"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.
Mr. Dali Lamas
Another sister's shootin' heroin tomorrow
Amputees in Freetown
Sierra Leone's
The church wasn't honest
The state put the youth in a harness
Creatin' hostility among us
Teacher said no college
Still the kid's gotta get a check with a couple commas
People wanna bomb us
More people gotta scatter and run from us
You can blame it on Zeus and Apollo and Adonis
But what you've done here
Is put yourself between a bullet and a target
And it won't be long before
You're pulling yourself away
But what you've done here
Is put yourself between a bullet and a target
And it won't be long before
You're pulling yourself away
I've been knowing her for years
I've been seeing her for years
She got dark, dark wavy hair
With a voice like she just don't care
She got a skirt with a halter top
She's got a dad who never gave a fuck
She drinks a beer with a malted top
She got knocked up in a pickup truck
But she got engaged when she was nineteen
To this dude who was acting insane
Had a .45 that he always cleaned
Said one day one day one too many days
Now she ducked and she ran away
Never to be heard from, never to be seen
I check the cover of a magazine
I'm just wondering how, just wondering how
But what you've done here
Is put yourself between a bullet and a target
And it won't be long before
You're pulling yourself away
You're pulling yourself away
You're pulling yourself away
You're pulling yourself away
A bullet and a target
A bullet and a target
A bullet and a target
A bullet and a target
Between a bullet and a target
Another sister's shootin' heroin tomorrow
Amputees in Freetown
Sierra Leone's
The church wasn't honest
The state put the youth in a harness
Creatin' hostility among us
Teacher said no college
Still the kid's gotta get a check with a couple commas
People wanna bomb us
More people gotta scatter and run from us
You can blame it on Zeus and Apollo and Adonis
But what you've done here
Is put yourself between a bullet and a target
And it won't be long before
You're pulling yourself away
But what you've done here
Is put yourself between a bullet and a target
And it won't be long before
You're pulling yourself away
I've been knowing her for years
I've been seeing her for years
She got dark, dark wavy hair
With a voice like she just don't care
She got a skirt with a halter top
She's got a dad who never gave a fuck
She drinks a beer with a malted top
She got knocked up in a pickup truck
But she got engaged when she was nineteen
To this dude who was acting insane
Had a .45 that he always cleaned
Said one day one day one too many days
Now she ducked and she ran away
Never to be heard from, never to be seen
I check the cover of a magazine
I'm just wondering how, just wondering how
But what you've done here
Is put yourself between a bullet and a target
And it won't be long before
You're pulling yourself away
You're pulling yourself away
You're pulling yourself away
You're pulling yourself away
A bullet and a target
A bullet and a target
A bullet and a target
A bullet and a target
Between a bullet and a target
Lyrics submitted by furiousbob
Bullet and a Target Lyrics as written by Clarence Greenwood
Lyrics © Wixen Music Publishing
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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More Featured Meanings
Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman
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"
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”
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.
talking aabout a wide range of world topics, peace, shooting up, apmutee survivors of landmines,the civilwar issues of Sierra Leone , the catholic chirch scandals, issues for todays youth with the authorities,being told ur nhot good enough fpr college, making money to survive if ur poor,the terrorism, modern technology like pcs, how the workd is changing , the greek gods , the end of the world....how u on a daily babis put ur self between a bullet and a target just to get thru the day....and how a young girl got into young prenmartial sex to escape her home problems, And she got knocked up having sex in a truck, and has a crazy boyfrined, or whatever, its deep, but basucally i think u guys are right , the song rocks! no matter what it means, lol
i completely agree with you. all of copes songs are amazingly deep when you find the time to understand the lyrics. if all of the people in the world could lidten to his songs and live by his words it would be so much better. he knows what hes talking about.great song. and on the point of weather its fast of faciast...personally i believe its fast but either way it dosent change the song that much.
Citizen Cope says "Bullet and a target has a lot of different meanings. Well, let me first say the songs kinda create themselves, they feed off themselves and they happen. Anything I say about a song is in retrospect more so than I planned it to be like that; I'm looking at it listening to it now.
Part of what "Bullet and a Target" is about is people that put themselves in situations that are dangerous that have a self-destructive quality. Part of it is where society is putting them in that situation. There's people that were born into it, people that choose to do it, and there's people who are thrown into it. "Bullet and a Target" deals with a lot of things."
