"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.
Eh yo Hov tell 'em hip hop betta wake up
Yeah turn the motherfuckin' music up
Yeah turn the motherfuckin' music up
Motherfuckers better wake up
Stop sellin' crack to the black
Hope you bought a spare for your flat
Can't accept me talkin' real facts
Down the hill like Janet Jack
I speak what yeah weak mind lacks
Yah heard that
I'm creative to the fullest what you talkin' 'bout Willace 'cause your talkin' never
Kill it
I hear but don't fill it down we realest
Yeah just weet me in the in the village
Yeah I'm a down diva done niva
Y'all not see her he don squeeze into a wife beater
Yep I'm a top leader
I got the Martin Luther King fever
I'ma feed yeah what yah teacher need to breat yeah
It's time to get serious
Black people all areas who gon' carry us it ain't time to bury us
Cause music be our first love
Say I do let's cherish it
If you don't gotta gun (it's alright)
If yah makin' legal money (it's alright)
If you gotta keep yah clothes on (it's alright)
You ain't gotta sell yah lil phone (it's alright)
And yah wheels don't spin (it's alright)
And you gotta wear them jeans again (it's alright)
Yeah if you tried oh well (it's alright)
MC's stop the beef let's sell (it's alright)
Hip hop better wake up the bed to make up
Some of y'all be faker than a dragon make-up
Got issues to take up before we break up
Like Electra let go miss Selida Baker
I love Jocob the jury won't fix my place up
Gotta stay up studio nice to cake up
Now check my flava rich folks is now my neighbors
I got cable now check it how I make my paper
Hip hop don't stop be my life saver
Like Kobe and Shaq if they left Lakers
And like a elevator dj on a cross fader
Black wake up I'll see yeah ass later
If you don't gotta gun (it's alright)
If yeah makin' legal money (it's alright)
If you gotta keep yeah clothes on (it's alright)
You ain't gotta sell yeah lil phone (it's alright)
And yeah wheels don't spin (it's alright)
And you gotta wear them jeans again (it's alright)
Yeah if you tried oh well (it's alright)
MC's stop the beef let's sell (it's alright)
I need rims that don't listen and booming system
First piece of change I see
I'm gon' get one
745 no license to drive
I ain't even gotta home
I gots to live in my ride fuck it
(Rewind)
I can hear myself but I can't feel myself
I want to feel myself like Tweet
745 no license to drive
I ain't even gotta home
I gots to live in my ride fuck it
Couple of karats in my ear won't hurt
Need a nice chain layin on this thousand $ shirt
Evisu cover the rectum
I kick game just like David Beckham
Anybody in my way I wet them
I'ma be this way until the cops come catch 'em
To detective sketch 'em on the sidewalk wit chalk New Yorks infections
Till I got taught a lesson
Couple niggas gone couple wink corrections
And Marie got 10
Tie got 15 nigga even my kin
Got 5 years bringing 19 in
I just think I used to think like them
Now they gotta live through
The pictures that I send 'em in the pen
Hope you don't start yah life where I end
Wake up wake up wake up wake up wake up
Wake up wake up wake up wake up wake up
Wake up wake up wake up wake up wake up
If you don't gotta gun (it's alright)
If yeah makin' legal money (it's alright)
If you gotta keep yeah clothes on (it's alright)
You ain't gotta sell yeah lil' phone (it's alright)
And yeah wheels don't spin (it's alright)
And you gotta wear them jeans again (it's alright)
Yeah if you tried oh well (it's alright)
MC's stop the beef let's sell (it's alright)
Yeah turn the motherfuckin' music up
Yeah turn the motherfuckin' music up
Motherfuckers better wake up
Stop sellin' crack to the black
Hope you bought a spare for your flat
Can't accept me talkin' real facts
Down the hill like Janet Jack
I speak what yeah weak mind lacks
Yah heard that
I'm creative to the fullest what you talkin' 'bout Willace 'cause your talkin' never
Kill it
I hear but don't fill it down we realest
Yeah just weet me in the in the village
Yeah I'm a down diva done niva
