"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.
You shake my senses and raise my alarm then drift away
You can't keep up with whoever you think you are any other day
You're weightless and drifting over the sea
Black interference invading the screen
On a red line trajectory
And you change my mind again
Because what you see is never what you get
But I'll take my chances, yeah
When you come back around here again
And I know things now that I didn't know then
Well I'll second guess it
There's things that you believe about yourself that don't add up
This version of you, more like somebody else, but not enough
And now you're cutting a deal in your head
Conscience is crystal clear once again
And you lock up the skeletons
And I change my mind again
Because what you see is never what you get
But I'll take my chances, yeah
And you come back around here again
And you say that you know things you didn't know then
Well I'll second guess it
Nobody new, just passing through
And I change my mind again
Because what you see is never what you get
But I'll take my chances, yeah
And you come back around here again
And I know things now that I didn't know then
Well I'll second, second guess it
I'll second guess it
You can't keep up with whoever you think you are any other day
You're weightless and drifting over the sea
Black interference invading the screen
On a red line trajectory
And you change my mind again
Because what you see is never what you get
But I'll take my chances, yeah
When you come back around here again
And I know things now that I didn't know then
Well I'll second guess it
There's things that you believe about yourself that don't add up
This version of you, more like somebody else, but not enough
And now you're cutting a deal in your head
Conscience is crystal clear once again
And you lock up the skeletons
And I change my mind again
Because what you see is never what you get
But I'll take my chances, yeah
And you come back around here again
And you say that you know things you didn't know then
Well I'll second guess it
Nobody new, just passing through
And I change my mind again
Because what you see is never what you get
But I'll take my chances, yeah
And you come back around here again
And I know things now that I didn't know then
Well I'll second, second guess it
I'll second guess it
Lyrics submitted by chocol8_k8
Kaplan/Thornhill Lyrics as written by Paul Anthony Dempsey Stephanie Ashworth
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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More Featured Meanings
Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman
Dreamwalker
Silent Planet
Silent Planet
I think much like another song “Anti-Matter” (that's also on the same album as this song), this one is also is inspired by a horrifying van crash the band experienced on Nov 3, 2022. This, much like the other track, sounds like it's an extension what they shared while huddled in the wreckage, as they helped frontman Garrett Russell stem the bleeding from his head wound while he was under the temporary effects of a concussion. The track speaks of where the mind goes at the most desperate & desolate of times, when it just about slips away to all but disconnect itself, and the aftermath.
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.
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.
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 song seems to be about some one who’s continually changing themselves. They’ve made mistakes in the past, so they’re trying to find a new and better identity, but they can’t. The speaker knows what the person has done, but loves them anyway, and is waiting for them to realise they can be themselves. They’re taking they’re chances that the person will realise it & won’t lose themselves along the way. That’s what I think anyway