"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.
I got this old guitar
The strings are rusty
But it's all I need
Bring in the kick drum
It can back the beat
Let's gather round and sing a song
I got a shaker too
The kinds of sound
That wants to make you move
Bring in the uke
It will complete the groove
Let's gather round and sing a song
There's no worries on the earth tonight
We're all walkin' off the world tonight
Come on now everyone yeah
Come on now everyone
We're like a locomotive
Under the big hot sun
We're chained to the gang of rhythm
The song is never done
Come on now everyone yeah
Come on now everyone
Come on everyone
We got this melody
Bring in the harmony like CSNY
To write a tune you know will never die
Let's gather round and sing a song
There's no worries on the earth tonight
We're all walkin' off the world tonight
Come on now everyone yeah
Come on now everyone
We're like a locomotive
Under the big hot sun
We're chained to the gang of rhythm
The song is never done
Come on now everyone yeah
Come on now everyone
Come on everyone
And when the night is done
These chains will hold us strong
The chords will carry on
Long after we're gone oh oh
There's no worries on the earth tonight
We're all walkin' off the world tonight
Come on now everyone yeah
Come now everyone
We're like like a locomotive
Under the big hot sun
Come on now everyone yeah
Come on now everyone
We're like a locomotive
Under the big hot sun
We're chained to the gang of rhythm
The song is never done
Come on now everyone yeah
Come on now everyone
Come on everyone
We got this melody
Come on everyone
Bring in the harmony
Come on everyone
I got this old guitar
The strings are rusty
But it's all I need
The strings are rusty
But it's all I need
Bring in the kick drum
It can back the beat
Let's gather round and sing a song
I got a shaker too
The kinds of sound
That wants to make you move
Bring in the uke
It will complete the groove
Let's gather round and sing a song
There's no worries on the earth tonight
We're all walkin' off the world tonight
Come on now everyone yeah
Come on now everyone
We're like a locomotive
Under the big hot sun
We're chained to the gang of rhythm
The song is never done
Come on now everyone yeah
Come on now everyone
Come on everyone
We got this melody
Bring in the harmony like CSNY
To write a tune you know will never die
Let's gather round and sing a song
There's no worries on the earth tonight
We're all walkin' off the world tonight
Come on now everyone yeah
Come on now everyone
We're like a locomotive
Under the big hot sun
We're chained to the gang of rhythm
The song is never done
Come on now everyone yeah
Come on now everyone
Come on everyone
And when the night is done
These chains will hold us strong
The chords will carry on
Long after we're gone oh oh
There's no worries on the earth tonight
We're all walkin' off the world tonight
Come on now everyone yeah
Come now everyone
We're like like a locomotive
Under the big hot sun
Come on now everyone yeah
Come on now everyone
We're like a locomotive
Under the big hot sun
We're chained to the gang of rhythm
The song is never done
Come on now everyone yeah
Come on now everyone
Come on everyone
We got this melody
Come on everyone
Bring in the harmony
Come on everyone
I got this old guitar
The strings are rusty
But it's all I need
Lyrics submitted by eastjesusshenanigan418
Gang of Rhythm Lyrics as written by Ryan Marshall Gianni Luminati
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.
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
Mental Istid
Ebba Grön
Ebba Grön
This is one of my favorite songs. https://fnfgo.io
Bron-Y-Aur Stomp
Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin
This is about bronies. They communicate by stomping.
Dreamwalker
Silent Planet
Silent Planet
I think much like another song “Anti-Matter” (that's also on the same album as this song), this one is also is inspired by a horrifying van crash the band experienced on Nov 3, 2022. This, much like the other track, sounds like it's an extension what they shared while huddled in the wreckage, as they helped frontman Garrett Russell stem the bleeding from his head wound while he was under the temporary effects of a concussion. The track speaks of where the mind goes at the most desperate & desolate of times, when it just about slips away to all but disconnect itself, and the aftermath.
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.
So like in the band's music video, I think the song talks about living in a boring or bad place but you can overcome the moody vibes and instead, start listening or making music with people you know and love and being carefree with them. Just letting loose and having fun with music :)
I love this song <3
Great song in any version
<i>Come on now everyone yeah Come on now everyone We're like a locomotive Under the big hot sun We're chained to the gang of rhythm The song is never done Come on now everyone yeah Come on now everyone Come on everyone</i>
My thoughts about this song borrow directly from an author and professor from my own home state of Michigan, Thomas C. Foster. His ideas go like this:
<I>"History is story too. You don't encounter her directly, you've only heard of her through narrative of one sort or another. She's a literary as well as a historical character...And what all this is about, finally, is myth. Which brings us to the big secret.
Here it is: <b>There's only one story.</b>. There, I said it. and I can't very well take it back. There is only one story. Ever. One. It's always been going on and it's everywhere around us and every story you've ever read or heard or watched is part of it...."</i>
and
<i>"...To me, literature is something much more alive. More like a barrel of eels. When a writer creates a new eel, it wriggles its way into the barrel, muscles a path into the great teeming mass from which it came in the first place. It's a new eel, but it shares its eelness with all those other eels that are in the barrel or have ever been in the barrel..."</i>
We're all part of the song (story). We're chained to it and we add to it. Like flowers a daisy chain.