"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.
Another place repeating the mantra
I'm here to stay, ashamed of where I've been
And what I've seen
These eagle eyes that judge me
Another face conceiving the moment
It never leaves, it stakes it's claim on me
It stakes it's claim on me
A visionary in hiding
I'll never make it
I'll never make it
A crying wolf, this boy's become a man
I always thought I would be different
With steady hands & heart and always in control
Be holding fast, but slowly letting go
I always thought I'd make a difference
But now I'm spending lives instead of saving souls
The more I learn, the less I seem to know
Heavy hands holding his hated
Static sun suppressing secret screams
Dishonoring distant dreams
Can he ever stop it?
We'll never make it
We'll never make it
The lion preys, the man can't break his chains
I always thought I would be different
With steady hands & heart and always in control
Be holding fast, but slowly letting go
I always thought I'd make a difference
But now I'm spending lives instead of saving souls
The more I learn the less I seem to know
I will illuminate
To try to help myself
To feel something for nothing
I hung the images up to see
If I could still fake all the feelings
And try to be what you want
Be everything that you need
Be everything that you need
I'm here again consumed in the moment
My mind reflects repeating it back to me
Repeated it back to me
Why would you even begin to try?
You'll never make it
You'll never make it
You'll never make it
I always thought I would be different
With steady hands & heart and always in control
Be holding fast, but slowly letting go
I always thought I'd make a difference
But now I'm spending lives instead of saving souls
The more I live the less I seem to know
The less I seem to know
I'm here to stay, ashamed of where I've been
And what I've seen
These eagle eyes that judge me
Another face conceiving the moment
It never leaves, it stakes it's claim on me
It stakes it's claim on me
A visionary in hiding
I'll never make it
I'll never make it
A crying wolf, this boy's become a man
I always thought I would be different
With steady hands & heart and always in control
Be holding fast, but slowly letting go
I always thought I'd make a difference
But now I'm spending lives instead of saving souls
The more I learn, the less I seem to know
Heavy hands holding his hated
Static sun suppressing secret screams
Dishonoring distant dreams
Can he ever stop it?
We'll never make it
We'll never make it
The lion preys, the man can't break his chains
I always thought I would be different
With steady hands & heart and always in control
Be holding fast, but slowly letting go
I always thought I'd make a difference
But now I'm spending lives instead of saving souls
The more I learn the less I seem to know
I will illuminate
To try to help myself
To feel something for nothing
I hung the images up to see
If I could still fake all the feelings
And try to be what you want
Be everything that you need
Be everything that you need
I'm here again consumed in the moment
My mind reflects repeating it back to me
Repeated it back to me
Why would you even begin to try?
You'll never make it
You'll never make it
You'll never make it
I always thought I would be different
With steady hands & heart and always in control
Be holding fast, but slowly letting go
I always thought I'd make a difference
But now I'm spending lives instead of saving souls
The more I live the less I seem to know
The less I seem to know
Lyrics submitted by j0hn0b
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Fast Car
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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"
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