"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.
See, I think drugs have done some good things for us, I really do
And if you don't believe drugs have done good things for us
Do me a favor, go home tonight and take all your albums
All your tapes and all your CDs and burn 'em, 'cause you know what?
The musicians who've made all that great music that's enhanced your lives
Throughout the years, real fucking high on drugs
Dreaming of that face again
It's bright and blue and shimmering
Grinning wide
And comforting me with it's three warm and wild eyes
On my back and tumbling
Down that hole and back again
Rising up
And wiping the webs and the dew from my withered eye
In, out, in, out, in, out
A child's rhyme stuck in my head
It said that life is but a dream
I've spent so many years in question
To find I've known this all along
So good to see you
I've missed you so much
So glad it's over
I've missed you so much
Came out to watch you play
Why are you running away?
Came out to watch you play
Why are you running?
Shrouding all the ground around me
Is this holy crow above me
Black as holes within a memory
And blue as our new second sun
I stick my hand into his shadow
To pull the pieces from the sand
Which I attempt to reassemble
To see just who I might have been
I do not recognize the vessel
But the eyes seem so familiar
Like phosphorescent desert buttons
Singing one familiar song
So good to see you
I've missed you so much
So glad it's over
I've missed you so much
Came out to watch you play
Why are you running away?
Came out to watch you play
Why are you running away?
Prying open my third eye
Prying open my third eye
Prying open my third eye
Prying open my third eye
So good to see you once again
I thought that you were hiding
And you thought that I had run away
Chasing the tail of dogma
I opened my eye
I opened my eye
I opened my eye and there we were
I opened my eye
I opened my eye
I opened my eye and there we were
So good to see you once again
I thought that you were hiding from me
And you thought that I had run away
Chasing a trail of smoke and reason
Prying open my third eye
Prying open my third eye
Prying open my third eye
Prying open my third eye
Prying open my third eye
Prying open my third eye
Prying open my third eye
Prying open my third eye
Prying open my third eye
Prying open my third eye
And if you don't believe drugs have done good things for us
Do me a favor, go home tonight and take all your albums
All your tapes and all your CDs and burn 'em, 'cause you know what?
The musicians who've made all that great music that's enhanced your lives
Throughout the years, real fucking high on drugs
Dreaming of that face again
It's bright and blue and shimmering
Grinning wide
And comforting me with it's three warm and wild eyes
On my back and tumbling
Down that hole and back again
Rising up
And wiping the webs and the dew from my withered eye
In, out, in, out, in, out
A child's rhyme stuck in my head
It said that life is but a dream
I've spent so many years in question
To find I've known this all along
So good to see you
I've missed you so much
So glad it's over
I've missed you so much
Came out to watch you play
Why are you running away?
Came out to watch you play
Why are you running?
Shrouding all the ground around me
Is this holy crow above me
Black as holes within a memory
And blue as our new second sun
I stick my hand into his shadow
To pull the pieces from the sand
Which I attempt to reassemble
To see just who I might have been
I do not recognize the vessel
But the eyes seem so familiar
Like phosphorescent desert buttons
Singing one familiar song
So good to see you
I've missed you so much
So glad it's over
I've missed you so much
Came out to watch you play
Why are you running away?
Came out to watch you play
Why are you running away?
Prying open my third eye
Prying open my third eye
Prying open my third eye
Prying open my third eye
So good to see you once again
I thought that you were hiding
And you thought that I had run away
Chasing the tail of dogma
I opened my eye
I opened my eye
I opened my eye and there we were
I opened my eye
I opened my eye
I opened my eye and there we were
So good to see you once again
I thought that you were hiding from me
And you thought that I had run away
Chasing a trail of smoke and reason
Prying open my third eye
Prying open my third eye
Prying open my third eye
Prying open my third eye
Prying open my third eye
Prying open my third eye
Prying open my third eye
Prying open my third eye
Prying open my third eye
Prying open my third eye
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More Featured Meanings
Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman
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.
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.
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.
Head > Heels
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
“Head > Heels” is a track that aims to capture what it feels like to experience romance that exceeds expectations. Ed Sheeran dedicates his album outro to a lover who has blessed him with a unique experience that he seeks to describe through the song’s nuanced lyrics.
Do these guys do lots of acid?