"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.
I went to sleep last night wondering how I'd feel
If I woke up tomorrow and you were almost healed.
If you could use your hands, what would you use them for?
Would it be to strangle me?
Because you just can't...
Hold down, why don't you just be the wave that washes over me?
Hold down, why can't I just be the one that carries all of you?
And I can see it in your eyes.
I'll rest my head tonight, thoughts I can't reveal.
The shame inside of me, the fate they've tried to seal.
If you could use your hands, what would you use them for?
Would it be to strangle me, or just try to ignore,
The fact that they don't care, why they stop and stare?
Why they put you in that dusty dirty chair?
Everyday is hard, hard for you to survive.
While we maintain this materialistic paradise.
Hold down, why don't you just be the wave that washes over me?
Hold down, why can't I just be the one that carries all of you?
And I see you fall (And I see you fall)
And it feels like I'm already there.
And it feels like you're already there.
You might carry me (You might carry me) on through.
Hold down, why don't you just be the wave that washes over me?
Hold down, why can't I just be the one that carries all of you?
And I went to sleep last night wondering how I'd feel.
When the world just came.
And I went to sleep last night wondering how I'd feel.
When you were falling down.
And I went to sleep last night wondering how I'd feel,
When the world just came (falling down)
And I went to sleep last night, last night, last night (Falling down).
If I woke up tomorrow and you were almost healed.
If you could use your hands, what would you use them for?
Would it be to strangle me?
Because you just can't...
Hold down, why don't you just be the wave that washes over me?
Hold down, why can't I just be the one that carries all of you?
And I can see it in your eyes.
I'll rest my head tonight, thoughts I can't reveal.
The shame inside of me, the fate they've tried to seal.
If you could use your hands, what would you use them for?
Would it be to strangle me, or just try to ignore,
The fact that they don't care, why they stop and stare?
Why they put you in that dusty dirty chair?
Everyday is hard, hard for you to survive.
While we maintain this materialistic paradise.
Hold down, why don't you just be the wave that washes over me?
Hold down, why can't I just be the one that carries all of you?
And I see you fall (And I see you fall)
And it feels like I'm already there.
And it feels like you're already there.
You might carry me (You might carry me) on through.
Hold down, why don't you just be the wave that washes over me?
Hold down, why can't I just be the one that carries all of you?
And I went to sleep last night wondering how I'd feel.
When the world just came.
And I went to sleep last night wondering how I'd feel.
When you were falling down.
And I went to sleep last night wondering how I'd feel,
When the world just came (falling down)
And I went to sleep last night, last night, last night (Falling down).
Lyrics submitted by NolanJB
Add your thoughts
Log in now to tell us what you think this song means.
Don’t have an account? Create an account with SongMeanings to post comments, submit lyrics, and more. It’s super easy, we promise!
More Featured Meanings
Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman
Cajun Girl
Little Feat
Little Feat
Overall about difficult moments of disappointment and vulnerability. Having hope and longing, while remaining optimistic for the future. Encourages the belief that with each new morning there is a chance for things to improve.
The chorus offers a glimmer of optimism and a chance at a resolution and redemption in the future.
Captures the rollercoaster of emotions of feeling lost while loving someone who is not there for you, feeling let down and abandoned while waiting for a lover. Lost with no direction, "Now I'm up in the air with the rain in my hair, Nowhere to go, I can go anywhere"
The bridge shows signs of longing and a plea for companionship. The Lyrics express a desire for authentic connection and the importance of Loving someone just as they are. "Just in passing, I'm not asking. That you be anyone but you”
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.
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.
Magical
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
How would you describe the feeling of being in love? For Ed Sheeran, the word is “Magical.” in HIS three-minute album opener, he makes an attempt to capture the beauty and delicacy of true love with words. He describes the magic of it all over a bright Pop song produced by Aaron Dessner.
In my own interpretation. It sounds like its very apologetic and reflective. I think maybe that it's about emotional repression. Like the person that the vocalist is singing about has a repressed hatred or guilt towards them and they are trying to get through whatever repressive emotion, and the singer does not want to suffer so hed rather carry it for them instead of being in a constant battle with them and their triggers. Idk just how i see it.