"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.
Was it you who spoke the words
That things would happen but not to me
Oh things are gonna happen naturally
Oh taking your advice
And I'm looking on the bright side
And balancing the whole thing
Oh, but often times those words
And it get tangled up in lines
And the bright lights turn to night
Oh, until the dawn it brings
Another day to sing about the magic that was you and me
'Cause you and I both loved
What you and I spoke of
And others just read of
Others only read of the love, the love that I love, yeah
See I'm all about them words
Over numbers, unencumbered numbered words
Hundreds of pages, pages, pages for words
More words then I had ever heard and I feel so alive
'Cause you and I both loved
What you and I spoke of
And others just read of
And if you could see me now, oh love, love
You and I, you and I
Not so little you and I anymore
And with this silence brings a moral story
More importantly evolving is the glory of a boy
'Cause you and I both loved
What you and I spoke of
And others just read of
And if you could see me now
Well I'm almost finally out of
I'm finally out of
Finally deedeedeedee
Well I'm almost finally, finally
Well I'm free, oh, I'm free
And it's okay if you have to go away
Oh just remember the telephones, well they work in both ways
But if I never ever hear them ring
If nothing else I'll think the bells inside
Have finally found you someone else and that's okay
'Cause I'll remember everything you sang
'Cause you and I both loved
What you and I spoke of
And others just read of
And if you could see me now
Well then I'm almost finally out of
I'm finally out of, finally, deedeeededede
Well I'm almost finally, finally, out of words
That things would happen but not to me
Oh things are gonna happen naturally
Oh taking your advice
And I'm looking on the bright side
And balancing the whole thing
Oh, but often times those words
And it get tangled up in lines
And the bright lights turn to night
Oh, until the dawn it brings
Another day to sing about the magic that was you and me
'Cause you and I both loved
What you and I spoke of
And others just read of
Others only read of the love, the love that I love, yeah
See I'm all about them words
Over numbers, unencumbered numbered words
Hundreds of pages, pages, pages for words
More words then I had ever heard and I feel so alive
'Cause you and I both loved
What you and I spoke of
And others just read of
And if you could see me now, oh love, love
You and I, you and I
Not so little you and I anymore
And with this silence brings a moral story
More importantly evolving is the glory of a boy
'Cause you and I both loved
What you and I spoke of
And others just read of
And if you could see me now
Well I'm almost finally out of
I'm finally out of
Finally deedeedeedee
Well I'm almost finally, finally
Well I'm free, oh, I'm free
And it's okay if you have to go away
Oh just remember the telephones, well they work in both ways
But if I never ever hear them ring
If nothing else I'll think the bells inside
Have finally found you someone else and that's okay
'Cause I'll remember everything you sang
'Cause you and I both loved
What you and I spoke of
And others just read of
And if you could see me now
Well then I'm almost finally out of
I'm finally out of, finally, deedeeededede
Well I'm almost finally, finally, out of words
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More Featured Meanings
Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman
The Night We Met
Lord Huron
Lord Huron
This is a hauntingly beautiful song about introspection, specifically about looking back at a relationship that started bad and ended so poorly, that the narrator wants to go back to the very beginning and tell himself to not even travel down that road. I believe that the relationship started poorly because of the lines:
"Take me back to the night we met:When the night was full of terrors: And your eyes were filled with tears: When you had not touched me yet"
So, the first night was not a great start, but the narrator pursued the relationship and eventually both overcame the rough start to fall in love with each other:
"I had all and then most of you"
Like many relationships that turn sour, it was not a quick decline, but a gradual one where the narrator and their partner fall out of love and gradually grow apart
"Some and now none of you"
Losing someone who was once everything in your world, who you could confide in, tell your secrets to, share all the most intimate parts of your life, to being strangers with that person is probably one of the most painful experiences a person can go through. So Painful, the narrator wants to go back in time and tell himself to not even pursue the relationship.
This was the perfect song for "13 Reasons Why"
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.
Page
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
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.
"Was it you who spoke the words that things would happen but not to me"
This song had me hooked from the very first line. Anyways, I think this is a song about two people who love each other very much but understand that their love might not last forever ("if nothing else I'll think the bells inside/have finally found you someone else") but if that happens, they'll still have positive memories about the relationship ("I'll remember everything you sang").
But, I could be totally wrong :)