"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.
Oh it sounds like a fire in store
Holding down while the tides are strong
I survive a wave but now I'm gone
How am I to change the damage done?
Maybe today, today we die
Maybe today, today we die
Give us and take away the cries
Baby today we die
There's a fire in the wind and the oxygen
Brings a round of a
And I gave you the rain you claimed the sun
When I took it away you came undone
Even the rain can take the sun
Take it away and file into the light
Where everyone just waits to find
Another thing to steal that's mine
It's unbelievable human kind
It's unbelievable
It's like a pain
Pain..now
How come everybody's doing different then they've said
Complaining that their living and they'd rather be dead
Always part of the
So many things that he don't know
Baby today, today we die
Baby today, today we die
Forgive us and take away the cries
Baby today we'll die
I've had hard time thinking
I've had the hardest fall
I'm drowning and now I'm sinking into it all
Remember the words of someone
Someone I used to know
Love everyone but keep them
Far from your soul
Holding down while the tides are strong
I survive a wave but now I'm gone
How am I to change the damage done?
Maybe today, today we die
Maybe today, today we die
Give us and take away the cries
Baby today we die
There's a fire in the wind and the oxygen
Brings a round of a
And I gave you the rain you claimed the sun
When I took it away you came undone
Even the rain can take the sun
Take it away and file into the light
Where everyone just waits to find
Another thing to steal that's mine
It's unbelievable human kind
It's unbelievable
It's like a pain
Pain..now
How come everybody's doing different then they've said
Complaining that their living and they'd rather be dead
Always part of the
So many things that he don't know
Baby today, today we die
Baby today, today we die
Forgive us and take away the cries
Baby today we'll die
I've had hard time thinking
I've had the hardest fall
I'm drowning and now I'm sinking into it all
Remember the words of someone
Someone I used to know
Love everyone but keep them
Far from your soul
Lyrics submitted by fallen_crow05
Drowning Lyrics as written by Gnecco
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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More Featured Meanings
Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
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@[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.
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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.
Blue
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“Blue” is a song about a love that is persisting in the discomfort of the person experiencing the emotion. Ed Sheeran reflects on love lost, and although he wishes his former partner find happiness, he cannot but admit his feelings are still very much there. He expresses the realization that he might never find another on this stringed instrumental by Aaron Dessner.
American Town
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Ed Sheeran shares a short story of reconnecting with an old flame on “American Town.” The track is about a holiday Ed Sheeran spends with his countrywoman who resides in America. The two are back together after a long period apart, and get around to enjoying a bunch of fun activities while rekindling the flames of their romance.
I concur. ROCK!