"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 saw you with your girlfriend, baby
I saw you underneath the light
I just want to talk
You seem to think I want to fight
Stop playing with the hand gun baby
I want to make things right
I need a little sunshine, baby
I need a little hope in life
Baby don't you hear me when I say goodbye
Baby, won't you listen cause you'll make me cry
Please, baby, please let me go
I don't deserve to suffer so
So I'm trying to believe you this time
I'm trying, but it don't seem fair
One minute it's the right stuff, honey
The next second it's like I'm not there
Baby don't you hear me when I say goodbye
Baby, won't you listen cause you'll make me cry
Please, baby, please let me go
I don't deserve to suffer so
Cause tonight I know you're gonna beg to stay
But tomorrow you will simply walk away
And tonight I know exactly what you'll do
But, come tomorrow I'll still just be your fool
I saw you as the future, baby
You see me as a one night stand
I'm sick of your part time, baby
You've gotta be a full time man
Baby, don't you hear me when I say goodbye
Baby, won't you listen cause you'll make me cry
Please, baby, please let me go
I don't deserve to suffer so
Because tonight I know you're gonna beg to stay
But tomorrow you will simply walk away
And tonight I know exactly what you'll do
But, come tomorrow I'll still just be your fool
Baby, when will you see that you're gonna be mine
I'm waiting for you , honey
You will always come back
It's just a matter of time
You know you'll never leave me
Baby, I don't want to be your fool
Can't you see, boy, I'm in love with you
Tell me what a girl's supposed to do
Cause I only want your love
Cause tonight I know you're gonna beg to stay
But, tomorrow you will simply walk away
And tonight I know exactly what you'll do
But, come tomorrow I'll still just be your fool
I saw you underneath the light
I just want to talk
You seem to think I want to fight
Stop playing with the hand gun baby
I want to make things right
I need a little sunshine, baby
I need a little hope in life
Baby don't you hear me when I say goodbye
Baby, won't you listen cause you'll make me cry
Please, baby, please let me go
I don't deserve to suffer so
So I'm trying to believe you this time
I'm trying, but it don't seem fair
One minute it's the right stuff, honey
The next second it's like I'm not there
Baby don't you hear me when I say goodbye
Baby, won't you listen cause you'll make me cry
Please, baby, please let me go
I don't deserve to suffer so
Cause tonight I know you're gonna beg to stay
But tomorrow you will simply walk away
And tonight I know exactly what you'll do
But, come tomorrow I'll still just be your fool
I saw you as the future, baby
You see me as a one night stand
I'm sick of your part time, baby
You've gotta be a full time man
Baby, don't you hear me when I say goodbye
Baby, won't you listen cause you'll make me cry
Please, baby, please let me go
I don't deserve to suffer so
Because tonight I know you're gonna beg to stay
But tomorrow you will simply walk away
And tonight I know exactly what you'll do
But, come tomorrow I'll still just be your fool
Baby, when will you see that you're gonna be mine
I'm waiting for you , honey
You will always come back
It's just a matter of time
You know you'll never leave me
Baby, I don't want to be your fool
Can't you see, boy, I'm in love with you
Tell me what a girl's supposed to do
Cause I only want your love
Cause tonight I know you're gonna beg to stay
But, tomorrow you will simply walk away
And tonight I know exactly what you'll do
But, come tomorrow I'll still just be your fool
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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"
Cajun Girl
Little Feat
Little Feat
Overall about difficult moments of disappointment and vulnerability. Having hope and longing, while remaining optimistic for the future. Encourages the belief that with each new morning there is a chance for things to improve.
The chorus offers a glimmer of optimism and a chance at a resolution and redemption in the future.
Captures the rollercoaster of emotions of feeling lost while loving someone who is not there for you, feeling let down and abandoned while waiting for a lover. Lost with no direction, "Now I'm up in the air with the rain in my hair, Nowhere to go, I can go anywhere"
The bridge shows signs of longing and a plea for companionship. The Lyrics express a desire for authentic connection and the importance of Loving someone just as they are. "Just in passing, I'm not asking. That you be anyone but you”
When We Were Young
Blink-182
Blink-182
This is a sequel to 2001's "Reckless Abandon", and features the band looking back on their clumsy youth fondly.
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.