"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.
I walk through the day
Through the open fields
I walk to my truck
To my truck and drive away
To the road
Through the broken roads, trusty road
I was headed for the road
The road that runs that way
And I, I see the train
The trains don't run to Brasilia
I walked through the fields
Through the fields to Brasilia
My ticket stub says I'm going
I'm going to Trenton
When my friends stop by
I try to impress them, no buildings over two stories high
Except my house, oh my my, I see
See crossed lattice work made out of brick
I see buildings
With laundry hanging out of the window
Never in my wildest dreams would I think I'd see
Brasilia crossed with Trenton
When you live in the middle of nowhere
Your imagination runs away and wild
You make games, I make games that I play most once a day
I pretend Brasilia turned to Trenton
Brasilia crossed with Trenton
Department store
The only place that I buy clothes anymore
I used to be a big shopper 'round the world
Big credit cards, they don't matter anymore
'Cause I can't pay any money that I owe
To these cards anymore
They don't take these things down at the bank
They just take money
Imagine yourself in the middle of nowhere
Imagination runs away for a while
I play games about once a day or so
I don't know, that's where I'd rather go
Brasilia crossed with Trenton
I wish that I could tell my story
To all the people that listened to my story long ago
I knew that this would happen sooner or later
That I'd get disillusioned with it all
Just throw my hands up to the sky and say
Oh Lord, what happened, what happened
To make things run this way
Imagine yourself in the middle of nowhere
Your imagination runs away for a while
You learn to play games about once every day or so
I walked to Brasilia crossed with Trenton
Brasilia crossed with Trenton
Through the open fields
I walk to my truck
To my truck and drive away
To the road
Through the broken roads, trusty road
I was headed for the road
The road that runs that way
And I, I see the train
The trains don't run to Brasilia
I walked through the fields
Through the fields to Brasilia
My ticket stub says I'm going
I'm going to Trenton
When my friends stop by
I try to impress them, no buildings over two stories high
Except my house, oh my my, I see
See crossed lattice work made out of brick
I see buildings
With laundry hanging out of the window
Never in my wildest dreams would I think I'd see
Brasilia crossed with Trenton
When you live in the middle of nowhere
Your imagination runs away and wild
You make games, I make games that I play most once a day
I pretend Brasilia turned to Trenton
Brasilia crossed with Trenton
Department store
The only place that I buy clothes anymore
I used to be a big shopper 'round the world
Big credit cards, they don't matter anymore
'Cause I can't pay any money that I owe
To these cards anymore
They don't take these things down at the bank
They just take money
Imagine yourself in the middle of nowhere
Imagination runs away for a while
I play games about once a day or so
I don't know, that's where I'd rather go
Brasilia crossed with Trenton
I wish that I could tell my story
To all the people that listened to my story long ago
I knew that this would happen sooner or later
That I'd get disillusioned with it all
Just throw my hands up to the sky and say
Oh Lord, what happened, what happened
To make things run this way
Imagine yourself in the middle of nowhere
Your imagination runs away for a while
You learn to play games about once every day or so
I walked to Brasilia crossed with Trenton
Brasilia crossed with Trenton
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,
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.
American Town
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran shares a short story of reconnecting with an old flame on “American Town.” The track is about a holiday Ed Sheeran spends with his countrywoman who resides in America. The two are back together after a long period apart, and get around to enjoying a bunch of fun activities while rekindling the flames of their romance.
Bob went into the country when he wrote Workbook. He obviously enjoyed it, a bit a least.