"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.
Dark eyes on a dangerous face you are a beautiful killer
We pass by the same old place you are a (beautiful killer)
You don't have a life, you have blood on your hands
You can sleep at night and I don't understand
I don't know much about you are a wanted man
You can call my name and I'll be a around
Maybe I'll let you shoot me down
'Cause you're a beautiful killer with a beautiful face
A beautiful killer and you won't leave a trace
Do you know the reasons why you are a beautiful killer?
Hurt yourself but you never die, you are a (beautiful killer)
I like your silhouette when you stand on the streets
Like a samurai you can handle the heat
Makes me wanna pray for a haunted man
You can call my name and I'll be a around
Maybe I'll let you shoot me down
'Cause you're a beautiful killer with a beautiful face
A beautiful killer and you won't leave a trace
Can't really talk with a gun in my mouth
Maybe that's what you been dreaming about
'Cause your a beautiful killer with beautiful eyes
A beautiful killer and I love your disguise
(Beautiful killer)
You changed the past
Good guys always finish last
What happens now?
I need to know how the story goes
Are we together?
I love you forever
You can call my name and I'll be around
Maybe I'll let you shoot me down
You can call my name and I'll be around
Maybe I'll let you shoot me down
'Cause you're a beautiful killer with a beautiful face
A beautiful killer and you won't leave a trace
Can't really talk with a gun in my mouth
Maybe that's what you been dreaming about
'Cause your a beautiful killer with beautiful eyes
A beautiful killer and I love your disguise
You're a beautiful killer, but you'll never be Alain Delon
We pass by the same old place you are a (beautiful killer)
You don't have a life, you have blood on your hands
You can sleep at night and I don't understand
I don't know much about you are a wanted man
You can call my name and I'll be a around
Maybe I'll let you shoot me down
'Cause you're a beautiful killer with a beautiful face
A beautiful killer and you won't leave a trace
Do you know the reasons why you are a beautiful killer?
Hurt yourself but you never die, you are a (beautiful killer)
I like your silhouette when you stand on the streets
Like a samurai you can handle the heat
Makes me wanna pray for a haunted man
You can call my name and I'll be a around
Maybe I'll let you shoot me down
'Cause you're a beautiful killer with a beautiful face
A beautiful killer and you won't leave a trace
Can't really talk with a gun in my mouth
Maybe that's what you been dreaming about
'Cause your a beautiful killer with beautiful eyes
A beautiful killer and I love your disguise
(Beautiful killer)
You changed the past
Good guys always finish last
What happens now?
I need to know how the story goes
Are we together?
I love you forever
You can call my name and I'll be around
Maybe I'll let you shoot me down
You can call my name and I'll be around
Maybe I'll let you shoot me down
'Cause you're a beautiful killer with a beautiful face
A beautiful killer and you won't leave a trace
Can't really talk with a gun in my mouth
Maybe that's what you been dreaming about
'Cause your a beautiful killer with beautiful eyes
A beautiful killer and I love your disguise
You're a beautiful killer, but you'll never be Alain Delon
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More Featured Meanings
Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
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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"
When We Were Young
Blink-182
Blink-182
This is a sequel to 2001's "Reckless Abandon", and features the band looking back on their clumsy youth fondly.
Punchline
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran sings about missing his former partner and learning important life lessons in the process on “Punchline.” This track tells a story of battling to get rid of emotions for a former lover, whom he now realized might not have loved him the same way. He’s now caught between accepting that fact and learning life lessons from it and going back to beg her for another chance.
Head > Heels
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
“Head > Heels” is a track that aims to capture what it feels like to experience romance that exceeds expectations. Ed Sheeran dedicates his album outro to a lover who has blessed him with a unique experience that he seeks to describe through the song’s nuanced lyrics.
This song basically talks about a sexually submissive woman, who's in love with someone who seems to be untouchable and mysterious.