"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.
Kelly mountain road
Saw a heavy load
With a sagging heart
And a break apart
Voices in me
Stood as thick as thieves
With no sympathy
For the beggars art
I have passed these pines
'bout a million times
Effortlessly
(effortlessly)
Now I grip the wheel
Fear is what I feel
At the slow unraveling of
(slow unraveling of)
Me
(me)
(ah)
(ah)
But you tell me it's temporary
(tell me it's temporary)
It's a matter of time
(it's a matter of time)
By god
Don't you think I know it's in my mind
(in my mind)
And it's right over left
(right over left)
And healing the then
(healing the then)
I'll soon be to nothing
But I don't know when
Well the way I flee
(daylight)
On my crooked feet
Barn happy horse
(fading)
On a one-track course
Then I self despise
(daylight)
Cryin' out my eyes
'cause the happy trail
(fading)
Led me to remorse,
But the road is long
(but the road is long)
And the song is gone
I blow empty
In my cicada shell
If I saw my choice
(if I saw my choice)
I might find my voice
But I don't know when
(don't know when)
And I just can't tell
(just can't tell)
(ah)
(ah)
You tell me it's temporary
(tell me it's temporary)
It's a matter of time
(it's a matter of time)
By god
Don't you think I know it's in my mind
(in my mind)
It's right over left
(right over left)
And healing the then
(and healing the then)
I'll soon be to nothing
But I don't know when
Deep behind my face
Is a safer place
But old gears are hitched tight
To the gate
It's a daily grind
Waiting to unwind
Till I hear that click
That unlocks my fate
(ah)
(ah)
Yeah
But you tell me it's temporary
(but tell me it's temporary)
And it's a matter of time
(and it's a matter of time)
By god
Don't you think I know it's in my mind
It's right over left
(it's right over left)
And healing the then
(and healing the then)
I'll soon be to nothing
(i'll soon be to nothing)
But I don't know when
I'll soon be to nothing
(i'll soon be to nothing)
But I don't know when
I'll soon be to nothing
But I don't know when
(but I don't know when)
Saw a heavy load
With a sagging heart
And a break apart
Voices in me
Stood as thick as thieves
With no sympathy
For the beggars art
I have passed these pines
'bout a million times
Effortlessly
(effortlessly)
Now I grip the wheel
Fear is what I feel
At the slow unraveling of
(slow unraveling of)
Me
(me)
(ah)
(ah)
But you tell me it's temporary
(tell me it's temporary)
It's a matter of time
(it's a matter of time)
By god
Don't you think I know it's in my mind
(in my mind)
And it's right over left
(right over left)
And healing the then
(healing the then)
I'll soon be to nothing
But I don't know when
Well the way I flee
(daylight)
On my crooked feet
Barn happy horse
(fading)
On a one-track course
Then I self despise
(daylight)
Cryin' out my eyes
'cause the happy trail
(fading)
Led me to remorse,
But the road is long
(but the road is long)
And the song is gone
I blow empty
In my cicada shell
If I saw my choice
(if I saw my choice)
I might find my voice
But I don't know when
(don't know when)
And I just can't tell
(just can't tell)
(ah)
(ah)
You tell me it's temporary
(tell me it's temporary)
It's a matter of time
(it's a matter of time)
By god
Don't you think I know it's in my mind
(in my mind)
It's right over left
(right over left)
And healing the then
(and healing the then)
I'll soon be to nothing
But I don't know when
Deep behind my face
Is a safer place
But old gears are hitched tight
To the gate
It's a daily grind
Waiting to unwind
Till I hear that click
That unlocks my fate
(ah)
(ah)
Yeah
But you tell me it's temporary
(but tell me it's temporary)
And it's a matter of time
(and it's a matter of time)
By god
Don't you think I know it's in my mind
It's right over left
(it's right over left)
And healing the then
(and healing the then)
I'll soon be to nothing
(i'll soon be to nothing)
But I don't know when
I'll soon be to nothing
(i'll soon be to nothing)
But I don't know when
I'll soon be to nothing
But I don't know when
(but I don't know when)
Lyrics submitted by ThePurpleAngel
Soon Be to Nothing Lyrics as written by Emily Ann Saliers Amy Elizabeth Ray
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
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"
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”
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,
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.
The singer is driving the same old route she always does (“I’ve passed these pines ‘bout a million times”), but this time she saw an accident (“a break apart”). She couldn’t be objective didn’t appreciate the theater of life (“no sympathy for the beggar’s art”). It really made the reality of her mortality foremost in her conscious and now she’s afraid of death (“fear is what I feel a the slow unraveling of me”).
Someone tried to tell her that the dark thoughts would pass, but she knows that is wrong (“you tell me it’s temporary … don’t you think I know it’s in my mind”). She’s going to die but, just not when (“I’ll soon to be nothing but I don’t know when”).
The middle part is pretty cryptic. It seems she’s comparing herself to a domesticated animal who is just following the trail, the only way she can go. She’s trying to out run her constant thoughts of death and pretends she’s happy (“well the way I flee … a barn happy horse on a one-track course”). But sometimes she sees the futility and she hates herself because what was supposedly the “happy trail” only brought events that she regretted doing. She’s not done with her journey, though. She has a long way to go, but she’s unhappy (“the song is gone”) and she’s dead inside (“I blow empty in my cicada shell”).
So she thinks about how she can find her identity and retreats to the safety of the internal, but she’s still tied to her old way of thinking and doing. Every day is a battle (“It’s a daily grind”) to go on while she waits for what ever it is that will end her story (“’Till I hear that click that unlocks my fate.”)
So she just keeps going forward (It’s right over left”), and the only consolation is the end will come soon enough (“I’ll soon to be nothing but I don’t know when”).