"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.
I don't want you to look at me while I'm shedding skin
I can't afford for you to see what's in
I'd rather shoot myself than have you watch me
I feel you'd steal my skin to try and wear me
I was betrayed, one more day of my short life
You were carried away, you had no shame to suffocate my being
I was me, but you weren't you, you were sticking to me like a scab
So I peeled you away, bled for days, then stepped out of myself
I'm shedding skin, changing within, I'm falling in
Through swollen eyes, I dreamed you died, caught inside
I'm shedding skin, spreading thin, severed stem
Created the end, killing a friend, I'm shedding my skin
I don't think you belong in here, I feel I'm sick
Don't ask because you know damn well where I've been
I've kept a simple woman through the thick and thin
But I've found the guts to sever from my siamese twin
I throw you away, everyday, a dead part of life
Strangling back, seething black, in between my longing for torture
Blood on my face that came from your face, a mix of kissing and bleeding
I put you away, I shut you away, I pissed you away, I threw you away
I'm shedding skin, changing within, I'm falling in
Through swollen eyes, I dreamed you died, caught inside
I'm shedding skin, spreading thin, severed stem
Created the end, killing a friend, I'm shedding my skin
You're fucking, and sucking, you're friendless, it's endless
Your flower has soured, it's endless, you're friendless
It's harder and stronger but no one's been inside you longer
And harder and deeper, to get you off, you need the fear
The fear, the fear, the fear, the fear
It's never love, bloody touch, broken wrist, needle rust
Choking throat, swallowed teeth, head fuck, no peace
I'm shedding my skin to peel you off of me
You've got to love me
Ornament, shrunken head, playtoy, snake strike
Poisonous, Syphilis, drenched me, soaked me
I'm shedding my skin to drain you out of me
You've got to hate me
I can't afford for you to see what's in
I'd rather shoot myself than have you watch me
I feel you'd steal my skin to try and wear me
I was betrayed, one more day of my short life
You were carried away, you had no shame to suffocate my being
I was me, but you weren't you, you were sticking to me like a scab
So I peeled you away, bled for days, then stepped out of myself
I'm shedding skin, changing within, I'm falling in
Through swollen eyes, I dreamed you died, caught inside
I'm shedding skin, spreading thin, severed stem
Created the end, killing a friend, I'm shedding my skin
I don't think you belong in here, I feel I'm sick
Don't ask because you know damn well where I've been
I've kept a simple woman through the thick and thin
But I've found the guts to sever from my siamese twin
I throw you away, everyday, a dead part of life
Strangling back, seething black, in between my longing for torture
Blood on my face that came from your face, a mix of kissing and bleeding
I put you away, I shut you away, I pissed you away, I threw you away
I'm shedding skin, changing within, I'm falling in
Through swollen eyes, I dreamed you died, caught inside
I'm shedding skin, spreading thin, severed stem
Created the end, killing a friend, I'm shedding my skin
You're fucking, and sucking, you're friendless, it's endless
Your flower has soured, it's endless, you're friendless
It's harder and stronger but no one's been inside you longer
And harder and deeper, to get you off, you need the fear
The fear, the fear, the fear, the fear
It's never love, bloody touch, broken wrist, needle rust
Choking throat, swallowed teeth, head fuck, no peace
I'm shedding my skin to peel you off of me
You've got to love me
Ornament, shrunken head, playtoy, snake strike
Poisonous, Syphilis, drenched me, soaked me
I'm shedding my skin to drain you out of me
You've got to hate me
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More Featured Meanings
Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman
Mental Istid
Ebba Grön
Ebba Grön
This is one of my favorite songs. https://fnfgo.io
Bron-Y-Aur Stomp
Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin
This is about bronies. They communicate by stomping.
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.
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.
IMO It's about a woman he's been trying to breakup with and she uses sex to keep him in her life, even though they are not friendly anymore.So he ends up treating her bad so she will hate him , so he can get rid of her forever.