"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.
I read it all, every word
And I still don't understand a thing
What had you heard?
What had you heard
Was it love, was it take another walk in the dark?
You'll never learn
I'd pray to God if there was heaven
But heaven seems so very far from here
And it all boils down to the same old thing
Just a yin and a yang or a couple of pipe dreams
And it all boils down to the same old pain
Whether you win or lose isn't gonna change a single thing
I stood in line and a thought crossed my mind
I had been dreaming but I didn't mind
I signed the line and the woman looked right through me
She didn't smile
I'd pray to God if there was heaven
But heaven seems so very far from here
And it all boils down to the same old thing
Just a yin and a yang or a couple of pipe dreams
And it all boils down to the same old pain
Whether you win or lose isn't gonna change a single thing
I'd pray to God if there was heaven
But heaven seems so very far from here
And it all boils down to the same old thing
Just a yin and a yang or a couple of pints please
And it all boils down to the same old pain
Whether you win or lose isn't gonna change a single thing
And it all boils down to the same old feat
Just a link in a chain, just a puppet on a string
And it all boils down to the same old pain
Whether you win or you lose
Whether you win or you lose
Whether you win or you lose
Whether you win or you lose
And I still don't understand a thing
What had you heard?
What had you heard
Was it love, was it take another walk in the dark?
You'll never learn
I'd pray to God if there was heaven
But heaven seems so very far from here
And it all boils down to the same old thing
Just a yin and a yang or a couple of pipe dreams
And it all boils down to the same old pain
Whether you win or lose isn't gonna change a single thing
I stood in line and a thought crossed my mind
I had been dreaming but I didn't mind
I signed the line and the woman looked right through me
She didn't smile
I'd pray to God if there was heaven
But heaven seems so very far from here
And it all boils down to the same old thing
Just a yin and a yang or a couple of pipe dreams
And it all boils down to the same old pain
Whether you win or lose isn't gonna change a single thing
I'd pray to God if there was heaven
But heaven seems so very far from here
And it all boils down to the same old thing
Just a yin and a yang or a couple of pints please
And it all boils down to the same old pain
Whether you win or lose isn't gonna change a single thing
And it all boils down to the same old feat
Just a link in a chain, just a puppet on a string
And it all boils down to the same old pain
Whether you win or you lose
Whether you win or you lose
Whether you win or you lose
Whether you win or you lose
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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
Bron-Y-Aur Stomp
Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin
This is about bronies. They communicate by stomping.
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.
I can totally relate to this song, especially the 1st line at present: ' I read it all, every word, and I still don't understand a thing' --> that's how I feel every day when I'm revsing for my A-Levels! :) But seriously, the song is fantastic. 'I'd pray to god if there was heaven, but heaven seems so very far from here' - how I can relate to that line.