"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.
This house is your own,
Still living alone
It don't make you sad,
But I think it's good to be green
This summer is gone,
And spring don't belong,
The traces are here,
For long winter,
I miss the green,
It used to be clean
If you want to be free,
Please don't fall for me,
I could be anyone but your friend
If you open the door,
I'll give a whole lot more,
I could be anyone, anyone,
Yeah
Assumption is good,
Though not likelihood,
My feeling is true,
I want to be living with you
The truth it begins,
We're breathing it in,
With shadows of doubt,
In time we will all miss the green,
It used to be clean
If you want to be free,
Please don't fall for me,
I could be anyone but your friend
If you open the door,
I'll give a whole lot more,
I could be anyone, anyone,
Yeah
If you want to be free,
Please don't fall for me,
I could be anyone but your friend
If you open the door,
I'll give a whole lot more,
I could be anyone but your friend
Anyone, anyone,
Anyone, nah nah nah no
Anyone, anyone,
Anyone, yeah
If you want to be free,
Please don't fall for me,
I could be anyone but your friend
If you open the door,
I'll give a whole lot more,
I could be anyone but your friend
Anyone, anyone,
Anyone, nah nah nah no
Anyone, anyone,
Anyone, yeah
Seeing is believing,
The feeling is deceiving,
You know it's the truth
When you find that you can't talk
Leaving on this,
All into chaos
Seeing is feeling is
Seeing is feeling is you
Feeling is you woah
Nah Nah Nah no
Anyone Anyone
Anyone Yeah
Still living alone
It don't make you sad,
But I think it's good to be green
This summer is gone,
And spring don't belong,
The traces are here,
For long winter,
I miss the green,
It used to be clean
If you want to be free,
Please don't fall for me,
I could be anyone but your friend
If you open the door,
I'll give a whole lot more,
I could be anyone, anyone,
Yeah
Assumption is good,
Though not likelihood,
My feeling is true,
I want to be living with you
The truth it begins,
We're breathing it in,
With shadows of doubt,
In time we will all miss the green,
It used to be clean
If you want to be free,
Please don't fall for me,
I could be anyone but your friend
If you open the door,
I'll give a whole lot more,
I could be anyone, anyone,
Yeah
If you want to be free,
Please don't fall for me,
I could be anyone but your friend
If you open the door,
I'll give a whole lot more,
I could be anyone but your friend
Anyone, anyone,
Anyone, nah nah nah no
Anyone, anyone,
Anyone, yeah
If you want to be free,
Please don't fall for me,
I could be anyone but your friend
If you open the door,
I'll give a whole lot more,
I could be anyone but your friend
Anyone, anyone,
Anyone, nah nah nah no
Anyone, anyone,
Anyone, yeah
Seeing is believing,
The feeling is deceiving,
You know it's the truth
When you find that you can't talk
Leaving on this,
All into chaos
Seeing is feeling is
Seeing is feeling is you
Feeling is you woah
Nah Nah Nah no
Anyone Anyone
Anyone Yeah
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.
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.
Marijuana use is a good suggestion for a possible meaning, because Alex Lloyd did used to have a drugs and rock and roll kind of lifestyle which he has since given up as he now has a wife and child.
The suggestion of it being about some kind of relationship that may or may not start up is also a very real possibility, if anyone has seen the video for the song. It shows Alex's head on a body with moving parts that open up to show things such as butterflies in the stomach, etc.
Or, just another out there meaning: It could be a propoganda song for the Greens political party.