"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.
Loopy says he likes it up on top
Yes he knows if he ever lets go
The pretty machine will swallow him whole
He has no fear
He has no sense of shame
He will not stop until everybody everywhere wants to know his name
The one hit wonder
He likes the big time
He says he wants to live the kind of life
That will make the folks back home all bitch and whine
He knows if he ever even gets the chance
He'd sell his soul to make the monster dance
They can't hurt you unless you let them
Loopy says he sure does like the good life
Yes he knows all those women who scheme
Are just pretty pictures in the pretty machine
He knows if he ever even gets to try
He will bite down hard to make the monster cry
He knows if he ever even gets a chance
He'd sell his soul to make the monster dance
They can't hurt you unless you let them
I will say it again
They cannot hurt you unless you let them
Loopy says he likes it up on top
He prays to god and he hopes like hell
That the pretty machine
They will never fail
He has no fear
He doesn't really even have the time
He knows that the world is in love
With the pretty machine
The one hit wonder
He likes the big time
He wants to live the kind of life
That will make the folks back home scream, bitch, and whine
He knows if he ever even gets to try
He will bite down hard to make the monster cry
He knows if he ever even gets a chance
He'd sell his soul to make the monster dance
He knows if he ever even gets to play
He will stomp like god to make the monster say
They can't hurt you unless you let them
They cannot hurt you unless you let them
Yes he knows if he ever lets go
The pretty machine will swallow him whole
He has no fear
He has no sense of shame
He will not stop until everybody everywhere wants to know his name
The one hit wonder
He likes the big time
He says he wants to live the kind of life
That will make the folks back home all bitch and whine
He knows if he ever even gets the chance
He'd sell his soul to make the monster dance
They can't hurt you unless you let them
Loopy says he sure does like the good life
Yes he knows all those women who scheme
Are just pretty pictures in the pretty machine
He knows if he ever even gets to try
He will bite down hard to make the monster cry
He knows if he ever even gets a chance
He'd sell his soul to make the monster dance
They can't hurt you unless you let them
I will say it again
They cannot hurt you unless you let them
Loopy says he likes it up on top
He prays to god and he hopes like hell
That the pretty machine
They will never fail
He has no fear
He doesn't really even have the time
He knows that the world is in love
With the pretty machine
The one hit wonder
He likes the big time
He wants to live the kind of life
That will make the folks back home scream, bitch, and whine
He knows if he ever even gets to try
He will bite down hard to make the monster cry
He knows if he ever even gets a chance
He'd sell his soul to make the monster dance
He knows if he ever even gets to play
He will stomp like god to make the monster say
They can't hurt you unless you let them
They cannot hurt you unless you let them
Lyrics submitted by Demau Senae
One Hit Wonder Lyrics as written by Craig Montoya Art Alexakis
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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More Featured Meanings
Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman
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”
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.
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.
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.
I love this song! Art has said that it is kinda a burn on the media, who is the "monster," or something like that. This is the song I listen to when I've had a tough day.