"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.
Roll along, roll on
Rose of Cimarron
Dusty days are gone
Rose of Cimarron
Shadows touch the sand and look to see who's standin'
Waitin' at your window, watchin' will they ever show?
Can you hear them calling? You know they have fallen on
Campfires cold and dark that never see a spark burn bright
Roll along, roll on
Rose of Cimarron
Dusty days are gone
Rose of Cimarron
Trails that brought them home echo names the've known
Four days high and lonely comin' to you only
You're the one they'd turn to, the only one they knew who'd do
All her best to be around when the chips were down
Hearts like yours belong
Following the dawn
Wrapped up in a song
Rose of Cimarron
Rose of Cimarron
Dusty days are gone
Rose of Cimarron
Shadows touch the sand and look to see who's standin'
Waitin' at your window, watchin' will they ever show?
Can you hear them calling? You know they have fallen on
Campfires cold and dark that never see a spark burn bright
Roll along, roll on
Rose of Cimarron
Dusty days are gone
Rose of Cimarron
Trails that brought them home echo names the've known
Four days high and lonely comin' to you only
You're the one they'd turn to, the only one they knew who'd do
All her best to be around when the chips were down
Hearts like yours belong
Following the dawn
Wrapped up in a song
Rose of Cimarron
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More Featured Meanings
Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman
The Night We Met
Lord Huron
Lord Huron
This is a hauntingly beautiful song about introspection, specifically about looking back at a relationship that started bad and ended so poorly, that the narrator wants to go back to the very beginning and tell himself to not even travel down that road. I believe that the relationship started poorly because of the lines:
"Take me back to the night we met:When the night was full of terrors: And your eyes were filled with tears: When you had not touched me yet"
So, the first night was not a great start, but the narrator pursued the relationship and eventually both overcame the rough start to fall in love with each other:
"I had all and then most of you"
Like many relationships that turn sour, it was not a quick decline, but a gradual one where the narrator and their partner fall out of love and gradually grow apart
"Some and now none of you"
Losing someone who was once everything in your world, who you could confide in, tell your secrets to, share all the most intimate parts of your life, to being strangers with that person is probably one of the most painful experiences a person can go through. So Painful, the narrator wants to go back in time and tell himself to not even pursue the relationship.
This was the perfect song for "13 Reasons Why"
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.
Amazing
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran tells a story of unsuccessfully trying to feel “Amazing.” This track is about the being weighed down by emotional stress despite valiant attempts to find some positivity in the situation. This track was written by Ed Sheeran from the perspective of his friend. From the track, we see this person fall deeper into the negative thoughts and slide further down the path of mental torment with every lyric.
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.
Rose of the Cimarron was the beautiful Rose Dunn, who was infatuated with outlaw George "Bittercreek" Newcomb as a teenager in the 1890's. She assisted him and his gang with nursing, shelter and supplies but was the unwitting instrument of his death. Her brothers, knowing that he would visit her at their house lay in wait and killed him for the "dead or alive" reward. She later married a local politician & lived a respectable life until her death. The lyrics seem to cover the stakeout.
I heard the group once described as "the incredible" Poco & have always thought of them as such - one of my favourite songs.
What a powerful ending
Great song - and yes, a powerful ending. I wonder what it's about though.
@Deref That extended orchestral coda sounds like a bid to have the song included in a movie soundtrack.
Great song - and yes, a powerful ending. I wonder what it's about though.
A truly great song, one of my favorites, beautiful lyrics and melody with an awesome finish. Poco is such an unrecognized group of super talented musicians who have all gone on to make such great contributions to our world.
Long live great music !