"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 vacuum created by the arrival of freedom
And the possibilities it seems to offer
It's got nothing to do with you, if one can grasp it
It's got nothing to do with you, if one can grasp it
A series of shocks - sneakers fall apart
Earth keeps on rolling - witnesses falling
It's got nothing to do with you, if one can grasp it
It's got nothing to do with you, if one can grasp it
Yeah, yeah, yeah - up the hill backwards
It'll be alright, ooh
While we sleep they go to work
We're legally crippled it's the death of love
It's got nothing to do with you, if one can grasp it
It's got nothing to do with you, if one can grasp it
More idols then realities, ooh
I'm OK, you're so-so, ooh
Yeah, yeah, yeah - up the hill backwards
It'll be alright ooh
And the possibilities it seems to offer
It's got nothing to do with you, if one can grasp it
It's got nothing to do with you, if one can grasp it
A series of shocks - sneakers fall apart
Earth keeps on rolling - witnesses falling
It's got nothing to do with you, if one can grasp it
It's got nothing to do with you, if one can grasp it
Yeah, yeah, yeah - up the hill backwards
It'll be alright, ooh
While we sleep they go to work
We're legally crippled it's the death of love
It's got nothing to do with you, if one can grasp it
It's got nothing to do with you, if one can grasp it
More idols then realities, ooh
I'm OK, you're so-so, ooh
Yeah, yeah, yeah - up the hill backwards
It'll be alright ooh
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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.
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.
Punchline
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran sings about missing his former partner and learning important life lessons in the process on “Punchline.” This track tells a story of battling to get rid of emotions for a former lover, whom he now realized might not have loved him the same way. He’s now caught between accepting that fact and learning life lessons from it and going back to beg her for another chance.
Amazing
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran tells a story of unsuccessfully trying to feel “Amazing.” This track is about the being weighed down by emotional stress despite valiant attempts to find some positivity in the situation. This track was written by Ed Sheeran from the perspective of his friend. From the track, we see this person fall deeper into the negative thoughts and slide further down the path of mental torment with every lyric.
The "up the hill backwards" part is about how we move forward through time; it all seems a difficult struggle and all we can see is that which we have already traversed below...and from that vantage the past looks usually as difficult as the climb at the moment. That last part, not so certain, but very much so on the chronology-based element of the title.
"The vacuum created by the arrival of freedom" would be much like, say, something a retiree may face upon leaving work to a full "freedom"...but without any structure or purpose it can seem like so muc ha vacuum to so many you see them going right back to some type of job to have purpose and human contact. I think this relates in some manner to Bowie's own unbounded lifestyle which, having recognized this principle, is founded on his own strength of self-discipline to create the actual boundaries of his career and self. "Nobody down here can do it for me"...which appears in "When You Rock and Roll With Me" is part of the same concept.
The end of that one line being "and the possibilities it seems to offer" would relate to the nature of choice from imagined, fantisized, researched, learned options for "how to be" and also, in the next line "it's got nothing to do with you" referencing the limited nature of actual "freedom", it being bounded only by those actual options available to your skill, class, talent, investedness, etc. "Land of the Free"...sure...you go out and get that job you can't afford to obtain...wow those people in conversation that are above your level of intelligence...get that hot size-queen at the bar with your undersized (>>>>> Anyone else have any ideas???