"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.
Always at the foot of the photograph, that's me there
Snug as a thug in a mugshot pose, a foul-mouthed rogue
Owner of this corner and not much more
Still these days I'm better placed to get my just rewards
I'll pound out a tune and very soon
I'll have too much to say and a dead stupid name
Though I ought to be learning I feel like a veteran
Of "oh I like your poetry but I hate your poems"
Calendars crumble I'm knee deep in numbers
I've turned twenty one, I've twist, I'm bust and wrong again
Rubbing shoulders with the sheets till two
Looking at my watch and I'm half-past caring
In the lap of luxury it comes to mind
Is this headboard hard? Am I a lap behind?
But to face doom in a sock-stenched room all by myself
Is the kind of fate I never contemplate
Lots of people would cry though none spring to mind
Though I ought to be learning I feel like a veteran
Of "oh I like your poetry but I hate your poems"
Calendars crumble I'm knee deep in numbers
I've turned 21, I've twist, I'm bust and wrong again
Know what it's like
To sigh at the sight of the first quarter of life?
Ever stopped to think and found out nothing was there?
They laugh to see such fun
I'm playing blind man's bluff all by myself
And they're chanting a line from a nursery rhyme
"Ba ba bleary eyes - have you any idea?"
Years of learning I must be a veteran
Of "oh I like your poetry but I hate your poems"
And the calendar's cluttered with days that are numbered
I've turned twenty, I've twist, I'm bust and wrong again
Ought to be learning
Twist, I'm bust and wrong again
Feel like a veteran
Twist, I'm bust and wrong again
Calendar's cluttered
With days that are numbered
And I know what it's like
To sigh at the sight
Of the first quarter of life
Snug as a thug in a mugshot pose, a foul-mouthed rogue
Owner of this corner and not much more
Still these days I'm better placed to get my just rewards
I'll pound out a tune and very soon
I'll have too much to say and a dead stupid name
Though I ought to be learning I feel like a veteran
Of "oh I like your poetry but I hate your poems"
Calendars crumble I'm knee deep in numbers
I've turned twenty one, I've twist, I'm bust and wrong again
Rubbing shoulders with the sheets till two
Looking at my watch and I'm half-past caring
In the lap of luxury it comes to mind
Is this headboard hard? Am I a lap behind?
But to face doom in a sock-stenched room all by myself
Is the kind of fate I never contemplate
Lots of people would cry though none spring to mind
Though I ought to be learning I feel like a veteran
Of "oh I like your poetry but I hate your poems"
Calendars crumble I'm knee deep in numbers
I've turned 21, I've twist, I'm bust and wrong again
Know what it's like
To sigh at the sight of the first quarter of life?
Ever stopped to think and found out nothing was there?
They laugh to see such fun
I'm playing blind man's bluff all by myself
And they're chanting a line from a nursery rhyme
"Ba ba bleary eyes - have you any idea?"
Years of learning I must be a veteran
Of "oh I like your poetry but I hate your poems"
And the calendar's cluttered with days that are numbered
I've turned twenty, I've twist, I'm bust and wrong again
Ought to be learning
Twist, I'm bust and wrong again
Feel like a veteran
Twist, I'm bust and wrong again
Calendar's cluttered
With days that are numbered
And I know what it's like
To sigh at the sight
Of the first quarter of life
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Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
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Mountain Song
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American Town
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Ed Sheeran shares a short story of reconnecting with an old flame on “American Town.” The track is about a holiday Ed Sheeran spends with his countrywoman who resides in America. The two are back together after a long period apart, and get around to enjoying a bunch of fun activities while rekindling the flames of their romance.
You missed a line : snug as a thug in a mugshot pose, a foul-mouthed rogue.
The song I think is about getting older and realizing your ideals are not exactly realized..The "quarter life crisis".