"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.
Taking a bath within the sun rays
Letting the aura of life soak me
living in the country chickens, cows, all around me
I'me bored I'll take a drive into the city limits
yo life is just a secret recipe & I'm all up in it.
Being the grand papa that I am one can forget it
today I figure I deserve to swerve
from my normal nerdy status that engulfs my time & that is
just what I need so here it goes I suppose that it's on
shake out my dreads with Aloe
Vera it's rare a brother like me will agree
with Taree, Kwesi, and go party with Baba
But Yo I gotta be hip & dip within the Fountain of youth!
the fountain of youth
Once I learned to dip and got drenched I got drenched
without the fear of drowning my ears can hear the sound and...
my eyes are wide open O P E N
and consciously aware of my surroundings.
Wally I'm getting energy -golly gee
as if I'm solar powered
it seems like every now & then
I skim on the edge of nuttiness
letting the wind push and shove in my dreads as if it's an argument
But really they're just snuggling for affection
hair needs loving too,
speaking of love the western civilization is on another tip
to tell you the truth they need to dip into the fountain of youth!
the fontain of youth
Bopping my head is more that bopping it's a spiritual thing
rhythms and lines space and time
relative? yes I pump my sound loud so my people can hear it
I hope the music soothes our spirits
'cause it soothes me
my foundation is strong but I allow some things to move me
and that is energy from the fountain of youth.
Letting the aura of life soak me
living in the country chickens, cows, all around me
I'me bored I'll take a drive into the city limits
yo life is just a secret recipe & I'm all up in it.
Being the grand papa that I am one can forget it
today I figure I deserve to swerve
from my normal nerdy status that engulfs my time & that is
just what I need so here it goes I suppose that it's on
shake out my dreads with Aloe
Vera it's rare a brother like me will agree
with Taree, Kwesi, and go party with Baba
But Yo I gotta be hip & dip within the Fountain of youth!
the fountain of youth
Once I learned to dip and got drenched I got drenched
without the fear of drowning my ears can hear the sound and...
my eyes are wide open O P E N
and consciously aware of my surroundings.
Wally I'm getting energy -golly gee
as if I'm solar powered
it seems like every now & then
I skim on the edge of nuttiness
letting the wind push and shove in my dreads as if it's an argument
But really they're just snuggling for affection
hair needs loving too,
speaking of love the western civilization is on another tip
to tell you the truth they need to dip into the fountain of youth!
the fontain of youth
Bopping my head is more that bopping it's a spiritual thing
rhythms and lines space and time
relative? yes I pump my sound loud so my people can hear it
I hope the music soothes our spirits
'cause it soothes me
my foundation is strong but I allow some things to move me
and that is energy from the fountain of youth.
Lyrics submitted by spliphstar
Fountain of Youth Lyrics as written by David Porter Isaac Hayes
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT MUSIC
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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
Gentle Hour
Yo La Tengo
Yo La Tengo
This song was originally written by a guy called Peter Gutteridge. He was one of the founders of the "Dunedin Sound" a musical scene in the south of New Zealand in the early 80s. From there it was covered by "The Clean" one of the early bands of that scene (he had originally been a member of in it's early days, writing a couple of their best early songs). The Dunedin sound, and the Clean became popular on american college radio in the mid to late 80s. I guess Yo La Tengo heard that version.
Great version of a great song,
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.
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.
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.