"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.
Black souls, empty bodies
You had me fooled straight from the start
We pray for an answer
We have to fight or be hollow just like them
Walking lifeless
Have we been left for the dead?
Black souls, empty bodies
We have to fight or be hollow just like them
They're coming for us now (whoa-oh-oh)
So don't make a sound (whoa-oh-oh)
Is there anybody left to see the sun?
Is there anybody left to cure the dead?
Unaware and unawake
Unaware and unawake
Every city is burning
We're all wasting away
Nothing will end this, nothing to prove
There's nowhere to run, all hell is breaking loose
They're coming for us now (whoa-oh-oh)
So don't make a sound (whoa-oh-oh)
Is there anybody left to see the sun?
Is there anybody left to cure the dead?
Unaware and unawake
Unaware and unawake
Something tells me we could be here for a while
And all I know is if you can't run, you die
And I wonder if we'll make it through the night
And all I know is if you can't run, you die
With the setting sun put the gun in my hand
Pull the trigger, don't fail me now
With the setting sun put the gun in my hand
Don't fail me now
It's starting again
We're going hollow
We're going hollow
Something tells me we could be here for a while
And all I know is if you can't run, you die
And I wonder if we'll make it through the night
And all I know is if you can't run, you die
Don't fail me now
Don't fail me now
You had me fooled straight from the start
We pray for an answer
We have to fight or be hollow just like them
Walking lifeless
Have we been left for the dead?
Black souls, empty bodies
We have to fight or be hollow just like them
They're coming for us now (whoa-oh-oh)
So don't make a sound (whoa-oh-oh)
Is there anybody left to see the sun?
Is there anybody left to cure the dead?
Unaware and unawake
Unaware and unawake
Every city is burning
We're all wasting away
Nothing will end this, nothing to prove
There's nowhere to run, all hell is breaking loose
They're coming for us now (whoa-oh-oh)
So don't make a sound (whoa-oh-oh)
Is there anybody left to see the sun?
Is there anybody left to cure the dead?
Unaware and unawake
Unaware and unawake
Something tells me we could be here for a while
And all I know is if you can't run, you die
And I wonder if we'll make it through the night
And all I know is if you can't run, you die
With the setting sun put the gun in my hand
Pull the trigger, don't fail me now
With the setting sun put the gun in my hand
Don't fail me now
It's starting again
We're going hollow
We're going hollow
Something tells me we could be here for a while
And all I know is if you can't run, you die
And I wonder if we'll make it through the night
And all I know is if you can't run, you die
Don't fail me now
Don't fail me now
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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"
Holiday
Bee Gees
Bee Gees
@[Diderik:33655] "Your a holiday!" Was a popular term used in the 50s/60s to compliment someone on their all around. For example, not only are they beautiful, but they are fun and kind too ... just an all around "holiday".
I think your first comment is closer to being accurate. The singer/song writers state "Millions of eyes can see, yet why am i so blind!? When the someone else is me, its unkind its unkind". I believe hes referring to the girl toying with him and using him. He wants something deeper with her, thats why he allows himself to be as a puppet (even though for her fun and games) as long as it makes her happy. But he knows deep down that she doesnt really want to be serious with him and thats what makes him.
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.
Plastic Bag
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
“Plastic Bag” is a song about searching for an escape from personal problems and hoping to find it in the lively atmosphere of a Saturday night party. Ed Sheeran tells the story of his friend and the myriad of troubles he is going through. Unable to find any solutions, this friend seeks a last resort in a party and the vanity that comes with it.
“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.
I've only listened to this song for the first time today but my first impression is that this is about a zombie apocalypse of some sort.
same