"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.
And if you're taking a walk through the garden of life
What do you think you'd expect you would see?
Just like a mirror reflecting the moves of your life
And in the river reflections of me
Just for a second a glimpse of my father I see
And in a movement he beckons to me
And in a moment the memories are all that remain
And all the wounds are reopening again
We're blood brothers
We're blood brothers
We're blood brothers
We're blood brothers
And as you look all around at the world in dismay
What do you see, do you think we have learned?
Not if you're taking a look at the war-torn affray
Out in the streets where the babies are burnt
We're blood brothers
We're blood brothers
We're blood brothers
We're blood brothers
There are times when I feel I'm afraid for the world
There are times I'm ashamed of us all
When you're floating on all the emotion you feel
And reflecting the good and the bad
Will we ever know what the answer to life really is?
Can you really tell me what life is?
Maybe all the things that you know that are precious to you
Could be swept away by fate's own hand
We're blood brothers
We're blood brothers
We're blood brothers
We're blood brothers
When you think that we've used all our chances
And the chance to make everything right
Keep on making the same old mistakes
Makes untipping the balance so easy
When we're living our lives on the edge
Say a prayer on the book of the dead
We're blood brothers
We're blood brothers
We're blood brothers
We're blood brothers
We're blood brothers
We're blood brothers
We're blood brothers
We're blood brothers
And if you're taking a walk through the garden of life
What do you think you'd expect you would see?
Just like a mirror reflecting the moves of your life
And in the river reflections of me
Just for a second a glimpse of my father I see
And in a movement he beckons to me
And in a moment the memories are all that remain
And all the wounds are reopening again
We're blood brothers
We're blood brothers
We're blood brothers
We're blood brothers
And as you look all around at the world in dismay
What do you see, do you think we have learned?
Not if you're taking a look at the war-torn affray
Out in the streets where the babies are burnt
We're blood brothers
We're blood brothers
We're blood brothers
We're blood brothers
There are times when I feel I'm afraid for the world
There are times I'm ashamed of us all
When you're floating on all the emotion you feel
And reflecting the good and the bad
Will we ever know what the answer to life really is?
Can you really tell me what life is?
Maybe all the things that you know that are precious to you
Could be swept away by fate's own hand
We're blood brothers
We're blood brothers
We're blood brothers
We're blood brothers
When you think that we've used all our chances
And the chance to make everything right
Keep on making the same old mistakes
Makes untipping the balance so easy
When we're living our lives on the edge
Say a prayer on the book of the dead
We're blood brothers
We're blood brothers
We're blood brothers
We're blood brothers
We're blood brothers
We're blood brothers
We're blood brothers
We're blood brothers
And if you're taking a walk through the garden of life
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More Featured Meanings
Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman
Bron-Y-Aur Stomp
Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin
This is about bronies. They communicate by stomping.
Dreamwalker
Silent Planet
Silent Planet
I think much like another song “Anti-Matter” (that's also on the same album as this song), this one is also is inspired by a horrifying van crash the band experienced on Nov 3, 2022. This, much like the other track, sounds like it's an extension what they shared while huddled in the wreckage, as they helped frontman Garrett Russell stem the bleeding from his head wound while he was under the temporary effects of a concussion. The track speaks of where the mind goes at the most desperate & desolate of times, when it just about slips away to all but disconnect itself, and the aftermath.
Punchline
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran sings about missing his former partner and learning important life lessons in the process on “Punchline.” This track tells a story of battling to get rid of emotions for a former lover, whom he now realized might not have loved him the same way. He’s now caught between accepting that fact and learning life lessons from it and going back to beg her for another chance.
Plastic Bag
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
“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.
When they did this in concert this summer, I was with my three best friends. I had never heard the song before, so when the chorus hit, I was completely overwhelmed; me and my buddies are blood brothers. Though I recognise that it's about Steve Harris' dad, it strikes me personally as a reminder that, although the world's going to hell in a handbasket, good friends will be there for you no matter what. It was also cool that in that concert they dedicated the song to Dio.