"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.
Another prophet of disaster who says the ship is lost
Another prophet of disaster leaving you to count the cost
Taunting us with visions, afflicting us with fear
Predicting war for millions in the hope that one appears
No point asking when it is, no point asking who's to go
No point asking what's the game, no point asking who's to blame
Cause if you're gonna die, if you're gonna die, if you're gonna die
If you're gonna die, die with your boots on,
If you're gonna try, well stick around
Gonna cry, just move along
If you're gonna die, you're gonna die
Thirteen, the beast is rising, the Frenchman did surmise
Through earthquakes and starvation, the warlord will arise
Terror death destruction pour from the eastern sands
But the truth of all predictions is always in your hands
No point asking when it is, no point asking who's to go
No point asking what's the game
If you're gonna die, die with your boots on
If you're gonna try, well stick around
Gonna cry, just move along
If you're gonna die, you're gonna die, gonna die
Die with your boots on, if you're gonna try
Well stick around, gonna cry, just move along
If you're gonna die, you're gonna die
No point asking when it is, no point asking who's to go
No point asking what's the game, no point asking who's to blame
Cause if you're gonna die, if you're gonna die, if you're gonna die
If you're gonna die, die with your boots on
If you're gonna try, well stick around
Gonna cry, just move along
If you're gonna die, you're gonna die, gonna die
Die with your boots on, if you're gonna try,
Well stick around, gonna cry, just move along
If you're gonna die
If you're gonna die, die with your boots on
If you're gonna try, well stick around
Gonna cry, just move along
If you're gonna die, you're gonna die
Another prophet of disaster leaving you to count the cost
Taunting us with visions, afflicting us with fear
Predicting war for millions in the hope that one appears
No point asking when it is, no point asking who's to go
No point asking what's the game, no point asking who's to blame
Cause if you're gonna die, if you're gonna die, if you're gonna die
If you're gonna die, die with your boots on,
If you're gonna try, well stick around
Gonna cry, just move along
If you're gonna die, you're gonna die
Thirteen, the beast is rising, the Frenchman did surmise
Through earthquakes and starvation, the warlord will arise
Terror death destruction pour from the eastern sands
But the truth of all predictions is always in your hands
No point asking when it is, no point asking who's to go
No point asking what's the game
If you're gonna die, die with your boots on
If you're gonna try, well stick around
Gonna cry, just move along
If you're gonna die, you're gonna die, gonna die
Die with your boots on, if you're gonna try
Well stick around, gonna cry, just move along
If you're gonna die, you're gonna die
No point asking when it is, no point asking who's to go
No point asking what's the game, no point asking who's to blame
Cause if you're gonna die, if you're gonna die, if you're gonna die
If you're gonna die, die with your boots on
If you're gonna try, well stick around
Gonna cry, just move along
If you're gonna die, you're gonna die, gonna die
Die with your boots on, if you're gonna try,
Well stick around, gonna cry, just move along
If you're gonna die
If you're gonna die, die with your boots on
If you're gonna try, well stick around
Gonna cry, just move along
If you're gonna die, you're gonna die
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More Featured Meanings
Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman
Bron-Y-Aur Stomp
Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin
This is about bronies. They communicate by stomping.
Gentle Hour
Yo La Tengo
Yo La Tengo
This song was originally written by a guy called Peter Gutteridge. He was one of the founders of the "Dunedin Sound" a musical scene in the south of New Zealand in the early 80s. From there it was covered by "The Clean" one of the early bands of that scene (he had originally been a member of in it's early days, writing a couple of their best early songs). The Dunedin sound, and the Clean became popular on american college radio in the mid to late 80s. I guess Yo La Tengo heard that version.
Great version of a great song,
When We Were Young
Blink-182
Blink-182
This is a sequel to 2001's "Reckless Abandon", and features the band looking back on their clumsy youth fondly.
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.
I like this song better than the original by far, in my opinion :3 Sonata Arctica has a tendency to make ALL the covers they do better than the original.. Wind Beneath My Wings, Still Loving You, and I Want Out are ALL way better than the original songs.