"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.
On the coldest night of the year
You start to rethink hell
Cause all you hear is a cruel wind moan
Fire engine bells
See, this family had no heat
So they built a bonfire in their living room
They Thought they could keep it a secret
But those flames caught on and soon the whole building went up
I see one fireman turn to another and say
"That's quite a blaze we got here."
"Yup, well, they're warm for now"
And the fires burn on the east side
While the west is hunkering down
And I'm in search of comfort
But he is elusive and working in mid-town
[Chorus]
Oh, Oh It's negative something degrees
Oh, Oh I think the whole world may freeze
Been this low for awhile
January's child
January's child
It's the coldest night of the year
And I've decided that hell is on 29th street
Yeah, the car's jammed down 10th avenue
Cause the girls all go on sale just to get inside
"Hey, honey, you want a ride?"
Well They'll give handjobs for a dollar
They'll go down on you for ten
If your car has heat
Hell is 29th street
And these few degrees are lonely
They cling to me for life
Holding on to a dead mans blanket, a lost dogs fur
And a hookers exposed thighs
[Chorus]
And when he finds me
On his steps outside
I'm half frozen in ice
So he digs me out
And he drags me in
And he cuts like a surgeon
Through my skin into warm blood
Melts me down and gives me love
When I tell him I want to die
That January boy laughs and says
"Okay snow queen, here's a match
Why don't you try"
[Chorus]
Oh we'll be all right in awhile
Says January's child
It's gonna be all right
It's gonna be it's gonna be all right
It's gonna be it's gonna be all right
All right all right all right
Says January's child
It's be gonna be all right
Gonna be all right
Says January's child
You start to rethink hell
Cause all you hear is a cruel wind moan
Fire engine bells
See, this family had no heat
So they built a bonfire in their living room
They Thought they could keep it a secret
But those flames caught on and soon the whole building went up
I see one fireman turn to another and say
"That's quite a blaze we got here."
"Yup, well, they're warm for now"
And the fires burn on the east side
While the west is hunkering down
And I'm in search of comfort
But he is elusive and working in mid-town
[Chorus]
Oh, Oh It's negative something degrees
Oh, Oh I think the whole world may freeze
Been this low for awhile
January's child
January's child
It's the coldest night of the year
And I've decided that hell is on 29th street
Yeah, the car's jammed down 10th avenue
Cause the girls all go on sale just to get inside
"Hey, honey, you want a ride?"
Well They'll give handjobs for a dollar
They'll go down on you for ten
If your car has heat
Hell is 29th street
And these few degrees are lonely
They cling to me for life
Holding on to a dead mans blanket, a lost dogs fur
And a hookers exposed thighs
[Chorus]
And when he finds me
On his steps outside
I'm half frozen in ice
So he digs me out
And he drags me in
And he cuts like a surgeon
Through my skin into warm blood
Melts me down and gives me love
When I tell him I want to die
That January boy laughs and says
"Okay snow queen, here's a match
Why don't you try"
[Chorus]
Oh we'll be all right in awhile
Says January's child
It's gonna be all right
It's gonna be it's gonna be all right
It's gonna be it's gonna be all right
All right all right all right
Says January's child
It's be gonna be all right
Gonna be all right
Says January's child
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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"
Holiday
Bee Gees
Bee Gees
@[Diderik:33655] "Your a holiday!" Was a popular term used in the 50s/60s to compliment someone on their all around. For example, not only are they beautiful, but they are fun and kind too ... just an all around "holiday".
I think your first comment is closer to being accurate. The singer/song writers state "Millions of eyes can see, yet why am i so blind!? When the someone else is me, its unkind its unkind". I believe hes referring to the girl toying with him and using him. He wants something deeper with her, thats why he allows himself to be as a puppet (even though for her fun and games) as long as it makes her happy. But he knows deep down that she doesnt really want to be serious with him and thats what makes him.
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.
Amazing
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran tells a story of unsuccessfully trying to feel “Amazing.” This track is about the being weighed down by emotional stress despite valiant attempts to find some positivity in the situation. This track was written by Ed Sheeran from the perspective of his friend. From the track, we see this person fall deeper into the negative thoughts and slide further down the path of mental torment with every lyric.