"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.
[Tipton]
I move as fast as I can
I like to get around
I'm crazy like a mad man
My feet don't touch the ground
I move amongst the night life
And they just step aside
'cos when they see me coming
They know I'm running wild
Dead or alive
There's nothing that bothers me at all
I take on all comers
They back off or they fall
They raise their hands to stop me
I laugh and I defy
'cos what's the point in living
Unless you're living wild
No chains can hold me down
I always break away
I never hear society tell me what to do or say
I'll taste the life that pleases me
Or raise a storm for all the world to see
I never stumble never fall
Never stop for rest
I rebel but I walk tall
And I demand respect
I move amongst the night life
And they just step aside
'cos when they see me coming
They know I'm running wild
I'm running wild
Get gutta my way
I'm running wild
I move as fast as I can
I like to get around
I'm crazy like a mad man
My feet don't touch the ground
I move amongst the night life
And they just step aside
'cos when they see me coming
They know I'm running wild
Dead or alive
There's nothing that bothers me at all
I take on all comers
They back off or they fall
They raise their hands to stop me
I laugh and I defy
'cos what's the point in living
Unless you're living wild
No chains can hold me down
I always break away
I never hear society tell me what to do or say
I'll taste the life that pleases me
Or raise a storm for all the world to see
I never stumble never fall
Never stop for rest
I rebel but I walk tall
And I demand respect
I move amongst the night life
And they just step aside
'cos when they see me coming
They know I'm running wild
I'm running wild
Get gutta my way
I'm running wild
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Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
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Plastic Bag
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“Plastic Bag” is a song about searching for an escape from personal problems and hoping to find it in the lively atmosphere of a Saturday night party. Ed Sheeran tells the story of his friend and the myriad of troubles he is going through. Unable to find any solutions, this friend seeks a last resort in a party and the vanity that comes with it.
“I overthink and have trouble sleepin’ / All purpose gone and don’t have a reason / And there’s no doctor to stop this bleedin’ / So I left home and jumped in the deep end,” Ed Sheeran sings in verse one. He continues by adding that this person is feeling the weight of having disappointed his father and doesn’t have any friends to rely on in this difficult moment. In the second verse, Ed sings about the role of grief in his friend’s plight and his dwindling faith in prayer. “Saturday night is givin’ me a reason to rely on the strobe lights / The lifeline of a promise in a shot glass, and I’ll take that / If you’re givin’ out love from a plastic bag,” Ed sings on the chorus, as his friend turns to new vices in hopes of feeling better.