"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.
A Jackie, a-Jackie, a-Jackie's strength
A Jackie, a-Jackie, a-Jackie, hey
A Bouvier till her wedding day
Shots rang out the police came
Mama laid me on the front lawn
And prayed for Jackie's strength
Feeling old by twenty one
Never thought my day would come
My bridesmaids getting laid
I pray for Jackie's strength
Make me laugh
Say you know what you want
You said we were the real thing
So I show you some more and I learn
What black magic can do
Make me laugh
Say you know you can turn
Me into the real thing
So I show you some more and I learn
Stickers licked on lunch boxes
Worshiping David Cassidy
Yeah I mooned him once on Donna's box
She's still in recovery
Sleep-overs Beene's got some pot
You're only popular with anorexia
So I turn myself inside out
In hope someone will see
Make me laugh
Say you know what you want
You said we were the real thing
So I show you some more and I learn
What black magic can do
Make me laugh
Say you know you can turn
Me into the real thing
So I show you some more
And I learn
A Jackie, a-Jackie, a-Jackie's strength
A Jackie, a-Jackie, a-Jackie, hey
I got lost on my wedding day
Typical, the police came
But virgins always get backstage
No matter what they've got to say
If you love enough you'll lie a lot
Guess they did in Camelot
Mama's waiting on my front lawn
I pray I pray
I said pray For Jackie's strength
Strength
Make me laugh
Say you know what you want
You said we were the real thing
So I show you some more and I learn
A Jackie, a-Jackie, a-Jackie's strength
A Jackie, a-Jackie, a-Jackie, hey
A Jackie, a-Jackie, a-Jackie, hey
A Bouvier till her wedding day
Shots rang out the police came
Mama laid me on the front lawn
And prayed for Jackie's strength
Feeling old by twenty one
Never thought my day would come
My bridesmaids getting laid
I pray for Jackie's strength
Make me laugh
Say you know what you want
You said we were the real thing
So I show you some more and I learn
What black magic can do
Make me laugh
Say you know you can turn
Me into the real thing
So I show you some more and I learn
Stickers licked on lunch boxes
Worshiping David Cassidy
Yeah I mooned him once on Donna's box
She's still in recovery
Sleep-overs Beene's got some pot
You're only popular with anorexia
So I turn myself inside out
In hope someone will see
Make me laugh
Say you know what you want
You said we were the real thing
So I show you some more and I learn
What black magic can do
Make me laugh
Say you know you can turn
Me into the real thing
So I show you some more
And I learn
A Jackie, a-Jackie, a-Jackie's strength
A Jackie, a-Jackie, a-Jackie, hey
I got lost on my wedding day
Typical, the police came
But virgins always get backstage
No matter what they've got to say
If you love enough you'll lie a lot
Guess they did in Camelot
Mama's waiting on my front lawn
I pray I pray
I said pray For Jackie's strength
Strength
Make me laugh
Say you know what you want
You said we were the real thing
So I show you some more and I learn
A Jackie, a-Jackie, a-Jackie's strength
A Jackie, a-Jackie, a-Jackie, hey
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More Featured Meanings
Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman
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”
Holiday
Bee Gees
Bee Gees
@[Diderik:33655] "Your a holiday!" Was a popular term used in the 50s/60s to compliment someone on their all around. For example, not only are they beautiful, but they are fun and kind too ... just an all around "holiday".
I think your first comment is closer to being accurate. The singer/song writers state "Millions of eyes can see, yet why am i so blind!? When the someone else is me, its unkind its unkind". I believe hes referring to the girl toying with him and using him. He wants something deeper with her, thats why he allows himself to be as a puppet (even though for her fun and games) as long as it makes her happy. But he knows deep down that she doesnt really want to be serious with him and thats what makes him.
Blue
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
“Blue” is a song about a love that is persisting in the discomfort of the person experiencing the emotion. Ed Sheeran reflects on love lost, and although he wishes his former partner find happiness, he cannot but admit his feelings are still very much there. He expresses the realization that he might never find another on this stringed instrumental by Aaron Dessner.
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.
"Inspired by Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy. "I saw Jackie as a bride - and I used to think I would never be a bride. I started to look to Jackie and how that woman held the country together after she watched her husband get cut down right in front of her."
"This wonderful boy had asked me to marry him, and of course I said yes, but I was shocked. You know, there was a part of me that had sworn that would never happen. You fantasize about what it would be like on that day, and then you fantasize about never having that day. Then you're a vigilante and you will never have it. The, all of a sudden, there it is, and you're wondering, 'are we going to make it? half of all marriages end in divorce. is that us?' That was all going on as I got lost on my wedding day."