"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.
Motherfucker, you'd better break yourself
My skin is my sin, look at my complexion
Section 8, erection great
Balls like Ru Paul and a big fat plank
Get you higher than a Spike Lee joint
See I'm a chicken hawk and I'm hunting chicken and watermelon
It ain't nothing but hard time bailing
Just got a misdomener
Cause I got a deuce-five, and I'm black as Sarafina
Get the hell out Somolia, we didn't call y'all
I can't wait till I can kill all y'all
Fuck Reggie Denton and Jimmy (Johnny) Cochran
Damn I couldn't get close enough to sock him
I plead guilty your honor
Cause I dissed the Pope more times than Sinead O'Connor
Huh huh, cool, like Butthead and Beavis
Truer than the Mack but I'm downer than he is
And that police chief named Willie
Can take his motherfucking ass back to Philly
Dropped a bomb on a crew named "Move"
Years ago, here's a hoe
That's ready to stop me, they think I'm Khadafi
Rolling in a six-tre jalopy
They want to give me ten in the pen cause I'm smelling like Hen
My skin is my sin
My S-K-I-N is my S-I-N (Burning our black skin)
My S-K-I-N is my S-I-N (Burning our black skin)
I Get Around like Tupac, just bought a new glock
And I want what you got
So please give it up so I can live it up
Just like the rich but I still eat grits
I don't know karate
But I can still beat the dog shit out of Nazis
You claim you want to put in work
Plotting to blow up a church
See you devils are all the same
You'll gun down a congregation in Jesus' name
Using me as a scapegoat, well cracker don't sleep
Far from a goat, more like a black sheep
Lamb of God, and it's odd
That Allah is a man that don't need a tan
And you can't stand when I talk like that
And why do black men have to walk like that?
Cause we swing low like a chariot
And now I got Harriet all on my dick
Cause my shoe size is much bigger than a motherfucking 10
My skin is my sin
My S-K-I-N is my S-I-N (Burning our black skin)
My S-K-I-N is my S-I-N (Burning our black skin)
Who's that janky-ass nigga with last?
Standing like a G pissing on America's flag
Dub C, the nigga from Westside
Westide Maad Circle bailing with a double barrel
Cause uh, my skin is my sin
And all I need is knowledge of self and ammunition is my best friend
When it's time to roll nigga, we ain't calling on Jesus
I'm calling Mad Dog for the 9 millimeters
Cause I give the song with those peckerwoods to the fullest
And a bitch by the name of America's on it
The same bitch that jacked my forefathers
And the Indians took my motherfucking religion
Place a holy Bible in my hand, but for what?
Like Jim Kelly said, "You try to set me up?" Shit...
I'm too slick for your lies in disguise
When will you devils open your eyes and realize?
Like Pepsi, niggas got a new generation
And we don't want your American education
Ain't no brain washing this way
Fuck America, Tom Meztger, and KKK
And to the cracker named J.B. Stoner
Don't let me catch you on no corners
I see you on TV talking more shit
But just like your punk-ass ancestors, you's a bitch
You's a bitch if I ever saw one
Grand Wizard bring your ass on Imperial so we can get physical
And watch God show and prove
Not only mentally but physically the black man rules
So run devil run, you's to best start running
Because the niggas are coming, oh, the niggas are coming
And ain't no way you gon' win
Cause I come from a tribe of O.G.'s and my skin is my sin
My S-K-I-N is my S-I-N "Burning our black skin"
My S-K-I-N is my S-I-N "Burning our black skin"
My skin is my sin, look at my complexion
Section 8, erection great
Balls like Ru Paul and a big fat plank
Get you higher than a Spike Lee joint
See I'm a chicken hawk and I'm hunting chicken and watermelon
It ain't nothing but hard time bailing
Just got a misdomener
Cause I got a deuce-five, and I'm black as Sarafina
Get the hell out Somolia, we didn't call y'all
I can't wait till I can kill all y'all
Fuck Reggie Denton and Jimmy (Johnny) Cochran
Damn I couldn't get close enough to sock him
I plead guilty your honor
Cause I dissed the Pope more times than Sinead O'Connor
Huh huh, cool, like Butthead and Beavis
Truer than the Mack but I'm downer than he is
And that police chief named Willie
Can take his motherfucking ass back to Philly
Dropped a bomb on a crew named "Move"
Years ago, here's a hoe
That's ready to stop me, they think I'm Khadafi
Rolling in a six-tre jalopy
They want to give me ten in the pen cause I'm smelling like Hen
My skin is my sin
My S-K-I-N is my S-I-N (Burning our black skin)
My S-K-I-N is my S-I-N (Burning our black skin)
I Get Around like Tupac, just bought a new glock
And I want what you got
So please give it up so I can live it up
Just like the rich but I still eat grits
I don't know karate
But I can still beat the dog shit out of Nazis
You claim you want to put in work
Plotting to blow up a church
See you devils are all the same
You'll gun down a congregation in Jesus' name
Using me as a scapegoat, well cracker don't sleep
Far from a goat, more like a black sheep
Lamb of God, and it's odd
That Allah is a man that don't need a tan
And you can't stand when I talk like that
And why do black men have to walk like that?
