"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.
When I said I needed you
You said you would always stay
It wasn't me who changed but you and now you've gone away
Don't you see that now you've gone
And I'm left here on my own
That I have to follow you and beg you to come home
You don't have to say you love me, just be close at hand
You don't have to stay forever, I will understand
Believe me, believe me, I can't help but love you
But believe me, I'll never tie you down
Left alone with just a memory
Life seems dead and so unreal
All that's left is loneliness, there's nothing left to feel
You don't have to say you love me, just be close at hand
You don't have to stay forever, I will understand
Believe me, believe me
You don't have to say you love me just be close at hand
You don't have to stay forever, I will understand
Believe me, believe me
You said you would always stay
It wasn't me who changed but you and now you've gone away
Don't you see that now you've gone
And I'm left here on my own
That I have to follow you and beg you to come home
You don't have to say you love me, just be close at hand
You don't have to stay forever, I will understand
Believe me, believe me, I can't help but love you
But believe me, I'll never tie you down
Left alone with just a memory
Life seems dead and so unreal
All that's left is loneliness, there's nothing left to feel
You don't have to say you love me, just be close at hand
You don't have to stay forever, I will understand
Believe me, believe me
You don't have to say you love me just be close at hand
You don't have to stay forever, I will understand
Believe me, believe me
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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”
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.
Punchline
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran sings about missing his former partner and learning important life lessons in the process on “Punchline.” This track tells a story of battling to get rid of emotions for a former lover, whom he now realized might not have loved him the same way. He’s now caught between accepting that fact and learning life lessons from it and going back to beg her for another chance.
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.
The words are so beautiful. They don't write or sing like this any more!
Just heard a story on this one. Dusty was supposedly in Italy and heard an Italian song called lo Che Non Vivo by Pino Donaggio. She loved the melody but couldn't relate to the Italian lyrics - so she brought a copy of it back to England and asked two friends of hers to write English lyrics to the melody. They ended up with this. Love this song.
Reminds me of my Mum singing when l was little
its pretty self-explanatory, i love it.
I love this song...it's so beautiful and sad at the same time. It could be about an ex-girlfriend talking to her ex-boyfriend or vice versa about how the other left them and even though the one that left them doesn't love him/her anymore, they still want them to care and be there for them. The lyrics are so beautiful.
heavy hitting song.
love is that two way street supposedly, well; listen to this song and the wheels in your head turn a little more thinking about that...
right maria?
beautiful
I think whiteflower is close, but missing it a little.
This chick loves the guy so much, she doesn't care if he loves her, just as long as she can hang around. She won't "tie him down", so he can go do whatever, as long as he is "close at hand". She can't help but love him.
Pretty sad.
Great
I've loved this song since I was a kid. I think it's beautifully sung and performed by the band, a real masterpiece of early 60's writing and musical drama.
But I didn't go through the lyrics in full until lately and they've transformed my opinion of them. They say, "you can get away with anything you want, treat me like a doormat, and I'll be here for you". Which is an atrocious message.
In fairness to the song, a lot of early 60's lyrics have this devoted-girl-demanding-boy theme and it's a sign of the sexism of those distant times. It'll always be a fabulous song to me...but I don't think I'll be singing along soon.