Y'all not see her he don squeeze into a wife beater
Yep I'm a top leader
I got the Martin Luther King fever
I'ma feed yeah what yah teacher need to breat yeah
It's time to get serious
Black people all areas who gon' carry us it ain't time to bury us
Cause music be our first love
Say I do let's cherish it
If you don't gotta gun (it's alright)
If yah makin' legal money (it's alright)
If you gotta keep yah clothes on (it's alright)
You ain't gotta sell yah lil phone (it's alright)
And yah wheels don't spin (it's alright)
And you gotta wear them jeans again (it's alright)
Yeah if you tried oh well (it's alright)
MC's stop the beef let's sell (it's alright)
Hip hop better wake up the bed to make up
Some of y'all be faker than a dragon make-up
Got issues to take up before we break up
Like Electra let go miss Selida Baker
I love Jocob the jury won't fix my place up
Gotta stay up studio nice to cake up
Now check my flava rich folks is now my neighbors
I got cable now check it how I make my paper
Hip hop don't stop be my life saver
Like Kobe and Shaq if they left Lakers
And like a elevator dj on a cross fader
Black wake up I'll see yeah ass later
If you don't gotta gun (it's alright)
If yeah makin' legal money (it's alright)
If you gotta keep yeah clothes on (it's alright)
You ain't gotta sell yeah lil phone (it's alright)
And yeah wheels don't spin (it's alright)
And you gotta wear them jeans again (it's alright)
Yeah if you tried oh well (it's alright)
MC's stop the beef let's sell (it's alright)
I need rims that don't listen and booming system
First piece of change I see
I'm gon' get one
745 no license to drive
I ain't even gotta home
I gots to live in my ride fuck it
(Rewind)
I can hear myself but I can't feel myself
I want to feel myself like Tweet
745 no license to drive
I ain't even gotta home
I gots to live in my ride fuck it
Couple of karats in my ear won't hurt
Need a nice chain layin on this thousand $ shirt
Evisu cover the rectum
I kick game just like David Beckham
Anybody in my way I wet them
I'ma be this way until the cops come catch 'em
To detective sketch 'em on the sidewalk wit chalk New Yorks infections
Till I got taught a lesson
Couple niggas gone couple wink corrections
And Marie got 10
Tie got 15 nigga even my kin
Got 5 years bringing 19 in
I just think I used to think like them
Now they gotta live through
The pictures that I send 'em in the pen
Hope you don't start yah life where I end
Wake up wake up wake up wake up wake up
Wake up wake up wake up wake up wake up
Wake up wake up wake up wake up wake up
If you don't gotta gun (it's alright)
If yeah makin' legal money (it's alright)
If you gotta keep yeah clothes on (it's alright)
You ain't gotta sell yeah lil' phone (it's alright)
And yeah wheels don't spin (it's alright)
And you gotta wear them jeans again (it's alright)
Yeah if you tried oh well (it's alright)
MC's stop the beef let's sell (it's alright)
Lyrics submitted by SongMeanings
Wake Up Lyrics as written by Timothy Z. Mosley Melissa A. Elliott
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
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
Bron-Y-Aur Stomp
Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin
This is about bronies. They communicate by stomping.
Just A Little Lovin'
Dusty Springfield
Dusty Springfield
I don't think it's necessarily about sex. It's about wanting to start the day with some love and affection. Maybe a warm cuddle. I'm not alone in interpreting it that way! For example:
"'Just a Little Lovin’ is a timeless country song originally recorded by Eddy Arnold in 1954. The song, written by Eddie Miller and Jimmy Campbell, explores the delicate nuances of love and showcases Arnold’s emotive vocals. It delves into the universal theme of love and how even the smallest gesture of affection can have a profound impact on our lives." https://oldtimemusic.com/the-meaning-behind-the-song-just-a-little-lovin-by-eddy-arnold/
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.
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.