"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.
The passage of a thousand sunrises came and went with calm resolve
And like clockwork they shone on
The one that we’d forgot
Her truth entrenched by eight decades in a white flag of bitter wisdom
Leavin' her front door with no more than the odd cursory knock
A classic two story terrace
On a central sloping street
Affluent couples would cast their eyes as they looked to buy in Sydney's east
Three-quarter eight-hundred at least
But this lady wasn't selling in fact
No one ever saw her
But that's the city for ya
She was there with a low profile
Never made a sound it ain’t her style
At her age didn’t want no one to rile up till she invited nobody else to her island
When the sirens drowned out the silence quietly her pension cheques kept arriving
They cut her telephone line she wasn't dialing
Killed the electricity the damn wiring
Operator said they could not get through on the phone
For all they care there ain’t nobody at home
Little do they know that she on her own
Disconnection notes come and they come and they go
And the junk mail collected in the letter box
Constant papers stuck together squashed
The neighbors wonder why it never stops
Cause she never answered if they ever knocked
Oh my love
You’ve been sleeping so long
In a world where you don’t belong
Its time to get you back home
Where the sun meets the sky you’ll be resting tonight
Gotta let it go
Gotta let it get away back home
Gotta let it go
Gotta let it go
Gotta let it get away back home
And as real as she was maybe she was just somebody I dreamt
Like her presence was passing the brim
Of all the people that she had never met
Wondered if it could’ve happened, could it happen again
The passage of a thousand sunsets had walked her to the end
Her signal lost strength and she fell right out of range
The truth sealed in eight decades when she closed her door on the world
And all that lonely sorrow set free and washed away
And that terrace on the sloping street did not change
Real estate agents still cast their eyes as they drove past in cars they leased
Three-quarter eight-hundred at least and they say
Did ya hear the story
Apparently the neighbors they never saw her, but that’s the city for ya
And like clockwork they shone on
The one that we’d forgot
Her truth entrenched by eight decades in a white flag of bitter wisdom
Leavin' her front door with no more than the odd cursory knock
A classic two story terrace
On a central sloping street
Affluent couples would cast their eyes as they looked to buy in Sydney's east
Three-quarter eight-hundred at least
But this lady wasn't selling in fact
No one ever saw her
But that's the city for ya
She was there with a low profile
Never made a sound it ain’t her style
At her age didn’t want no one to rile up till she invited nobody else to her island
When the sirens drowned out the silence quietly her pension cheques kept arriving
They cut her telephone line she wasn't dialing
Killed the electricity the damn wiring
Operator said they could not get through on the phone
For all they care there ain’t nobody at home
Little do they know that she on her own
Disconnection notes come and they come and they go
And the junk mail collected in the letter box
Constant papers stuck together squashed
The neighbors wonder why it never stops
Cause she never answered if they ever knocked
Oh my love
You’ve been sleeping so long
In a world where you don’t belong
Its time to get you back home
Where the sun meets the sky you’ll be resting tonight
Gotta let it go
Gotta let it get away back home
Gotta let it go
Gotta let it go
Gotta let it get away back home
And as real as she was maybe she was just somebody I dreamt
Like her presence was passing the brim
Of all the people that she had never met
Wondered if it could’ve happened, could it happen again
The passage of a thousand sunsets had walked her to the end
Her signal lost strength and she fell right out of range
The truth sealed in eight decades when she closed her door on the world
And all that lonely sorrow set free and washed away
And that terrace on the sloping street did not change
Real estate agents still cast their eyes as they drove past in cars they leased
Three-quarter eight-hundred at least and they say
Did ya hear the story
Apparently the neighbors they never saw her, but that’s the city for ya
Lyrics submitted by nlenkowski
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
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"
Gentle Hour
Yo La Tengo
Yo La Tengo
This song was originally written by a guy called Peter Gutteridge. He was one of the founders of the "Dunedin Sound" a musical scene in the south of New Zealand in the early 80s. From there it was covered by "The Clean" one of the early bands of that scene (he had originally been a member of in it's early days, writing a couple of their best early songs). The Dunedin sound, and the Clean became popular on american college radio in the mid to late 80s. I guess Yo La Tengo heard that version.
Great version of a great song,
Page
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
There aren’t many things that’ll hurt more than giving love a chance against your better judgement only to have your heart crushed yet again. Ed Sheeran tells such a story on “Page.” On this track, he is devastated to have lost his lover and even more saddened by the feeling that he may never move on from this.
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.
This is a very sad song... both the music and storytelling really moved me. Only after listening a few times did I learn that its based on the true story.
this song is so siiick <3 Love his flow<br /> <br /> i had no idea that it was based on a true story :0<br /> <br /> but most of my own songs released are based on true stories and vague cosmic trips<br /> <br />