"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.
Hey, man, I don't feel like goin' to school no more
Me neither, they can't make you go, no you daddyo yeah!
I ain't goin' to school it starts too early for me
Well listen man I ain't goin' to school no more it starts much, much too early for me
I don't care about readin', writin', 'rithmetic or history
I'm gonna walk to the corner and meet my little Marie
I'm gonna walk to the corner and meet my little Marie
Well she's the only girl in this whole world who understands me
Well she's sexy and seventeen
My little rock-roll queen
Acts a little bit obscene
Gotta let off a little steam
Dig that sound shake it around you're mine, mine, mine
Johnny and Eddie and me and Jimmy and Jack
Are gonna do a little number on the teacher when she turns her back
We're gonna cut out of class, meet the girls by the railroad track
Well ev'ry Friday night there's a band that you gotta hear
Just a dollar ticket in and twenty-five cents a beer
They play rock and roll music like it hasn't been rocked for years
Well she's sexy and seventeen
My little rock-roll queen
Acts a little bit obscene
Gotta let off a little steam
Dig that sound shake it around you're mine, mine, mine
Well when I hear that rockin' beat
I can't sit still up , out of my seat
Come on babe let's jump 'round your feet
Can't learn nothin' in school they don't teach you on the street !
Wo-oh , wo-oh , baby I like your style
Wo-oh oh oh oh baby I like your style
You don't care what the other kids say, you go real wild
Well you're sexy and seventeen
My little rock-roll queen
Acts a little bit obscene
Gotta let off a little steam
Dig that sound shake it around you're mine, mine, mine
Dig that sound and shake it around you're mine, mine, mine
Dig that sound and shake it around you're mine, mine, mine
Me neither, they can't make you go, no you daddyo yeah!
I ain't goin' to school it starts too early for me
Well listen man I ain't goin' to school no more it starts much, much too early for me
I don't care about readin', writin', 'rithmetic or history
I'm gonna walk to the corner and meet my little Marie
I'm gonna walk to the corner and meet my little Marie
Well she's the only girl in this whole world who understands me
Well she's sexy and seventeen
My little rock-roll queen
Acts a little bit obscene
Gotta let off a little steam
Dig that sound shake it around you're mine, mine, mine
Johnny and Eddie and me and Jimmy and Jack
Are gonna do a little number on the teacher when she turns her back
We're gonna cut out of class, meet the girls by the railroad track
Well ev'ry Friday night there's a band that you gotta hear
Just a dollar ticket in and twenty-five cents a beer
They play rock and roll music like it hasn't been rocked for years
Well she's sexy and seventeen
My little rock-roll queen
Acts a little bit obscene
Gotta let off a little steam
Dig that sound shake it around you're mine, mine, mine
Well when I hear that rockin' beat
I can't sit still up , out of my seat
Come on babe let's jump 'round your feet
Can't learn nothin' in school they don't teach you on the street !
Wo-oh , wo-oh , baby I like your style
Wo-oh oh oh oh baby I like your style
You don't care what the other kids say, you go real wild
Well you're sexy and seventeen
My little rock-roll queen
Acts a little bit obscene
Gotta let off a little steam
Dig that sound shake it around you're mine, mine, mine
Dig that sound and shake it around you're mine, mine, mine
Dig that sound and shake it around you're mine, mine, mine
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Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman
Dreamwalker
Silent Planet
Silent Planet
I think much like another song “Anti-Matter” (that's also on the same album as this song), this one is also is inspired by a horrifying van crash the band experienced on Nov 3, 2022. This, much like the other track, sounds like it's an extension what they shared while huddled in the wreckage, as they helped frontman Garrett Russell stem the bleeding from his head wound while he was under the temporary effects of a concussion. The track speaks of where the mind goes at the most desperate & desolate of times, when it just about slips away to all but disconnect itself, and the aftermath.
Magical
Ed Sheeran
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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.
Punchline
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran sings about missing his former partner and learning important life lessons in the process on “Punchline.” This track tells a story of battling to get rid of emotions for a former lover, whom he now realized might not have loved him the same way. He’s now caught between accepting that fact and learning life lessons from it and going back to beg her for another chance.
Page
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
There aren’t many things that’ll hurt more than giving love a chance against your better judgement only to have your heart crushed yet again. Ed Sheeran tells such a story on “Page.” On this track, he is devastated to have lost his lover and even more saddened by the feeling that he may never move on from this.
I love this band, but it's about the music, not the lyrics.