"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'm back on dry land once again
Opportunity awaits me like a rat in the drain
We're all hunting honey with money to burn
Just a short time to show you the tricks that we've learned
If the boys all behave themselves here
Well, there's pretty young ladies and beer in the rear
You won't need a gutter to sleep in tonight
Oh, the prices I charge here will see you alright
So, she lays down beside me again
My sweet painted lady, the one with no name
Many have used her and many still do
There's a place in the world for a woman like you
Oh, sweet painted lady
Seems it's always been the same
Getting paid for being laid
Guess that's the name of the game
Oh, sweet painted lady
Seems it's always been the same
Getting paid for being laid
Guess that's the name of the game, oh
Forget us we'll have gone very soon
Just forget we ever slept in your rooms
And we'll leave the smell of the sea in your beds
Where love's just a job and nothing is said
So she lays down beside me again
My sweet painted lady, the one with no name
Many have used her and many still do
There's a place in the world for a woman like you
Oh, sweet painted lady
Seems it's always been the same
Getting paid for being laid
Guess that's the name of the game
Oh, sweet painted lady
Seems it's always been the same
Getting paid for being laid
Guess that's the name of the game, oh
Opportunity awaits me like a rat in the drain
We're all hunting honey with money to burn
Just a short time to show you the tricks that we've learned
If the boys all behave themselves here
Well, there's pretty young ladies and beer in the rear
You won't need a gutter to sleep in tonight
Oh, the prices I charge here will see you alright
So, she lays down beside me again
My sweet painted lady, the one with no name
Many have used her and many still do
There's a place in the world for a woman like you
Oh, sweet painted lady
Seems it's always been the same
Getting paid for being laid
Guess that's the name of the game
Oh, sweet painted lady
Seems it's always been the same
Getting paid for being laid
Guess that's the name of the game, oh
Forget us we'll have gone very soon
Just forget we ever slept in your rooms
And we'll leave the smell of the sea in your beds
Where love's just a job and nothing is said
So she lays down beside me again
My sweet painted lady, the one with no name
Many have used her and many still do
There's a place in the world for a woman like you
Oh, sweet painted lady
Seems it's always been the same
Getting paid for being laid
Guess that's the name of the game
Oh, sweet painted lady
Seems it's always been the same
Getting paid for being laid
Guess that's the name of the game, oh
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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.
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.
Just A Little Lovin'
Dusty Springfield
Dusty Springfield
I don't think it's necessarily about sex. It's about wanting to start the day with some love and affection. Maybe a warm cuddle. I'm not alone in interpreting it that way! For example:
"'Just a Little Lovin’ is a timeless country song originally recorded by Eddy Arnold in 1954. The song, written by Eddie Miller and Jimmy Campbell, explores the delicate nuances of love and showcases Arnold’s emotive vocals. It delves into the universal theme of love and how even the smallest gesture of affection can have a profound impact on our lives." https://oldtimemusic.com/the-meaning-behind-the-song-just-a-little-lovin-by-eddy-arnold/
I've listened to this song and I've noticed there's a second meaning besides the one everyone knows it for. Seeing as Bernie is a painter, this would actually make a lot of sense.
I always thought that Sweet Painted Lady could also be about a woman who an artist paints on to canvas and how she's sold to buyers at auction houses. How the artist sells away what he/she has created.
"Opportunity awaits me like a rat in the drain We're all hunting honey with money to burn Just a short time to show you the tricks that we've learned"
Opportunity awaits the artist as they sell the painting and the buyers are all vying for it ("with money to burn").
"If the boys all behave themselves here Well there's pretty young ladies and beer in the rear You won't need a gutter to sleep in tonight Oh the prices I charge here will see you alright"
The "boys" could refer to the buyers at the auction house and their dodgy deals in the past. The pretty young ladies could be a metaphor for the paintings being sold. "You won't need a gutter to sleep in tonight" as in the painting won't have to be stored away in a gutter and can be sold. And the prices could be just that-- the prices the buyers pay.
"So she lays down beside me again My sweet painted lady, the one with no name Many have used her and many still do There's a place in the world for a woman like you"
"The one with no name" as in the painting doesn't have a name and the artist lays beside her as the painting is hung in his/her room. Many have used the canvas and many still continue to. And art is still around, so there's a place in the world for paintings.
"Oh sweet painted lady Seems it's always been the same Getting paid for being laid (to paper in art) Guess that's the name of the game"
The way paintings have sold have always been the same, always been sold to people in auction places, etc... The artist gets paid for painting the lady to a canvas and the buyers then buy it and "that's the name of the game".
Anyways, my interpretation.
Now that's a stretch. Nice try. No hidden meaning here, which there seldom is with Bernie.