"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.
The innocence robbed at early stage
Bitterness allies for the cage
Pain gives birth to pain
And hope gets smudged with bloodstains
Despise yourself to swell with pride and think your hatred will win the prize
I smell a change with horizons
A face in your path now gone
It's an attempt to deny
You'd better find an alibi
Spit in the face of mercy and now the debt you owe will multiply
Blame everyone but yourself while your so-called arguments tow the line A twofold edge of hate spills emotion that blinds the public eye
No claims to the life of a victim
Offenses a list of lost freedoms
Keep mocking Keep mocking Keep mocking to fill infectious lies
A bead of sweat drips cold from your brow and it's evident there's more to fear
Here's a response to that message of spite that you've clung tightly to for all these years... The season is ripe for payback.
You don't want to face the fact that there's a debt to pay
Blame everyone but yourself
But be careful what you asked for
You've got your wish With Judgment, with payback
Liar You've got a lot of nothing to say
You've got allot of hate to spray You've got allot of nothing to say
Yet your life is the meaning of temporary.
Bitterness allies for the cage
Pain gives birth to pain
And hope gets smudged with bloodstains
Despise yourself to swell with pride and think your hatred will win the prize
I smell a change with horizons
A face in your path now gone
It's an attempt to deny
You'd better find an alibi
Spit in the face of mercy and now the debt you owe will multiply
Blame everyone but yourself while your so-called arguments tow the line A twofold edge of hate spills emotion that blinds the public eye
No claims to the life of a victim
Offenses a list of lost freedoms
Keep mocking Keep mocking Keep mocking to fill infectious lies
A bead of sweat drips cold from your brow and it's evident there's more to fear
Here's a response to that message of spite that you've clung tightly to for all these years... The season is ripe for payback.
You don't want to face the fact that there's a debt to pay
Blame everyone but yourself
But be careful what you asked for
You've got your wish With Judgment, with payback
Liar You've got a lot of nothing to say
You've got allot of hate to spray You've got allot of nothing to say
Yet your life is the meaning of temporary.
Lyrics submitted by joshbert13
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Fast Car
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Page
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There aren’t many things that’ll hurt more than giving love a chance against your better judgement only to have your heart crushed yet again. Ed Sheeran tells such a story on “Page.” On this track, he is devastated to have lost his lover and even more saddened by the feeling that he may never move on from this.
I haven't thought this through yet, but here goes my interpretation:
The song is about someone blaming society for the depraved way he has become.
First, the person to whom the song speaks obviously hasn't had a very peaceful childhood; INNOCENCE ROBBED AT EARLY STAGE, and now the pain that he has suffered just engenders more hurt and pain (PAIN GIVES BIRTH TO PAIN)
The person realizes that he is depraved, but becomes swollen with pride and blames society for his state (DESPISE YOURSELF TO SWELL WITH PRIDE). Schwab says this is just a delusion and "AN ATTEMPT TO DENY."
The next line shows why I think he is blaming society: "BLAME EVERYONE BUT YOURSELF." Schwab states that the problem lies within the man, not his influences. Schwab further calls his opponent's arguments marginal (YOUR SO-CALLED ARGUMENTS TOE THE LINE). The "TWOFOLD EDGE OF HATE" is the person's hate for himself and for society for supposedly making him the way he is.
Schwab points to the fact that all men are sinful and stand condemned apart from Christ (THE FACT THAT THERE'S A DEBT TO PAY) (Christ has paid that debt.) The repetition of "BLAME EVERYONE BUT YOURSELF" shows that Schwab is saying that the problem lies within the man, not without.
Perhaps the man is wishing for judgment on society, so Schwab states that the man will be surprised when he finally gets his wish for judgment on the thing that made him so bad - himself, not soceity. ("BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU ASKED FOR," "WITH JUDGMENT.")
Schwab then calls his opponent's arguments vacuous ("YOU'VE GOT A LOT OF NOTHING TO SAY) and hateful ("YOU'VE GOT A LOT OF HATE TO SPRAY.")
Anyway, in a nutshell: Someone states that he is bad because society made him that way. Schwab vehemently points out that the problem lies within the person in his sin nature, and not with society.