"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.
No, no don't let me play the fool,
I can't really love you by the rules
For my love is sweet and free
No, no don't let me play the fool,
For this thing you ask oh ! it's so cruel,
Can't you see it isn't me.
What you ask of me is just to be your clown,
Someone you can lead about and show around,
Why make of our love a children's puppet show
Can't I simply love you in the way I know,
What I ask of you is not to turn away,
Listen to the words that I'm trying to say,
Our love could be a new adventure every day,
Cause I love you, love you, love you, love you.
No, no don't let me play the fool,
I can't really love you by the rules
For my love is sweet and free
No, no don't make me play the fool,
For this thing you ask oh ! it's so cruel,
Can't you see it isn't me.
All I want from you is a little sympathy
Try to understand what it would be for me
All my hopes and dreams would now be bound and tied
Any hope of freedom would have surely died,
I want to know that I can fall in love again
And be sure that my love will never not restrain
So please just let me love you in the way I know,
Cause I love you, love you, love you, love you.
No, no don't let me play the fool,
I can't really love you by the rules
For my love is sweet and free
No, no don't make me play the fool,
For this thing you ask oh ! it's so cruel,
Can't you see it isn't me
I can't really love you by the rules
For my love is sweet and free
No, no don't let me play the fool,
For this thing you ask oh ! it's so cruel,
Can't you see it isn't me.
What you ask of me is just to be your clown,
Someone you can lead about and show around,
Why make of our love a children's puppet show
Can't I simply love you in the way I know,
What I ask of you is not to turn away,
Listen to the words that I'm trying to say,
Our love could be a new adventure every day,
Cause I love you, love you, love you, love you.
No, no don't let me play the fool,
I can't really love you by the rules
For my love is sweet and free
No, no don't make me play the fool,
For this thing you ask oh ! it's so cruel,
Can't you see it isn't me.
All I want from you is a little sympathy
Try to understand what it would be for me
All my hopes and dreams would now be bound and tied
Any hope of freedom would have surely died,
I want to know that I can fall in love again
And be sure that my love will never not restrain
So please just let me love you in the way I know,
Cause I love you, love you, love you, love you.
No, no don't let me play the fool,
I can't really love you by the rules
For my love is sweet and free
No, no don't make me play the fool,
For this thing you ask oh ! it's so cruel,
Can't you see it isn't me
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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"
Bron-Y-Aur Stomp
Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin
This is about bronies. They communicate by stomping.
Amazing
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran tells a story of unsuccessfully trying to feel “Amazing.” This track is about the being weighed down by emotional stress despite valiant attempts to find some positivity in the situation. This track was written by Ed Sheeran from the perspective of his friend. From the track, we see this person fall deeper into the negative thoughts and slide further down the path of mental torment with every lyric.
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.