"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.
what i see is what's to be
cartwheels to eternity
'round and 'round my head she goes
in the good dreams though she wears no clothes
took our picture by the sea
the ocean waits to carry me
carry me back home again
to where she sleeps i lay my head..
saw her running barefoot but the ground there never toucher her feet
watcher her in the shadows while the tide came in and claimed our beach
we could have made it in the dunes we had it all within our reach
but i've got a lot of life to learn and you've got a lot of life to teach..
why do we all end up alone
why do we always have to find our way back home
why do we all end up alone..
we gather no moss just like a rolling..
what i say is what i mean
no definition in between
couldn't make it in the movie scene
you couldn't stay on you couldn't stay clean..
what you wear is who you are
the odds are in and you'll go far
a penny for your thoughts you'll see
a nickel buys you what you needs..
saw you on the big show say you swinging from the big trapeze
standing on my tip toes while you brushed the dirt from off your knees
should have come as no surprise no one else here did have your drive
you got a big white mstretch parked right outside by nobody there to share your ride..
why do we all end up dead drunk or stoned..
what i know is what i hear
the ringing in my ears is clear
is if from the loud guitars or pipe dreams
everyone says i should know what that means..
but who'd be talking bad about me
who am i they'd want to be
a monkey's got it made you see
swinging from the vine of a coconut tree
dead drunk or stoned
just like a rolling stone.
cartwheels to eternity
'round and 'round my head she goes
in the good dreams though she wears no clothes
took our picture by the sea
the ocean waits to carry me
carry me back home again
to where she sleeps i lay my head..
saw her running barefoot but the ground there never toucher her feet
watcher her in the shadows while the tide came in and claimed our beach
we could have made it in the dunes we had it all within our reach
but i've got a lot of life to learn and you've got a lot of life to teach..
why do we all end up alone
why do we always have to find our way back home
why do we all end up alone..
we gather no moss just like a rolling..
what i say is what i mean
no definition in between
couldn't make it in the movie scene
you couldn't stay on you couldn't stay clean..
what you wear is who you are
the odds are in and you'll go far
a penny for your thoughts you'll see
a nickel buys you what you needs..
saw you on the big show say you swinging from the big trapeze
standing on my tip toes while you brushed the dirt from off your knees
should have come as no surprise no one else here did have your drive
you got a big white mstretch parked right outside by nobody there to share your ride..
why do we all end up dead drunk or stoned..
what i know is what i hear
the ringing in my ears is clear
is if from the loud guitars or pipe dreams
everyone says i should know what that means..
but who'd be talking bad about me
who am i they'd want to be
a monkey's got it made you see
swinging from the vine of a coconut tree
dead drunk or stoned
just like a rolling stone.
Lyrics submitted by mumbling
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Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
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This is one of my favorite songs. https://fnfgo.io
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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,
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“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 think those are just metaphors. It could be about after you break up with someone you end up alone. The other line: 'why do we all end up dead drunk or stoned' could also be about a relationship, when your not stoned or drunk you feel like your dead.