"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.
some people bring you gifts
some bring you bricks to weigh you down
so they can swim a little higher
while you drown
some people mean so well
their was was the best way
that they found but any other way
you choose is a break that
weighs you down
so tell me what do I do
with this backpack full of bricks
of sticks and stones
and words that stuck to me like ticks
let it go
let it be
brick by brick
we can be free
of all the words
we saved til we were our own enemies
let it go
let it be
brick by brick
we can believe in the person God intended us to be
let it be
some people give themslves a brick
I know most people do
when we compare we fall short somewhere
it's always true
if all we see is where we fall
we've bricked a prison wall
instead of trying to learn to fly
we've taught ourselves to crawl
we oculd believe in ourselves
more we could try for unique
instead of trying to conform
we could defy what they tell us
don't buy the lies they sell us
if we're brave we can believe in what we are
some bring you bricks to weigh you down
so they can swim a little higher
while you drown
some people mean so well
their was was the best way
that they found but any other way
you choose is a break that
weighs you down
so tell me what do I do
with this backpack full of bricks
of sticks and stones
and words that stuck to me like ticks
let it go
let it be
brick by brick
we can be free
of all the words
we saved til we were our own enemies
let it go
let it be
brick by brick
we can believe in the person God intended us to be
let it be
some people give themslves a brick
I know most people do
when we compare we fall short somewhere
it's always true
if all we see is where we fall
we've bricked a prison wall
instead of trying to learn to fly
we've taught ourselves to crawl
we oculd believe in ourselves
more we could try for unique
instead of trying to conform
we could defy what they tell us
don't buy the lies they sell us
if we're brave we can believe in what we are
Lyrics submitted by krynge
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i defy you to find a person who dislikes this song! all my friends love it, as do i. i introduced my parents to Superchick with this song, and they both said that any other song from Superchick would've put them off, because the rest "aren't their type of music", but there's something about Let it Be that made them give the rest a chance. Now my mom has downloaded Stand in the Rain into her music library, and i've gotten my dad to listen through both Beauty From Pain (album) and Rock What You Got (album).
as for the meaning, i think it's pretty self-explanitory. i agree with jesusaves, and would like to add: it's about judging ourselves through others' eyes rather than God's. You just hurt yourself, buying into human judgements-they don't know who you are as a person, and they don't love you like Christ does. So, rather than worrying about the bricks they throw at you to make themselves feel better, cast away those loads and turn your eyes to God, because He has a plan for you, and won't ever harm you!