"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.
Your tempting me to all of life and all its pleasure
Take me to the dream, to the highs and the depths of my soul
Here we free thoughts inside, giving up for giving time
But a world without end where no soul can descend
There will be no summertime
How lost life's been, afraid of waking up
So afraid to take the dream
Shapes of angels the night casts
Lie dead but dreaming in my past
And they're here, they want to meet you
They want to play with you
So take the dream
Can't break free and I hear them call
They want to plague you
They're here once more
They want to lay with you
They want to take you to the shame of your past
Take the dream
Take me lead me far away
Take me there I'll fade away
But I can't hide and I cannot die
I take the dream
We're but fools of our fates, on this earth I shall wait
By the roots of my soul
I am losing control
Take the dream
The sleepers in you
Shapes of angels so deep within you
Feel your soul drowning
Unloosen your soul
Drowning in waters of reality
Tell me what is reality
Tell me tell me thought of god
Do dreams fall from god
Tell me what dreams may come
Break free thoughts all gone
We've all come down
Take me there you're my ticket out a here
All come down
Take me out a here
Take me there
We can dream together
We can sleep forever
Take me to the dream, to the highs and the depths of my soul
Here we free thoughts inside, giving up for giving time
But a world without end where no soul can descend
There will be no summertime
How lost life's been, afraid of waking up
So afraid to take the dream
Shapes of angels the night casts
Lie dead but dreaming in my past
And they're here, they want to meet you
They want to play with you
So take the dream
Can't break free and I hear them call
They want to plague you
They're here once more
They want to lay with you
They want to take you to the shame of your past
Take the dream
Take me lead me far away
Take me there I'll fade away
But I can't hide and I cannot die
I take the dream
We're but fools of our fates, on this earth I shall wait
By the roots of my soul
I am losing control
Take the dream
The sleepers in you
Shapes of angels so deep within you
Feel your soul drowning
Unloosen your soul
Drowning in waters of reality
Tell me what is reality
Tell me tell me thought of god
Do dreams fall from god
Tell me what dreams may come
Break free thoughts all gone
We've all come down
Take me there you're my ticket out a here
All come down
Take me out a here
Take me there
We can dream together
We can sleep forever
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More Featured Meanings
Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
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The Night We Met
Lord Huron
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This is a hauntingly beautiful song about introspection, specifically about looking back at a relationship that started bad and ended so poorly, that the narrator wants to go back to the very beginning and tell himself to not even travel down that road. I believe that the relationship started poorly because of the lines:
"Take me back to the night we met:When the night was full of terrors: And your eyes were filled with tears: When you had not touched me yet"
So, the first night was not a great start, but the narrator pursued the relationship and eventually both overcame the rough start to fall in love with each other:
"I had all and then most of you"
Like many relationships that turn sour, it was not a quick decline, but a gradual one where the narrator and their partner fall out of love and gradually grow apart
"Some and now none of you"
Losing someone who was once everything in your world, who you could confide in, tell your secrets to, share all the most intimate parts of your life, to being strangers with that person is probably one of the most painful experiences a person can go through. So Painful, the narrator wants to go back in time and tell himself to not even pursue the relationship.
This was the perfect song for "13 Reasons Why"
When We Were Young
Blink-182
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This is a sequel to 2001's "Reckless Abandon", and features the band looking back on their clumsy youth fondly.
Magical
Ed Sheeran
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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.
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.