"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.
Let’s take a seat just figure all this out
We’re standing on the edge of mountain tops
This is the final rage so don’t you turn the page
This is for everyone who wants to know
Our world is constantly changing
Our world is better than yours
Our world is constantly changing
Our world is better than yours
And you know it’s true
Every single day you say it
Every single day you say it
[2x]
Every single day, I turn to you and say
Let’s change the pattern of the this off scale world (off scale world)
You can’t take this anymore
[2x]
Transform, all of your continents
What is this vision of a perfect world? (perfect world)
If we all started to work together, our land would be cleaner
If we all started to change the weather, our skies would be clearer
Why don’t you do your part
[3x]
East side, West side
Let’s come together and make change
[2x]
This is our effort, to clean up the world
Your either in or out, so are you in or out
[2x]
Oh, shape shifter
We are here, we’ll make this clear
The world is changing for your hands to make
So what path will you take, what path will you take
This one’s for you Thomy, cause you’ll always be my friend
East side, West side, put your fucking hands up, here we go!
Oh, your dead to me,
[4x] Burn the nation down
I was sent from the sky to burn the nation down
(Battle roar)
Bitch your dead to me,
[4x] Burn the nation down
We’re standing on the edge of mountain tops
This is the final rage so don’t you turn the page
This is for everyone who wants to know
Our world is constantly changing
Our world is better than yours
Our world is constantly changing
Our world is better than yours
And you know it’s true
Every single day you say it
Every single day you say it
[2x]
Every single day, I turn to you and say
Let’s change the pattern of the this off scale world (off scale world)
You can’t take this anymore
[2x]
Transform, all of your continents
What is this vision of a perfect world? (perfect world)
If we all started to work together, our land would be cleaner
If we all started to change the weather, our skies would be clearer
Why don’t you do your part
[3x]
East side, West side
Let’s come together and make change
[2x]
This is our effort, to clean up the world
Your either in or out, so are you in or out
[2x]
Oh, shape shifter
We are here, we’ll make this clear
The world is changing for your hands to make
So what path will you take, what path will you take
This one’s for you Thomy, cause you’ll always be my friend
East side, West side, put your fucking hands up, here we go!
Oh, your dead to me,
[4x] Burn the nation down
I was sent from the sky to burn the nation down
(Battle roar)
Bitch your dead to me,
[4x] Burn the nation down
Lyrics submitted by Panama904
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Fast Car
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Plastic Bag
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“I overthink and have trouble sleepin’ / All purpose gone and don’t have a reason / And there’s no doctor to stop this bleedin’ / So I left home and jumped in the deep end,” Ed Sheeran sings in verse one. He continues by adding that this person is feeling the weight of having disappointed his father and doesn’t have any friends to rely on in this difficult moment. In the second verse, Ed sings about the role of grief in his friend’s plight and his dwindling faith in prayer. “Saturday night is givin’ me a reason to rely on the strobe lights / The lifeline of a promise in a shot glass, and I’ll take that / If you’re givin’ out love from a plastic bag,” Ed sings on the chorus, as his friend turns to new vices in hopes of feeling better.