"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.
Gave up trying to figure out my head got lost along the way
Worn out from giving it up my soul I pissed it all away
Still stings these shattered nerves
Pigs we get what pigs deserve
I'm going all the way down I'm leaving today
Come come come on you've gotta fill me up
Come come gotta let me inside of you
Come come come on you're gotta fix me up
Come come gotta let me inside of you
Still feel it all slipping away but it doesn't matter anymore
Everybody's still chipping away but it doesn't matter anymore
Look through these blackened eyes
You'll see ten thousand lies
My lips may promise but my heart is a whore
Come come come on you've gotta fill me up
Come come gotta let me inside of you
Come come come on you're gotta fix me up
Come come gotta let me get through to you
This isn't meant to last
This is for right now
I know it's all getting away it comes to me as no surprise
I know what's coming to me is never going to arrive
Fresh blood through tired skin
New sweat to drown me in
Dress up this rotten carcass just to make it look alive
Come come come on you've gotta fill me up
Come come gotta let me inside of you
Come come come on you're gotta fix me up
Come come gotta let me get through to you
This isn't meant to last
This is for right now
I wish I could put the blame on you
I want you to make me
I want you to take me
I want you to break me
Then I want you to throw me away
Worn out from giving it up my soul I pissed it all away
Still stings these shattered nerves
Pigs we get what pigs deserve
I'm going all the way down I'm leaving today
Come come come on you've gotta fill me up
Come come gotta let me inside of you
Come come come on you're gotta fix me up
Come come gotta let me inside of you
Still feel it all slipping away but it doesn't matter anymore
Everybody's still chipping away but it doesn't matter anymore
Look through these blackened eyes
You'll see ten thousand lies
My lips may promise but my heart is a whore
Come come come on you've gotta fill me up
Come come gotta let me inside of you
Come come come on you're gotta fix me up
Come come gotta let me get through to you
This isn't meant to last
This is for right now
I know it's all getting away it comes to me as no surprise
I know what's coming to me is never going to arrive
Fresh blood through tired skin
New sweat to drown me in
Dress up this rotten carcass just to make it look alive
Come come come on you've gotta fill me up
Come come gotta let me inside of you
Come come come on you're gotta fix me up
Come come gotta let me get through to you
This isn't meant to last
This is for right now
I wish I could put the blame on you
I want you to make me
I want you to take me
I want you to break me
Then I want you to throw me away
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More Featured Meanings
Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman
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.
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.
"i wish i could put all the blame on you i want you to make me i want you to take me i want you to break me then i want you to throw me away" I think it's about... He's in a relationship and he lies about quite a few things and thinks she or whoever it is doesn't need them, that he's too lowly for them. He wants them to throw him away because that's all he thinks he's worth, is trash.
I think it's about losing yourself, and desperately clawing up to recover from a frenetically paced downward spiral. Thats the more general theme. Specifically this song is about attempting to sustain yourself through carnality when you have lost so much.
This song, as a special place in my heart, so to speak. I've been exactly where it describes.
this song kicks so much ass it's not even funny.
not very industrial, but a fucking badass industrial metal song. love the beginning
I see it as somebody taking advantage of many people, needing for him to be "filled up" he does this by "look through these blackened eyes you'll see ten thousand lies my lips may promise but my heart is a whore" lieing to people, similar to Closer he feels incomplete and needs the sex to keep him alive, (The reference to sweat and blood can mean sex)
and any relationship made, wont last.
i believe this song is about someone who is in a relationship with someone who they at one point was so completly in love, and all of a suddon the felling started slipping away. and he couldnt do anything about it. no matter how much he wanted to save himself and the relationship, he just couldnt. so he is trying to convice himself that it wasnt meant to last
this song is fuckin amazing. to say that trent reznor is a lyrical genius would belittle him "pigs we get what pigs deserve" i mean how are you going to beat that. and the raw emotion that he puts into the songs is insane and it drives the feeling out of the listener. a world without trent reznor is a world i would not want to live in.
Keep in mind that Trent sometimes writes his lyrics from different perspectives, so when he says "I" he can be writing about someone else.
I agree with the old groupie/whore theory. Most of the lyrics are ambiguous, but when you put together some of the key phrases, they seem to point in that direction ("worn out from giving it up," "blackened eyes," "my heart is a whore," "dress up this rotten carcass").
No comments on one of my favorite NIN songs? That's a shame.
I love this track. The imagery is just so powerful (fresh blood through tired skin / new sweat to drown me in / dress up this rotten carcass just to make it look alive), and the way Trent sings it is amazing.
THIS SONG IS ABOUT GROUPIES!!! WOOHOO!
\"look through these blackened eyes, you\'ll see ten thousand lies\"
I get chills when he sings that.