"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.
Is it my imagination
Or have I finally found something worth living for?
I was looking for some action
But all I found was cigarettes and alcohol
You could wait for a lifetime
To spend your days in the sunshine
You might as well do the white line
'Cause when it comes on top
You've gotta make it happen
You've gotta make it happen
You've gotta make it happen
You've gotta make it happen
Is it worth the aggravation
To find yourself a job when there's nothing worth working for?
It's a crazy situation
But all I need are cigarettes and alcohol
You could wait for a lifetime
To spend your days in the sunshine
You might as well do the white line
'Cause when it comes on top
You've gotta make it happen
You've gotta make it happen
You've gotta make it happen
You've gotta make it happen
You've gotta, you've gotta
You've gotta make it
You've gotta, you've gotta
You've gotta fake it
You've gotta, you've gotta
You've gotta make it
You've gotta, you've gotta
You've gotta fake it, woo
Or have I finally found something worth living for?
I was looking for some action
But all I found was cigarettes and alcohol
You could wait for a lifetime
To spend your days in the sunshine
You might as well do the white line
'Cause when it comes on top
You've gotta make it happen
You've gotta make it happen
You've gotta make it happen
You've gotta make it happen
Is it worth the aggravation
To find yourself a job when there's nothing worth working for?
It's a crazy situation
But all I need are cigarettes and alcohol
You could wait for a lifetime
To spend your days in the sunshine
You might as well do the white line
'Cause when it comes on top
You've gotta make it happen
You've gotta make it happen
You've gotta make it happen
You've gotta make it happen
You've gotta, you've gotta
You've gotta make it
You've gotta, you've gotta
You've gotta fake it
You've gotta, you've gotta
You've gotta make it
You've gotta, you've gotta
You've gotta fake it, woo
Lyrics submitted by magicnudiesuit
Cigarettes & Alcohol Lyrics as written by Noel Gallagher
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
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
Cajun Girl
Little Feat
Little Feat
Overall about difficult moments of disappointment and vulnerability. Having hope and longing, while remaining optimistic for the future. Encourages the belief that with each new morning there is a chance for things to improve.
The chorus offers a glimmer of optimism and a chance at a resolution and redemption in the future.
Captures the rollercoaster of emotions of feeling lost while loving someone who is not there for you, feeling let down and abandoned while waiting for a lover. Lost with no direction, "Now I'm up in the air with the rain in my hair, Nowhere to go, I can go anywhere"
The bridge shows signs of longing and a plea for companionship. The Lyrics express a desire for authentic connection and the importance of Loving someone just as they are. "Just in passing, I'm not asking. That you be anyone but you”
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.
Mountain Song
Jane's Addiction
Jane's Addiction
Jane's Addiction vocalist Perry Farrell gives Adam Reader some heartfelt insight into Jane’s Addiction's hard rock manifesto "Mountain Song", which was the second single from their revolutionary album Nothing's Shocking. Mountain song was first recorded in 1986 and appeared on the soundtrack to the film Dudes starring Jon Cryer. The version on Nothing's Shocking was re-recorded in 1988.
"'Mountain Song' was actually about... I hate to say it but... drugs. Climbing this mountain and getting as high as you can, and then coming down that mountain," reveals Farrell. "What it feels to descend from the mountain top... not easy at all. The ascension is tough but exhilarating. Getting down is... it's a real bummer. Drugs is not for everybody obviously. For me, I wanted to experience the heights, and the lows come along with it."
"There's a part - 'Cash in now honey, cash in Miss Smith.' Miss Smith is my Mother; our last name was Smith. Cashing in when she cashed in her life. So... she decided that, to her... at that time, she was desperate. Life wasn't worth it for her, that was her opinion. Some people think, never take your life, and some people find that their life isn't worth living. She was in love with my Dad, and my Dad was not faithful to her, and it broke her heart. She was very desperate and she did something that I know she regrets."
No Surprises
Radiohead
Radiohead
Same ideas expressed in Fitter, Happier are expressed in this song. We're told to strive for some sort of ideal life, which includes getting a good job, being kind to everyone, finding a partner, getting married, having a couple kids, living in a quiet neighborhood in a nice big house, etc. But in Fitter, Happier the narrator(?) realizes that it's incredibly robotic to live this life. People are being used by those in power "like a pig in a cage on antibiotics"--being pacified with things like new phones and cool gadgets and houses while being sucked dry. On No Surprises, the narrator is realizing how this life is killing him slowly. In the video, his helmet is slowly filling up with water, drowning him. But he's so complacent with it. This is a good summary of the song. This boring, "perfect" life foisted upon us by some higher powers (not spiritual, but political, economic, etc. politicians and businessmen, perhaps) is not the way to live. But there is seemingly no way out but death. He'd rather die peacefully right now than live in this cage. While our lives are often shielded, we're in our own protective bubbles, or protective helmets like the one Thom wears, if we look a little harder we can see all the corruption, lies, manipulation, etc. that is going on in the world, often run by huge yet nearly invisible organizations, corporations, and 'leaders'. It's a very hopeless song because it reflects real life.
Booze. Nicotine. Cocaine. Growing up.
I think that about sums it up, yes?
He stole the guitar part from t-rex's song "bang a gong"
I can't believe that this song has beenher for 18 months and viewed that many times and yet no-one has commented. This just is the song of my youth. Brit pop. Blur -v- Oasis. Attitude and you just don't give a damn. You feel invincible and all you need is a fag and a pint and you're fine. C'mon you allmust have felt like that!
this tune is oasis at their best,a proper boozy anthem,dirty fuckin rock n roll,the vocals are amazin and the lyrics just wana make u go out n rob a shop or summat,as for the oasis vs. blur argument,c'mon grow up a bit people,theres only ever been one winner,oasis make the best songs and the best albums,ne actually know a shit oasis song??? thought not
There are only a few things you can really say about this song, but i'll say this: THIS IS ROCK 'N' FUCKING ROLL THE WAY IT IS MEANT TO BE!
ya damn right rosieglow....the first verse just about sums up my day....
yea man, this iz the best eva song that means so much to loads of us as its so fuckin true, fuck blur, let them sing bout country houses, this is the real shit man, this is rok 'n' roll and exactly what being young 2day is all about
meger song!
Liam&Noel say.. Cigarettes & Alcohol- "IT IS FUCKING ROCK!!! When people hear it they start smashing things up or pinching things. Someone wrote and told me they were bored one day, then they heard that song and decided to go out shoplifting. Brilliant. I wanted to write a song that was like Cum On Feel The Noize by Slade. A proper, boozy anthem."
Tells it like it is, but don't get carried away, its saying how people cope with shit. Country House has lyrics that says something different and does that well.