"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.
Good morning, son
I am a bird
Wearing a brown polyester shirt
You want a Coke?
Maybe some fries?
The roast beef combo's only nine ninety five
But it's okay
You don't have to pay
I've got all the change
Everybody knows
It hurts to grow up
And everybody does
It's so weird to be back here
Let me tell you what
The years go on and
We're still fighting it
We're still fighting it
And you're so much like me
I'm sorry
Good morning, son
Twenty years from now
Maybe we'll both sit down
And have a few beers
And I can tell
You 'bout today
And how I picked you up
And everything changed
It was pain
Sunny days and rain
I knew you'd feel the same things
Everybody knows
It sucks to grow up
And everybody does
It's so weird to be back here
Let me tell you what
The years go on and
We're still fighting it
We're still fighting it
You'll try and try
And one day you'll fly
Away from me
(Good morning, son)
(Good morning, son)
(Good morning, son)
(Good morning, son)
Good morning, son
(Good morning, son)
I am a bird
(Good morning, son)
(Good morning, son)
It was pain
Sunny days and rain
I knew you'd feel the same things
Everybody knows
It hurts to grow up
And everybody does
It's so weird to be back here
Let me tell you what
The years go on and
We're still fighting it
We're still fighting it, oh
We're still fighting it
We're still fighting it
And you're so much like me
I'm sorry
I am a bird
Wearing a brown polyester shirt
You want a Coke?
Maybe some fries?
The roast beef combo's only nine ninety five
But it's okay
You don't have to pay
I've got all the change
Everybody knows
It hurts to grow up
And everybody does
It's so weird to be back here
Let me tell you what
The years go on and
We're still fighting it
We're still fighting it
And you're so much like me
I'm sorry
Good morning, son
Twenty years from now
Maybe we'll both sit down
And have a few beers
And I can tell
You 'bout today
And how I picked you up
And everything changed
It was pain
Sunny days and rain
I knew you'd feel the same things
Everybody knows
It sucks to grow up
And everybody does
It's so weird to be back here
Let me tell you what
The years go on and
We're still fighting it
We're still fighting it
You'll try and try
And one day you'll fly
Away from me
(Good morning, son)
(Good morning, son)
(Good morning, son)
(Good morning, son)
Good morning, son
(Good morning, son)
I am a bird
(Good morning, son)
(Good morning, son)
It was pain
Sunny days and rain
I knew you'd feel the same things
Everybody knows
It hurts to grow up
And everybody does
It's so weird to be back here
Let me tell you what
The years go on and
We're still fighting it
We're still fighting it, oh
We're still fighting it
We're still fighting it
And you're so much like me
I'm sorry
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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"
Mental Istid
Ebba Grön
Ebba Grön
This is one of my favorite songs. https://fnfgo.io
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”
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 was just listening to this song the other day, and I finally got it.
When I first heard it years ago I thought it was abstract and strange, and somehow sung from the POV of someone working the opening shift at a McDonalds or other fast foot establishment, (brown polyester shirt, greeting the sun, Coke/fries/roast beef).
Then it hit me. Hard.
I grew up (and still live with) a neurological learning disability that slows down auditory processing speeds, limits working memory, hinders motovation, and causes the brain's "reward system" to not fully develop or operate. (Not to mention feeling like an alien no matter where you go and can't seem to relate to or understand why people act like or seek after the things they do).
I barely graduated from High School, and couldn't make it through college. I have a good job, but I've reached as far as my learning difficulties will let me no, and it feels like it's just a matter of time before they find out how messed up I am and give me the boot. Just about all the major milestones in my life have fallen flat because it was very difficult to study, learn, or perform up to my "potential". Every day is a constant struggle against my brain's limited ability to function in a normal fashion and fight against the misconceptions about people with learning problems in the work place.
My son is now 5.
I love him with my whole heart.
Every time he runs around the house like a crazy fool, swinging on anything that he can get his hands on, and pacing in a circle for hours at a time talking non-stop about stories he makes up in his head involving toys / tools / gadgets makes me remember what it was like to be me growing up. I remember clearly doing the same things and how "normal" and calming it felt to act crazy and obsess about new things.
He is already having problems in school.
I remember the pain of ridicule and failure growing up, not being able to clearly fit into any niche in this world around me, and always feeling alone even in my own house. Seeing success and joy and knowing that I will never be able to experience nothing more than fleeting flashes of emotion betwixt drawn out periods of yearning for normalcy.
... "I knew you'd feel the same things"
... "And you're so much like me - I'm sorry"
It is so bitter-sweet and poignant. I love him so much and I want him have what I never did, but not knowing if it's even possible since I've been unable to find it myself after all these years of searching for answers and solutions. It breaks my heart to think of him even having to go through a portion of the pain and suffering that I went through, and am still dealing with.
There may not be a lot I can do to change the way his brain works, but I am going to give everything I have to make sure it doesn't crush him too.
I'm still fighting it, but now I guess it isn't just me fighting anymore.
We are learning how to fight it together.
I love this song.
Thanks for sharing!
Not sure if you're still around, but like your post, and I think you've got the basic heart of Folds' song. I don't have your story, but I've got young kids and I also have my limitations too (we all do, some are just more obvious than others) and nothing, I mean nothing, makes you wish you didn't have to 'fight it' like wanting the best for your children.
I hope you're still fighting it. You rock!
Hope you're still fighting it. I grew up the same way: Very slow processing speed, as well as huge difficulties with social queues, that gave me quite some difficulties growing up. I know it's difficult, but of course I can't imagine what it's like to see your son go through the same pain you did before him. I don't have children, but Ben Folds always played music that describes the uncertainty of the future as we grow up, as well as the distaste with the present.<br /> Keep fighting it!
@StillFightingIt Very touching <3