It's hard to say what this song means, the lyrics are all over the place, but damn good. His voice is by no means 'good' at least in the classical sense, but it's pretty sick. I like it anyway. Damn good song. Reminds me of a cross between Jack Johnson and Everlast. Might just be me though.
The song is about the ills of modern society. The first verse is describing ills of the world, the second verse describes how this messed up society has affected this girl. I think the main part refers to how many in our society feel far removed from the issues of this world. They don't realize that as a result of their selfish greed, and individual mindset they have literally put themselves between a bullet and a target and eventually they are going to suffer directly as a result of their apathy and ignorance. It's about how much things are backwards, and how hard it can be sometimes to make sense of it.
So, I'm thinking that this song is definitely about betrayal. Any song can mean whatever you want, or make it mean, but I think this best fits. So first verse is about the betrayal that we see all through society -- mrs. dali llamas -- betrayal of religion to have a female dali llama. heroine addicts of the future -- condemning people to drugs by not dealing with the problems they are facing in the now. sierra leon - obvious. church wasnt honest - duh. teacher said no college-- giving up too soon on the youth, another form of betrayal. look for it, and its clear.
next he brings us to a specific instance - this girl gets involved with a crazy, gun-brandishing psycho. and he talks about how she got there -- father who didnt care / wasnt there, getting knocked up, just an all around bad situation. BUT. he does leave us with a quasi-happy ending, in that, "check the cover of a magazine, i'm just wondering how, just wondering how." its either a. everything turns out all right for this girl (she's a model) or b. looking at a headline of a magazine like time or forbes to see more corruption and problems in the world...
I think it's about how people are really screwing themselves over, whether on a personal or worldly level. I think in the first verse, he's talking about how no matter how much people say that things are changing, they're getting better, they're improving...they're really not. There's so much crap happening behind the scenes that most people don't know about. As for the verse about the girl. I think it's pretty obvious that she got herself into an abusive relationship and ran away to become famous. (The reference to the cover of the magazine.) Also, I think he's saying we can't blame God or the gods or anything else for what WE do. It's our own fault, and we need to turn around and go the other way before we do some serious damage to oursevles.
In an interview of Citizen he said that sometimes people are born into bad situations, like a rock and a hard place, and he using the terminoly "bullet and a target". being born into those situations is a bad place to be, but he goes on to say that if you are putting yourself into bad situations (between a bullet and a target) than thats that much worse. Talking bout aspects of life that we're born into and aspects of life that we put ourselves into.
it's about our self-destructive tendencies and how we're screwing ourselves over. he's saying one day we will have to suffer the consequences of our lifestyles. which is true, i agree with him 100%, our priorities are way off base, we seriously need ot reconsider what is important to us.
citizen cope is awesome, i love his voice, but his messages are a little strange. they are either really bizarre and cryptic or incredibly obvious, but that's just me. love pablo picasso.
IMO it's about taking responsibility for your actions and not blaming others for things you've caused. This ties into self-destruction and people ruining their own lives. I think it also speaks to the people around them as well. "It won't be long before you're pulling yourself away" Someone sees another person in a bad situation and does nothing to help them, thinking they'll fix it themselves. That's also the message of the second verse, where the narrator sees a woman in an abusive marriage but doesn't do anything to stop it, and she eventually is killed/disappears.
This song is about a girl who was born into a bad situation.She got engaged and got pregnant so she never did anything to make her life better.But on day she ran away without telling anyone.Then she ends up on a magazine which means she ended up becoming very successful.
Its like how some kids end up being born to alcoholics and drug addicts and once they grow up they end up being addicts themselves because they don't want to pull themselves out of the bad situation. In this case the girl ends up being fed up with her life or relizes she needs to change and she does something about it.
"You can blame it on Zeus and Apollo and Adonis" means people usally want to blame the gods for what happens in their lives and never want to take responsibility.
the second verse to me is saying that the girl has been slowly digging her grave. the verse addresses an issue that is happening very often in the world; highschool and college girls getting knocked up due to their own choices and then getting engaged to the father who is not the best choice for a husband. and when tensions thicken between the couple the "insane" husband starts beating her. the mother of the child then flees. when he wraps up the verse i am not sure what he means by "i check the cover of a magazine". perhaps he is reading about her story on the magazine or another story of the same that was on the magazine and when he saw it he was reminded of the girl he sings about in his verse. anyway, the girl had essentially set herself up to get hurt, and put herself between a bullet and a target.