"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.
does anybody see him?
another set up for the fall
does anybody hear him?
he's screaming at the same blank wall
everyone can't be right
but everyone will decide
i'm not afraid of the price i pay
i won't lie down as you walk away
i know you must have seen him
i'm sure you must have heard it all
i know you used to be him
did anybody care at all?
another set up for the fall
does anybody hear him?
he's screaming at the same blank wall
everyone can't be right
but everyone will decide
i'm not afraid of the price i pay
i won't lie down as you walk away
i know you must have seen him
i'm sure you must have heard it all
i know you used to be him
did anybody care at all?
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
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.
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.
Head > Heels
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
“Head > Heels” is a track that aims to capture what it feels like to experience romance that exceeds expectations. Ed Sheeran dedicates his album outro to a lover who has blessed him with a unique experience that he seeks to describe through the song’s nuanced lyrics.
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.
Incredible song.
I'd have to say that this is one of Face to Face's best songs. I first heard it on the Mortal Kombat Annhihilation soundtrack, though it was remixed. Then I bought the CD, heard the original, and loved this song even more. I'm pretty sure this song is about never giving up, even when you're the underdog and people think that you're finished. Whenever I hear this song, I get the image of a kid being picked on at school. The verses, "Everyone can't be right, but everyone will decide" make me think of the kid's peers judging him, even though what they think isn't true. The verses "I'm not afraid of the price I pay, I won't lie down as you walk away" make me think of a kid beaten up by a bunch of bullies, but he still stands up. That's just my own interpretation... I'd love to see a video for this song.
I dont think i have the words to say how beautiful this song is. Not beautiful in a conventional way, but beautiful to someone who knows what its like to be the person the song is about. I love this song.
I think exactly the same as hated enemy...think the same when I hear this song...kid being bullied
To me, it's not so much about a kid being bullied but a kid who needs help and everyone just abandons him. It's saying everyone around him can see what's going on but nobody cares enough to help. They're wrong in doing so, but because of that they decide what happens to him and how his life turns out. I think the song is saying everyone else gave up on him but he [the singer] won't no matter what the consequences are. And I like the line "I know you used to be him." It makes me think of someone who was exactly like the kid but has grown up and changed and doesn't want to go through it again by tyring to help him.
I love this song.
i think that this song is about someone that used to be a looser, but changed, and sees someone like him in the past but doesnt want to stick up for him. maybe because of the fact that he might get sucked back into it, or labebled agn??
2 years later, and I still absolutely love this song. Great comments from everyone!! I'm especially digging what magicdirt said...If you have been in the position of the person this song is about, it releases so many feelings within you and it becomes truly beautiful.
A little more about this song and me.
It is my all-time favorite song.
Back when I was in middle-school, I was a shy, chubby kid and I got bullied just about everyday.
Being into videogames, I saw the movie, Mortal Kombat Annihilation. My best friend bought the soundtrack and let me borrow it.
I still remember sitting on my bed and listening to this song on repeat over and over on lazy afternoons. I couldn't believe that I identified with a song SO MUCH.
It really lifted my spirits and vindicated me. I felt like someone truly understood me and what I was going through. Without this song, my life may have been turned out totally different. Because of it, I turned my life around. I worked out, I became more social, I left past grudges behind, I made new friends and people from middle-school always tell me I've changed.
I still play this song anytime I set off to meet a new challenge... a job interview... trying to break records in the gym...going on a date with an attractive girl-- to me this song is the embodiment of courage, and it always fills me with it, because it reminds me of the scared little boy I used to be and how I just wouldn't lie down as everyone walked away... I knew that everyone couldn't be right. And even though everyone decided that I was inferior, I didn't let them determine my destiny.
I owe a huge thanks to Face to Face and Trever Keith for writing this song. This song influenced me for the better at the most pivotal time of my adolescent life.
Whenever I find myself falling too deeply into some self-pity, I like to play this song and try to pull myself out of the tailspin.
A bit of insight into this song came via former blink 182 drummer Scott on a tv interview, at time band was still together and on the tv show they were playing their favorite music videos. Scott picked this video and said the song was about face to face singer (scott as well?) and the relationshp with his family....
Not much, but its something...