"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 said you're the woman from last night
Standing just to my right
You're the one that said I was sweet
When I left your kiss in my cheek
And said we could hook up sometime maybe
Well now is a good a time as any
She said I don't mean to offend you
But you're not quite how I remembered you
You seemed to look a lot better then
But I think you're nice as a friend
So pull up a seat and sit down
We're just having a drink and hanging out
So I tried to play it sexy and hurt
She said I came across as an introvert
So I changed to being a deep and profound
Until she asked me if I was feeling down
And when I told her that I was well read
She looked at me and just said : waouf waouf !
You're trying too hard but keep trying
You're trying too hard but keep trying
You're trying too hard but keep trying
Whatever it is I'm not buying
So I phoned her that weekend
She said she's seeing a barman called jonathan
He wears nice clothes and keeps his hair neat
But I could give her a call back next week
So next week we're out to coffee
She tells me she's really gone off me
I say gone off me' hey you don't know me
She said exactly so don't phone me
I said you haven't even given this a chance
She smiled and looked with a glance and said : waouf waouf !
You're trying too hard but keep trying
You're trying too hard but keep trying
You're trying too hard but keep trying
Whatever it is I'm not buying
You're trying too hard but keep trying
You're trying too hard but keep trying
You're trying too hard but keep trying
Whatever it is I'm not buying
When is this loneliness gonna end and
When will they stop crawling about their boyfriends (boyfriends)
When is a girl gonna get with me (me)
There must be one in this city see ' (see)
All I want is something that's real (real)
I'm tired of having to spiel (spiel)
Two months later she phones me up now
Saying hey I heard you're doing well now
Let's you and me go out for a meal
'cause I've never told you how I really feel
So how about it and you can meet me
I said which me did you want to see?
I got a girl now who knows who I am
So I can be my own man I'm flattered but
You're trying too hard but keep trying
You're trying too hard but keep trying
You're trying too hard but keep trying
Whatever it is I'm not buying
You're trying too hard but keep trying
You're trying too hard but keep trying
You're trying too hard but keep trying
Whatever it is I'm not buying
Standing just to my right
You're the one that said I was sweet
When I left your kiss in my cheek
And said we could hook up sometime maybe
Well now is a good a time as any
She said I don't mean to offend you
But you're not quite how I remembered you
You seemed to look a lot better then
But I think you're nice as a friend
So pull up a seat and sit down
We're just having a drink and hanging out
So I tried to play it sexy and hurt
She said I came across as an introvert
So I changed to being a deep and profound
Until she asked me if I was feeling down
And when I told her that I was well read
She looked at me and just said : waouf waouf !
You're trying too hard but keep trying
You're trying too hard but keep trying
You're trying too hard but keep trying
Whatever it is I'm not buying
So I phoned her that weekend
She said she's seeing a barman called jonathan
He wears nice clothes and keeps his hair neat
But I could give her a call back next week
So next week we're out to coffee
She tells me she's really gone off me
I say gone off me' hey you don't know me
She said exactly so don't phone me
I said you haven't even given this a chance
She smiled and looked with a glance and said : waouf waouf !
You're trying too hard but keep trying
You're trying too hard but keep trying
You're trying too hard but keep trying
Whatever it is I'm not buying
You're trying too hard but keep trying
You're trying too hard but keep trying
You're trying too hard but keep trying
Whatever it is I'm not buying
When is this loneliness gonna end and
When will they stop crawling about their boyfriends (boyfriends)
When is a girl gonna get with me (me)
There must be one in this city see ' (see)
All I want is something that's real (real)
I'm tired of having to spiel (spiel)
Two months later she phones me up now
Saying hey I heard you're doing well now
Let's you and me go out for a meal
'cause I've never told you how I really feel
So how about it and you can meet me
I said which me did you want to see?
I got a girl now who knows who I am
So I can be my own man I'm flattered but
You're trying too hard but keep trying
You're trying too hard but keep trying
You're trying too hard but keep trying
Whatever it is I'm not buying
You're trying too hard but keep trying
You're trying too hard but keep trying
You're trying too hard but keep trying
Whatever it is I'm not buying
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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.
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.
Plastic Bag
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
“Plastic Bag” is a song about searching for an escape from personal problems and hoping to find it in the lively atmosphere of a Saturday night party. Ed Sheeran tells the story of his friend and the myriad of troubles he is going through. Unable to find any solutions, this friend seeks a last resort in a party and the vanity that comes with it.
“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.