Cause we swing low like a chariot
And now I got Harriet all on my dick
Cause my shoe size is much bigger than a motherfucking 10
My skin is my sin
My S-K-I-N is my S-I-N (Burning our black skin)
My S-K-I-N is my S-I-N (Burning our black skin)
Who's that janky-ass nigga with last?
Standing like a G pissing on America's flag
Dub C, the nigga from Westside
Westide Maad Circle bailing with a double barrel
Cause uh, my skin is my sin
And all I need is knowledge of self and ammunition is my best friend
When it's time to roll nigga, we ain't calling on Jesus
I'm calling Mad Dog for the 9 millimeters
Cause I give the song with those peckerwoods to the fullest
And a bitch by the name of America's on it
The same bitch that jacked my forefathers
And the Indians took my motherfucking religion
Place a holy Bible in my hand, but for what?
Like Jim Kelly said, "You try to set me up?" Shit...
I'm too slick for your lies in disguise
When will you devils open your eyes and realize?
Like Pepsi, niggas got a new generation
And we don't want your American education
Ain't no brain washing this way
Fuck America, Tom Meztger, and KKK
And to the cracker named J.B. Stoner
Don't let me catch you on no corners
I see you on TV talking more shit
But just like your punk-ass ancestors, you's a bitch
You's a bitch if I ever saw one
Grand Wizard bring your ass on Imperial so we can get physical
And watch God show and prove
Not only mentally but physically the black man rules
So run devil run, you's to best start running
Because the niggas are coming, oh, the niggas are coming
And ain't no way you gon' win
Cause I come from a tribe of O.G.'s and my skin is my sin
My S-K-I-N is my S-I-N "Burning our black skin"
My S-K-I-N is my S-I-N "Burning our black skin"
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More Featured Meanings
Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman
Holiday
Bee Gees
Bee Gees
@[Diderik:33655] "Your a holiday!" Was a popular term used in the 50s/60s to compliment someone on their all around. For example, not only are they beautiful, but they are fun and kind too ... just an all around "holiday".
I think your first comment is closer to being accurate. The singer/song writers state "Millions of eyes can see, yet why am i so blind!? When the someone else is me, its unkind its unkind". I believe hes referring to the girl toying with him and using him. He wants something deeper with her, thats why he allows himself to be as a puppet (even though for her fun and games) as long as it makes her happy. But he knows deep down that she doesnt really want to be serious with him and thats what makes him.
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.
No Surprises
Radiohead
Radiohead
Same ideas expressed in Fitter, Happier are expressed in this song. We're told to strive for some sort of ideal life, which includes getting a good job, being kind to everyone, finding a partner, getting married, having a couple kids, living in a quiet neighborhood in a nice big house, etc. But in Fitter, Happier the narrator(?) realizes that it's incredibly robotic to live this life. People are being used by those in power "like a pig in a cage on antibiotics"--being pacified with things like new phones and cool gadgets and houses while being sucked dry. On No Surprises, the narrator is realizing how this life is killing him slowly. In the video, his helmet is slowly filling up with water, drowning him. But he's so complacent with it. This is a good summary of the song. This boring, "perfect" life foisted upon us by some higher powers (not spiritual, but political, economic, etc. politicians and businessmen, perhaps) is not the way to live. But there is seemingly no way out but death. He'd rather die peacefully right now than live in this cage. While our lives are often shielded, we're in our own protective bubbles, or protective helmets like the one Thom wears, if we look a little harder we can see all the corruption, lies, manipulation, etc. that is going on in the world, often run by huge yet nearly invisible organizations, corporations, and 'leaders'. It's a very hopeless song because it reflects real life.
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.