managed, I would have been fine
I'd do it myself and I'd do it just my way,
I'm a big man for thinking just so.
But somebody told me that your mother was born
Wa-wa-wandering woman with a spirit so sworn of the riverside
And it never surprised me but it meant that my love was immobilized
Well, it meant that my love was immobilized
Cause when it comes, it comes when it does.
But you came in the middle and you fell in my hands
Oh a, wonderful woman and an average man.
See that makes me the lucky man
I won't be deserving, but I won't be denied
See, I fell in this position, I will still teach my kids pride
Because failure's a part of it all
And if failure don't hurt then failure don't work at all
But somebody told me that your nephew was born
Oh, a beautiful baby, so smart and so sure of his little self
And in a wonderful way he was making me feel so small
Was making me feel so small, was making me feel so small.
And I don't think I've felt this before.
In all the reasons to come, well they override my body and,
I point to the sun, cause where it's warm is where the wilderness grows
And it grows, and it grows 'til it all becomes nothing
And nothing is left as you know.
(We walked it for a thousand years, with broken eyes and salted ears
Complaining 'bout the weather like we ever had a choice.
Through all the noise and self abuse, you waited for your fill of truth
Oh I'm terrified I'll achieve nothing at all.)
Lyrics submitted by SukkaFish92
Big Man Lyrics as written by Jacob Tarasenko David Hosking
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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More Featured Meanings
Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman
Holiday
Bee Gees
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@[Diderik:33655] "Your a holiday!" Was a popular term used in the 50s/60s to compliment someone on their all around. For example, not only are they beautiful, but they are fun and kind too ... just an all around "holiday".
I think your first comment is closer to being accurate. The singer/song writers state "Millions of eyes can see, yet why am i so blind!? When the someone else is me, its unkind its unkind". I believe hes referring to the girl toying with him and using him. He wants something deeper with her, thats why he allows himself to be as a puppet (even though for her fun and games) as long as it makes her happy. But he knows deep down that she doesnt really want to be serious with him and thats what makes him.
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."
I Can't Go To Sleep
Wu-Tang Clan
Wu-Tang Clan
This song is written as the perspective of the boys in the street, as a whole, and what path they are going to choose as they get older and grow into men. (This is why the music video takes place in an orphanage.) The seen, and unseen collective suffering is imbedded in the boys’ mind, consciously or subconsciously, and is haunting them. Which path will the boys choose? Issac Hayes is the voice of reason, maybe God, the angel on his shoulder, or the voice of his forefathers from beyond the grave who can see the big picture and are pleading with the boys not to continue the violence and pattern of killing their brothers, but to rise above. The most beautiful song and has so many levels. Racism towards African Americans in America would not exist if everyone sat down and listened to this song and understood the history behind the words. The power, fear, pleading in RZA and Ghostface voices are genuine and powerful. Issac Hayes’ strong voice makes the perfect strong father figure, who is possibly from beyond the grave.
Plastic Bag
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
“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.
I think this song is about growing and learning and loving life for what it is and not trying to be something or rather make it something it is not.
I think this song is about life and its cycles; i.e., people are born and the wilderness grows, but then "it all becomes nothing" and things change. Life has its struggles ("failure," "self-abuse," "broken eyes," etc.) and its worries ("I'm terrified I'll achieve nothing"), but it also has good points ("love" and "wonderful" people who come into our lives?). I also agree that the song is about accepting life how it is ("like we ever had a choice"...there are some things we can't change). Accepting life includes knowing there will be hard times (brokenness, "noise and self-abuse," and little things we complain about) but also focusing on the good things too ("point to the sun," acknowledging how "lucky" you are, etc.). That's just my opinion though.
Well I thought about this, and I'll tell you right now, No, I think it's discussing how typical blokes hides, Their feelings in front of us all. But it shows here a glimpse, and gives just a clue, About that typical man, and what he might do, When he feels it's time to show it all.
But somebody mentioned that things always change About the ups and downs and all those pressures as they fade And it really hit me when I realised we're part of it all Well, as expected we are part of it all Cause we're one and one looks for us all.
In all those lyrics to come, well one line stands out and, Prevents us to run, cause as humans all we want to do is grow, And we grow, and we grow 'till we all become nothing, And our achievements in life are just so.
(We blokey blokes hide our tears, from expectations through the years, Think every step's a failure like we've made the wrong choice. Through all that mess and stuff we use, we're really just as soft as you Oh we're terrified we'll achieve nothing at all.)
It's hard to squeeze meaning into a structured verse! The last line of this song really haunts me, and has done for a fair while, and is really what all the above is coming from (over dramatised for creative licence)! There is much more to it than just that, but I feel this is the most hard hitting point for me.