"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.
Moving in and out of the shadow
It's no easy mission, holding on to how I picture you
Showing only bits and pieces
'Til the light betray you and your empty elocution
Searching your eyes for a hint or a trace of humility
Searching your eyes for the saint is an act of futility
Searching your eyes for a hint or a trace
I've been searching your eyes for humility
Searching your eyes for a hint or a trace
I'm still searching, searching
Showing only bits and pieces
'Til the tide betrays you and your empty elocution
Float the Piper by and down the river
Carcass crippled underneath the pounding waves of adoration
Pied Piper, float on down the river
Bloated carcass crippled 'neath the weight of adoration
Moving in and out of the shadow
It's no easy mission, holding on to how I picture you
It's no easy mission, holding on to how I picture you
Showing only bits and pieces
'Til the light betray you and your empty elocution
Searching your eyes for a hint or a trace of humility
Searching your eyes for the saint is an act of futility
Searching your eyes for a hint or a trace
I've been searching your eyes for humility
Searching your eyes for a hint or a trace
I'm still searching, searching
Showing only bits and pieces
'Til the tide betrays you and your empty elocution
Float the Piper by and down the river
Carcass crippled underneath the pounding waves of adoration
Pied Piper, float on down the river
Bloated carcass crippled 'neath the weight of adoration
Moving in and out of the shadow
It's no easy mission, holding on to how I picture you
Lyrics submitted by Punkfunkbuzz, edited by projectdnz, NoL, abunaiYo!, BlanketEffect
By and Down Lyrics as written by Maynard James Keenan Billy Howerdel
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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Fast Car
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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"
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Page
Ed Sheeran
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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.
Fixed.
I think the song meaning has something to do with desperately trying to place a meaning to a dead 'hero' who isn't what he/she used to be anymore.