"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 swear to tell the truth and nothing but the truth,
So help me GOD
I just felt like telling the story of my life
Felt like, maybe somebody could be inspired, you know?
We all feel pain, we all go through things
But it's time to overcome all that
If your plane crashed in the water and everybody died
Would you drown on purpose or try to survive?
I was born handicapped my arm wouldn't move
They called me a cripple pops caught an attitude
Beat my moms smoked lye drove trucks
My moms had a miscarriage, he didn't give a fuck
He sniffed some coke, come home
Beat up on my moms cause she's talkin' on the phone
Come on
[Chorus]
(All I ever wanted)
All I ever wanted
(All I ever needed)
All I ever needed
(Was a father)
Was a father
(That's all)
That's all!
(All I ever wanted)
All I ever wanted
(All I ever needed)
All I ever needed, was a father
(Was a father)
Moms got tired of the beatings said, "Yo, we got to go"
Packed up her bags we bounced out the do'
She said, "I ain't taking these whippin's no mo'
I want to live to see my little Todd grow"
I remember tear drops on my pops face
Looking down at me standing on the staircase
Handsome brother with a smooth goatee
Makes me wonder why he act so ugly, you feeling me?
(I'm feeling you)
[Chorus]
My pops got drunk when me and my moms bounced
Swigged some Jack Dan', sniffed up a ounce
Grabbed the shotty left Long Isle for Queens
Possessed by a demon, a devil it seemed
I was too young to understand the risk
When your moms come home off the midnight shift
She turned around heard the shotgun click
My pops said, "You think that you could leave me?"
He blasted my moms in the back
She fell down screaming I can't forget that
My grandfather tried to close the do'
He got shot ten times in the stomach yo, for real
[Chorus]
My head was spinning, I had never seen blood
Four years old, this don't feel like love
Anyway, pops disappeared
Grandpops and moms healed up over the years
This therapist got up in her head
Led her to believe without him she'd be dead
You know, they fell in love with one another
Everything seemed right that's word to mother
Until I started getting beatings everyday
Sometimes for going outside to play
Late at night on my knees I'd pray
A young child, wishing the pain would go away
Dad where was you when he made me strip
Beat with belts like a slave with a whip
Kicked me down steps outside in the snow
Punched me in the chest stomped me out on the flo'
That's just the tip of the iceberg look
It's too long for a song but perfect for a book
Word is bond, that's real baby
[Chorus]
So help me GOD
I just felt like telling the story of my life
Felt like, maybe somebody could be inspired, you know?
We all feel pain, we all go through things
But it's time to overcome all that
If your plane crashed in the water and everybody died
Would you drown on purpose or try to survive?
I was born handicapped my arm wouldn't move
They called me a cripple pops caught an attitude
Beat my moms smoked lye drove trucks
My moms had a miscarriage, he didn't give a fuck
He sniffed some coke, come home
Beat up on my moms cause she's talkin' on the phone
Come on
[Chorus]
(All I ever wanted)
All I ever wanted
(All I ever needed)
All I ever needed
(Was a father)
Was a father
(That's all)
That's all!
(All I ever wanted)
All I ever wanted
(All I ever needed)
All I ever needed, was a father
(Was a father)
Moms got tired of the beatings said, "Yo, we got to go"
Packed up her bags we bounced out the do'
She said, "I ain't taking these whippin's no mo'
I want to live to see my little Todd grow"
I remember tear drops on my pops face
Looking down at me standing on the staircase
Handsome brother with a smooth goatee
Makes me wonder why he act so ugly, you feeling me?
(I'm feeling you)
[Chorus]
My pops got drunk when me and my moms bounced
Swigged some Jack Dan', sniffed up a ounce
Grabbed the shotty left Long Isle for Queens
Possessed by a demon, a devil it seemed
I was too young to understand the risk
When your moms come home off the midnight shift
She turned around heard the shotgun click
My pops said, "You think that you could leave me?"
He blasted my moms in the back
She fell down screaming I can't forget that
My grandfather tried to close the do'
He got shot ten times in the stomach yo, for real
[Chorus]
My head was spinning, I had never seen blood
Four years old, this don't feel like love
Anyway, pops disappeared
Grandpops and moms healed up over the years
This therapist got up in her head
Led her to believe without him she'd be dead
You know, they fell in love with one another
Everything seemed right that's word to mother
Until I started getting beatings everyday
Sometimes for going outside to play
Late at night on my knees I'd pray
A young child, wishing the pain would go away
Dad where was you when he made me strip
Beat with belts like a slave with a whip
Kicked me down steps outside in the snow
Punched me in the chest stomped me out on the flo'
That's just the tip of the iceberg look
It's too long for a song but perfect for a book
Word is bond, that's real baby
[Chorus]
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Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
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Wu-Tang Clan
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Just A Little Lovin'
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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 song. The meaning is obvious.