"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.
Yeah!
Welcome to the station, so here's the situation
Lemme tell you how it all goes down
The girl you've been about, ya come to find out
That she's the biggest ho around
Can we take it to the bridge?
And skip the part about the fridge
Where she keeps her cold heart
By a stale Pop Tart
And the brothers that she fucked (ooh!)
Are getting piled in a truck
And with a little luck
You can get your feet back on the ground
[Chorus]
Why do I
Get it (ooh!)
Then regret it (yeah!)
When I let it (uggh!)
Let it get the best of me
It's killin' me
I'm the opitome
Of every bit of me
I'm better off alone
You got a shitty boyfriend who only answers people with the words from an Everlast song
You got screwed in the end
When he said you're just a friend
You wonder what you're doin' wrong
Workin' seven in the mornin' at the coffee shop pourin'
Out your caffenated heart
(Please don't let me start)
'Cause he's at home on the couch
Readin' porn like a slouch
In your really fresh house on Hollywood Boulevard
(And you're out in the yard sayin')
[Chorus]
You gotta swallow your pride
Before you swallow that drink
Then you follow the lines
On the floor to the sink
When you climb down the drain
And you sit and you think about
(Everything that went wrong)
[Chorus]
Welcome to the station, so here's the situation
Lemme tell you how it all goes down
The girl you've been about, ya come to find out
That she's the biggest ho around
Can we take it to the bridge?
And skip the part about the fridge
Where she keeps her cold heart
By a stale Pop Tart
And the brothers that she fucked (ooh!)
Are getting piled in a truck
And with a little luck
You can get your feet back on the ground
[Chorus]
Why do I
Get it (ooh!)
Then regret it (yeah!)
When I let it (uggh!)
Let it get the best of me
It's killin' me
I'm the opitome
Of every bit of me
I'm better off alone
You got a shitty boyfriend who only answers people with the words from an Everlast song
You got screwed in the end
When he said you're just a friend
You wonder what you're doin' wrong
Workin' seven in the mornin' at the coffee shop pourin'
Out your caffenated heart
(Please don't let me start)
'Cause he's at home on the couch
Readin' porn like a slouch
In your really fresh house on Hollywood Boulevard
(And you're out in the yard sayin')
[Chorus]
You gotta swallow your pride
Before you swallow that drink
Then you follow the lines
On the floor to the sink
When you climb down the drain
And you sit and you think about
(Everything that went wrong)
[Chorus]
Lyrics submitted by BlueAndStarry
Better off Alone Lyrics as written by Butch Walker
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
Add your thoughts
Log in now to tell us what you think this song means.
Don’t have an account? Create an account with SongMeanings to post comments, submit lyrics, and more. It’s super easy, we promise!
More Featured Meanings
Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman
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”
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.
When We Were Young
Blink-182
Blink-182
This is a sequel to 2001's "Reckless Abandon", and features the band looking back on their clumsy youth fondly.
Page
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
There aren’t many things that’ll hurt more than giving love a chance against your better judgement only to have your heart crushed yet again. Ed Sheeran tells such a story on “Page.” On this track, he is devastated to have lost his lover and even more saddened by the feeling that he may never move on from this.
I love the beat of this song... it's the best!... reminds me of lots of girls i know... WhOopS!
I love the beat of this song... it's the best!... reminds me of lots of girls i know... WhOopS!