"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.
Escobar Season has returned
It's been a long time, been a long time comin'
Looks like the death of me now
But you know, there's no turning back now
This is what makes me, this is what I am
You can hate me now,(Q.B.) but I won't stop now (real niggas)
Cause I can't stop now, (Bravehearts) you can hate me now (c'mon)
But I won't stop now, cause I can't stop now
You can hate me now, you can hate me now
Don't hate me, hate the money I see, clothes that I buy
Ice that I wear, clothes that I try, close your eyes
Picture me rollin', sixes, money foldin'
Bitches, honeys that swollen to riches, Nas get in ya
Most critically acclaimed Pulitzer Prize winner
Best storyteller, thug narrator, my style's greater
Model dater, big threat to a lot of you haters
Commentators ringside try watchin' my paper
Almost a decade, quite impressive
Most of the best is in the essence
For this rap shit that I stand for
Expandin' more to the big screen, Bill Gates dreams
But it seems you'd rather see me in jail with state greens
Want me off the scene fast, but good things last
Like your favorite MC still makin' some mean cash
First rapper to bring a platinum plaque back to the projects
But you still wanna hate, be my guest, I suggest
You can hate me now,(Q.B.) but I won't stop now (real niggas)
Cause I can't stop now, (Bravehearts) you can hate me now (c'mon)
But I won't stop now, cause I can't stop now
You can hate me now, you can hate me now
You wanna hate me then hate me, what can I do
But keep gettin' money, funny I was just like you
I had to hustle hard, never give up, until I made it
Now y'all sayin' "that's a clever nigga, nothin' to play with"
Hate on me, I blew but I'm the same O.G
People warn me, when you're on top, there's envy
Took my niggas out the hood, but you doubt on us
Sayin' we left the hood but can't get it out of us
My bad, should I step out my shoes, give 'em to you?
Here's my cars and my house, you can live in that too
Criticize when I flow for the streets, hate my dress code
Gucci this, Fendi that, what you expect, ho?
Nickname Esco, took this game to its threshold
Best flow, I bet the whole U.S. know
Try to make it like you the realest, but who the illest?
Think we all know the answer to that, cause niggas feel this right
You can hate me now,(Q.B.) but I won't stop now (real niggas)
Cause I can't stop now, (Bravehearts) you can hate me now (c'mon)
But I won't stop now, cause I can't stop now
You can hate me now, you can hate me now
It's a thin line between paper and hate
Friends and snakes, nine millis and thirty-eights
Hell or the pearly gates, I was destined to come
Predicted, blame God, he blew breath in my lungs
Second to none, wicked turn wives to widows
Shoot through satin pillows, the desolate one
Took a little time to claim my spot
Chairman of the board until this game stop, and I side with the Lord
Ride for the cause while drivin' niggas shot at my doors
Plottin' I'm sure to catch me with they Glocks to my jaws
Tried stickin' me up but I flipped on these ducks
Instead of me, ambulances were picking them up
Niggas fear what they don't understand, hate what they can't conquer
Guess it's just the theory of man
Became a monster, on top of the world, never fallin'
I'm as real as they come from day one, forever ballin'
C'mon
You can hate me now,(Q.B.) but I won't stop now (real niggas)
Cause I can't stop now, (Bravehearts) you can hate me now (c'mon)
But I won't stop now, cause I can't stop now
You can hate me now, you can hate me now
It's been a long time, been a long time comin'
Looks like the death of me now
But you know, there's no turning back now
This is what makes me, this is what I am
You can hate me now,(Q.B.) but I won't stop now (real niggas)
Cause I can't stop now, (Bravehearts) you can hate me now (c'mon)
But I won't stop now, cause I can't stop now
You can hate me now, you can hate me now
Don't hate me, hate the money I see, clothes that I buy
Ice that I wear, clothes that I try, close your eyes
Picture me rollin', sixes, money foldin'
Bitches, honeys that swollen to riches, Nas get in ya
Most critically acclaimed Pulitzer Prize winner
Best storyteller, thug narrator, my style's greater
Model dater, big threat to a lot of you haters
Commentators ringside try watchin' my paper
Almost a decade, quite impressive
Most of the best is in the essence
For this rap shit that I stand for
Expandin' more to the big screen, Bill Gates dreams
But it seems you'd rather see me in jail with state greens
Want me off the scene fast, but good things last
Like your favorite MC still makin' some mean cash
First rapper to bring a platinum plaque back to the projects
But you still wanna hate, be my guest, I suggest
You can hate me now,(Q.B.) but I won't stop now (real niggas)
Cause I can't stop now, (Bravehearts) you can hate me now (c'mon)
But I won't stop now, cause I can't stop now
You can hate me now, you can hate me now
You wanna hate me then hate me, what can I do
But keep gettin' money, funny I was just like you
I had to hustle hard, never give up, until I made it
Now y'all sayin' "that's a clever nigga, nothin' to play with"
Hate on me, I blew but I'm the same O.G
People warn me, when you're on top, there's envy
Took my niggas out the hood, but you doubt on us
Sayin' we left the hood but can't get it out of us
My bad, should I step out my shoes, give 'em to you?
Here's my cars and my house, you can live in that too
Criticize when I flow for the streets, hate my dress code
Gucci this, Fendi that, what you expect, ho?
Nickname Esco, took this game to its threshold
Best flow, I bet the whole U.S. know
Try to make it like you the realest, but who the illest?
Think we all know the answer to that, cause niggas feel this right
You can hate me now,(Q.B.) but I won't stop now (real niggas)
Cause I can't stop now, (Bravehearts) you can hate me now (c'mon)
But I won't stop now, cause I can't stop now
You can hate me now, you can hate me now
It's a thin line between paper and hate
Friends and snakes, nine millis and thirty-eights
Hell or the pearly gates, I was destined to come
Predicted, blame God, he blew breath in my lungs
Second to none, wicked turn wives to widows
Shoot through satin pillows, the desolate one
Took a little time to claim my spot
Chairman of the board until this game stop, and I side with the Lord
Ride for the cause while drivin' niggas shot at my doors
Plottin' I'm sure to catch me with they Glocks to my jaws
Tried stickin' me up but I flipped on these ducks
Instead of me, ambulances were picking them up
Niggas fear what they don't understand, hate what they can't conquer
Guess it's just the theory of man
Became a monster, on top of the world, never fallin'
I'm as real as they come from day one, forever ballin'
C'mon
You can hate me now,(Q.B.) but I won't stop now (real niggas)
Cause I can't stop now, (Bravehearts) you can hate me now (c'mon)
But I won't stop now, cause I can't stop now
You can hate me now, you can hate me now
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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"
Bron-Y-Aur Stomp
Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin
This is about bronies. They communicate by stomping.
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.
The great thing is that this song itself rebukes the hating comments.