"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.
Sleeping very soundly
On a Saturday morning
I was dreaming I was Al Capone
There's a rumor going round
Gotta clear outta town
I'm smelling like a dry-fish bone
Here come the Law
Gonna break down the door
Gonna carry me away once more
Never, I never
I never want it any more
Gotta get away from this stone-cold floor
Crazy
Stone-cold crazy, you know
Rainy afternoon
I gotta blow a typhoon
And I'm playing on my slide trombone
Anymore, anymore
Cannot take it anymore
Gotta get away from this stone-cold floor
Crazy
Stone-cold crazy, you know
Hit 'em up
Walking down the street
Shooting people that I meet
With my rubber Tommy water gun
Here come the deputy
He's gonna come and get a me
I gotta get me get up and run
They got the sirens loose
I ran right out of juice
They're gonna put me in a cell
If I can't go to heaven
Will they let me go to hell?
Crazy
Stone-cold crazy, you know
On a Saturday morning
I was dreaming I was Al Capone
There's a rumor going round
Gotta clear outta town
I'm smelling like a dry-fish bone
Here come the Law
Gonna break down the door
Gonna carry me away once more
Never, I never
I never want it any more
Gotta get away from this stone-cold floor
Crazy
Stone-cold crazy, you know
Rainy afternoon
I gotta blow a typhoon
And I'm playing on my slide trombone
Anymore, anymore
Cannot take it anymore
Gotta get away from this stone-cold floor
Crazy
Stone-cold crazy, you know
Hit 'em up
Walking down the street
Shooting people that I meet
With my rubber Tommy water gun
Here come the deputy
He's gonna come and get a me
I gotta get me get up and run
They got the sirens loose
I ran right out of juice
They're gonna put me in a cell
If I can't go to heaven
Will they let me go to hell?
Crazy
Stone-cold crazy, you know
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More Featured Meanings
Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman
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.
Gentle Hour
Yo La Tengo
Yo La Tengo
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,
Magical
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
How would you describe the feeling of being in love? For Ed Sheeran, the word is “Magical.” in HIS three-minute album opener, he makes an attempt to capture the beauty and delicacy of true love with words. He describes the magic of it all over a bright Pop song produced by Aaron Dessner.
Blue
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
“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.
This song is unlike any other Queen song. It is just great. Everyone, once in a while, should try dancing around their house and screaming out the lyrics to this.
@knowthyself I love this tune but I disagree that its unlike any other Queen song.. Sheer Heart Attack has the same frantic pace!