"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.
What if some things are destined to failure?
What if some things are never meant to be?
What if someone never sees?
What if someone never opens?
What if somehow we are different?
Though I never claimed to be right
Give to me the benefit of doubt
I brought you fires
That you put out
I brought you fires
For I cannot be without
I came with sadness
But this my shattered heart can't bear
What of the times in exile?
What of the hours passed?
What if touches seem too trivial?
You can never tell me I'm wrong
A song I've heard so long
[Chorus]
I brought you fires
That you put out
I brought you fires
For I cannot be without
I came with sadness
But this my shattered heart can't bear
I came in madness
So this my shattered heart can't bear
My shattered heart won't bear
So what if healing takes forever?
So what if time is meant for others?
So what is left is but a shatter
And what is broken can't be whole
What is broken can't be whole again
[Chorus]
What if some things are never meant to be?
What if someone never sees?
What if someone never opens?
What if somehow we are different?
Though I never claimed to be right
Give to me the benefit of doubt
I brought you fires
That you put out
I brought you fires
For I cannot be without
I came with sadness
But this my shattered heart can't bear
What of the times in exile?
What of the hours passed?
What if touches seem too trivial?
You can never tell me I'm wrong
A song I've heard so long
[Chorus]
I brought you fires
That you put out
I brought you fires
For I cannot be without
I came with sadness
But this my shattered heart can't bear
I came in madness
So this my shattered heart can't bear
My shattered heart won't bear
So what if healing takes forever?
So what if time is meant for others?
So what is left is but a shatter
And what is broken can't be whole
What is broken can't be whole again
[Chorus]
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More Featured Meanings
Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman
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.
Mountain Song
Jane's Addiction
Jane's Addiction
Jane's Addiction vocalist Perry Farrell gives Adam Reader some heartfelt insight into Jane’s Addiction's hard rock manifesto "Mountain Song", which was the second single from their revolutionary album Nothing's Shocking. Mountain song was first recorded in 1986 and appeared on the soundtrack to the film Dudes starring Jon Cryer. The version on Nothing's Shocking was re-recorded in 1988.
"'Mountain Song' was actually about... I hate to say it but... drugs. Climbing this mountain and getting as high as you can, and then coming down that mountain," reveals Farrell. "What it feels to descend from the mountain top... not easy at all. The ascension is tough but exhilarating. Getting down is... it's a real bummer. Drugs is not for everybody obviously. For me, I wanted to experience the heights, and the lows come along with it."
"There's a part - 'Cash in now honey, cash in Miss Smith.' Miss Smith is my Mother; our last name was Smith. Cashing in when she cashed in her life. So... she decided that, to her... at that time, she was desperate. Life wasn't worth it for her, that was her opinion. Some people think, never take your life, and some people find that their life isn't worth living. She was in love with my Dad, and my Dad was not faithful to her, and it broke her heart. She was very desperate and she did something that I know she regrets."
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.
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.
This is the most easy to understand of all Dark Tranquillity songs for me. It's most certainly about a relationship where he truly loved someone very much, but she just treated him like garbage. At the very end, though, he changes it up, and instead of saying "this my shattered heart can't bear," he says "this my shattered heart WON'T bear." Like it's time to stand up and defy this kind of emotional exile myself. About a year ago, I went through a similar situation. This song really spoke to me, and I sent the lyrics to a friend of mine. She actually asked if I wrote them myself about the particular situation I was in.
Someone has ment so much for the author, so that he has given hes everything to this someone, who only ignored it all. Now the author is afraid if he never recovers..
there seriously has to be some connection between a song youre listening to and your current, or arriving, situation. last summer i took a trip to europe and ..hooked up with the girl of my dreams quite honestly. whenever she fell asleep on the bus with me i'd listen to damage done Alot, usually finding myself listening to this song (was when i first started listening to dt). so uh, long story short--some of her friends broke it out to me a few days later that she had a serious boyfriend and even plans for marriage :0..... anyways this is the definitive song of any relationship that has any worth (for me).. always too good to be true, or at least last
The keyboard or whatever in the chorus is awesome
Well,NICE SONG!!,i´m not English so i don´t understand some parts of the song.First I thought it was about a dictatorship and a oppresion,but after reading the second commentary,the relationship broken by the girl took form to me: "Time is meant for others","my shattered heart can´t bear",he´s in love with her,but she has broken the relatonship.Greetings for you all
This is one of my favorite songs ever! This is how I see this song. He is questioning meeting the person who is supposed to be the one but things are not perfect. He is willing to try anything but she crushes his soul and is oppressive to his nature. He can't live that way she breaks him.
I think Stanne surely wants to talk about a wrecked lovestory. "What if healing takes forever? What if time is meant forever?" let us understand that he keep on thinking about this girl. Furthermore there are some words ("Though I never claimed to be right, give to me the benefit of doubt") that tell a deep misunderstanding between two lovers. My personal opinion is that all the DAMAGE DONE album is based on a story of betrayal; songs like this or "I, deception" let me think that tha story went bad because of the fault of one of them. Anyway, the speaker feels very bad, no doubt, and he's very sad.
I agree with afflicted that there is something with the songs you listen to and your current situation, i personaly believe everything happens for a reason. Anyway, i think this song is about betrayal overall, and how the lyracist feels that he at the moment isnt able to deal with it.
This song also could be about being broken, and what is broken can't be whole. ALl of the things mentioned in the lines above are pointless if your broken.
this is a really good song. i like this kind of love song a hell of a lot more then the stuff that u hear on the radio.