"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'm so sorry, please forgive me
Who do I pray to to straighten out this problem? (problem)
Straighten out this problem (problem), straighten out my mind (Mind)
Straighten out ...this crooked tongue...(x3)
My mind has wandered, from the straight and narrow
My mind has wandered from the flock you see
My mind has wandered, the man just said so
My mind has wandered I heard it on TV
And the flock has wandered away from me.
(Chorus 1)
All around the world now
Like a big bright cherry cloud
Traveling from home to home
TV sets and telephones
Here it comes just like a storm
Bathe in it and be reborn
Time to let the world know
Welcome madness, ...say hello...(x3)
Like a wave we cannot see
Washing over you and me
Hiding here and hiding there
Madness hiding everywhere
Such a curiosity
Here it comes to set us free
Plenty left for you and me
Say hello insanity
I am the virus, are you the cure?
I am morally(morally), I'm morally impure(Impure)
I am a disease and I am unclean
I am not part of God's well oiled machine
Christian nation(Nation), assimilate me(me)
Take me in your arms and set me free
I am part of a degenerate elite(elite)
Dragging our society into the street -yeah-
Into the abyss and to the sewer don't you see
The man just told me, he told me on TV
Do you think you're better than me
Do you want to kill me or befriend me
And the alcoholic bastard waved his finger at me
And His voice was filled with evangelical glee
Sipping down his gin & tonics
While preaching about the evils of narcotics
And the evils of sex,(sex) and the wages of sin (Sin)
While he mentally fondles his next of kin and
My mind has wandered from the flock you see
And the flock has wandered away from me
And he waved his hypnotizing finger at me
(Chorus 2)
Let's imitate reality (Insanity)
Let's strive for mediocrity (Insanity)
Let's make believe we're all the same (Now that's for me)
Let's sanitize our little brains (Insanity)
I'd love to take you home with me and tuck you into bed
I'd love to see what makes you tick inside your pretty head
I'd love to hear you laugh tonight, I'd love to hear you weep
I'd love to listen to you while you're screaming in your sleep.
Christian sons, Christian daughters
Lead me along like a lamb to the slaughter
Purify my brain and hose down my soul
White perfection, perfection is my goal
Do you think you're better than me
Do you want to kill me, or befriend me
Christian nation(nation), make us alright
Put us through the filter and make us pure and white 'cause'
My mind has wandered away from me
And the flock has wandered, away from me
Let's talk of family values while we sit and watch the slaughter
Hypothetical abortions on imaginary daughters
The white folks think they're at the top, ask any proud white male
A million years of evolution, we get Danny Quayle
(Chorus 1 & 2)
I'd love to take you home with me, I'd love to tuck you in
I wish I could protect you from the wages of our sin
I'd love to hear you scream tonight, I'd love to hear you cry
Protect you from the madness that is raining from the sky
(Chorus 2)
I'd love to take you home with me and tuck you into bed
I'd love to see what makes you tick inside your pretty head
I wish that I could keep you in a precious Chinese box
On Sundays I would pray for you so it would never stop
I'd love to hear you laugh tonight, I'd love to hear you weep
I'd love to listen to you while you're screaming in your sleep
I'd love to soothe you with my voice and take your hand in mine
I'd love to take you past the stars and out of reach of time
I'd love to see inside your mind, to tear it all apart
To cut you open with knife and find your sacred heart
I'd love to take your satin dolls and tear them all to shreds
I'd love to mess your pretty hair, I'd love to see you dead.'
Who do I pray to to straighten out this problem? (problem)
Straighten out this problem (problem), straighten out my mind (Mind)
Straighten out ...this crooked tongue...(x3)
My mind has wandered, from the straight and narrow
My mind has wandered from the flock you see
My mind has wandered, the man just said so
My mind has wandered I heard it on TV
And the flock has wandered away from me.
