"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.
Rosetta (who are you talking about?)
Sweet Loretta Fart, she thought she was a cleaner
But she was a frying pan (sweet Rosetta Martin, Rosetta)
The picker, the picker
Picture the fingers burning (ooh)
OK
Jojo was a man who thought he was a loner
But he knew it couldn't last
Jojo left his home in Tucson, Arizona
For some California grass
Get back, get back
Get back to where you once belonged
Get back, get back
Get back to where you once belonged
Get back Jojo
Go home
Get back, get back
Back to where you once belonged
Get back, get back
Back to where you once belonged
Get back Jo
Sweet Loretta Martin thought she was a woman
But she was another man
All the girls around her say she's got it coming
But she gets it while she can
Get back, get back
Get back to where you once belonged
Get back, get back
Get back to where you once belonged
Get back Loretta ooh, ooh
Go home
Oh, get back, yeah, get back
Get back to where you once belonged
Yeah, get back, get back
Get back to where you once belonged
Get back, ooh
Thanks, Moe
I'd like to say thank you on behalf of the group and ourselves
And I hope we passed the audition
Sweet Loretta Fart, she thought she was a cleaner
But she was a frying pan (sweet Rosetta Martin, Rosetta)
The picker, the picker
Picture the fingers burning (ooh)
OK
Jojo was a man who thought he was a loner
But he knew it couldn't last
Jojo left his home in Tucson, Arizona
For some California grass
Get back, get back
Get back to where you once belonged
Get back, get back
Get back to where you once belonged
Get back Jojo
Go home
Get back, get back
Back to where you once belonged
Get back, get back
Back to where you once belonged
Get back Jo
Sweet Loretta Martin thought she was a woman
But she was another man
All the girls around her say she's got it coming
But she gets it while she can
Get back, get back
Get back to where you once belonged
Get back, get back
Get back to where you once belonged
Get back Loretta ooh, ooh
Go home
Oh, get back, yeah, get back
Get back to where you once belonged
Yeah, get back, get back
Get back to where you once belonged
Get back, ooh
Thanks, Moe
I'd like to say thank you on behalf of the group and ourselves
And I hope we passed the audition
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More Featured Meanings
Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman
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Hayalperest
Hayalperest
This song seemingly tackles the methods of deception those who manipulate others use to get victims to follow their demands, as well as diverting attention away from important issues. They'll also use it as a means to convince people to hate or kill others by pretending acts of terrorism were committed by the enemy when the acts themselves were done by the masters of control to promote discrimination and hate. It also reinforces the idea that these manipulative forces operate in various locations, infiltrating everyday life without detection, and propagate any and everywhere.
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Head > Heels
Ed Sheeran
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Amazing
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
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Plastic Bag
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
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“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.
After listening to this sound 50,000 times over the course of my life, it occurred to me recently that this is Paul's attempt at a Lou Reed-type song -- colorful characters with sex and drug hangups going through interesting journeys. Compare the lyrics here to "Take a Walk on the Wild Side."
I got that as well.
This song came out three years before Walk on the wild side
Freddie, I didn't necessarily mean that it was literally a response to "Wild Side," just that it was lyrically similar in style to many of Lou Reed's songs, which were often about transvestites 'n' such.