(Chorus 1)
All around the world now
Like a big bright cherry cloud
Traveling from home to home
TV sets and telephones
Here it comes just like a storm
Bathe in it and be reborn
Time to let the world know
Welcome madness, ...say hello...(x3)
Like a wave we cannot see
Washing over you and me
Hiding here and hiding there
Madness hiding everywhere
Such a curiosity
Here it comes to set us free
Plenty left for you and me
Say hello insanity
I am the virus, are you the cure?
I am morally(morally), I'm morally impure(Impure)
I am a disease and I am unclean
I am not part of God's well oiled machine
Christian nation(Nation), assimilate me(me)
Take me in your arms and set me free
I am part of a degenerate elite(elite)
Dragging our society into the street -yeah-
Into the abyss and to the sewer don't you see
The man just told me, he told me on TV
Do you think you're better than me
Do you want to kill me or befriend me
And the alcoholic bastard waved his finger at me
And His voice was filled with evangelical glee
Sipping down his gin & tonics
While preaching about the evils of narcotics
And the evils of sex,(sex) and the wages of sin (Sin)
While he mentally fondles his next of kin and
My mind has wandered from the flock you see
And the flock has wandered away from me
And he waved his hypnotizing finger at me
(Chorus 2)
Let's imitate reality (Insanity)
Let's strive for mediocrity (Insanity)
Let's make believe we're all the same (Now that's for me)
Let's sanitize our little brains (Insanity)
I'd love to take you home with me and tuck you into bed
I'd love to see what makes you tick inside your pretty head
I'd love to hear you laugh tonight, I'd love to hear you weep
I'd love to listen to you while you're screaming in your sleep.
Christian sons, Christian daughters
Lead me along like a lamb to the slaughter
Purify my brain and hose down my soul
White perfection, perfection is my goal
Do you think you're better than me
Do you want to kill me, or befriend me
Christian nation(nation), make us alright
Put us through the filter and make us pure and white 'cause'
My mind has wandered away from me
And the flock has wandered, away from me
Let's talk of family values while we sit and watch the slaughter
Hypothetical abortions on imaginary daughters
The white folks think they're at the top, ask any proud white male
A million years of evolution, we get Danny Quayle
(Chorus 1 & 2)
I'd love to take you home with me, I'd love to tuck you in
I wish I could protect you from the wages of our sin
I'd love to hear you scream tonight, I'd love to hear you cry
Protect you from the madness that is raining from the sky
(Chorus 2)
I'd love to take you home with me and tuck you into bed
I'd love to see what makes you tick inside your pretty head
I wish that I could keep you in a precious Chinese box
On Sundays I would pray for you so it would never stop
I'd love to hear you laugh tonight, I'd love to hear you weep
I'd love to listen to you while you're screaming in your sleep
I'd love to soothe you with my voice and take your hand in mine
I'd love to take you past the stars and out of reach of time
I'd love to see inside your mind, to tear it all apart
To cut you open with knife and find your sacred heart
I'd love to take your satin dolls and tear them all to shreds
I'd love to mess your pretty hair, I'd love to see you dead.'
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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"
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.
Blue
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
“Blue” is a song about a love that is persisting in the discomfort of the person experiencing the emotion. Ed Sheeran reflects on love lost, and although he wishes his former partner find happiness, he cannot but admit his feelings are still very much there. He expresses the realization that he might never find another on this stringed instrumental by Aaron Dessner.
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.
From my interpretation, the view of the song is from a guy who has always been considered different and crazy by the abusive Christian environment he grew up in, until he finally snaps.
Since Christians believe we are all God's designed children, they tend to find it hard to accept that there are people different from them. So they make a very clear line between what is normal and what is wrong, Television and media only further this generalization, and the Christian Nation make make sure to take of the "insane".
So after our character's mind wanders and he becomes crazy, he sings against this judgmental and generalizing environment, stating the hypocrisy of maybe the reason he's gone crazy is because "the alcoholic bastard(his father)" mentally abused him when he preached against everything in the world.