"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.
Close the door and take the stairs
Up or down, ups and downs
Well, don't pretend you've never been there
You kiss me like an over-dramatic actor
Who's starving for work
With one last shot to make it happen
You've won the role, you've played your part
You've been cordially invited
But I'm not impressed, and I'm definitely not excited
'Cause the film runs a shallow budget
And the writer's subject script isn't any deeper
So dive right in
Hollywood hills and suburban thrills
Hey you, who are you kidding?
I'm not like them, I won't buy in
Hollywood hills and suburban thrills
Hey you, who are you kidding?
Don't quit 'til 47
Then we'll turn it up, and we'll play a little faster
Take back everything you ever said
You never meant a word of it
You never did
Take back everything you said
You never meant a word of it
You never did
She said
"Alright alright, slow down"
Oh no, oh no, we won't
'Cause I regret everything that I said
To ever make her feel like she was something special
Or that she ever really mattered
Or did she ever really matter?
Hollywood hills and suburban thrills
Hey you, who are you kidding?
I'm not like them, I won't buy in
Hollywood hills and suburban thrills
Just don't count on this summer
Don't quit 'til 47
Then we'll turn it up, and we'll play a little faster
Take back everything you ever said
You never meant a word of it
You never did
Take back everything you said
You never meant a word of it
You never did
I'm not saying that I'm not breaking
Some hearts tonight, girl oh oh
I'm not saying that I'm not breaking
Some hearts tonight, girl
Alright, alright, slow down
Take back everything you ever said
You never meant a word of it
You never did
Take back everything you said
You never meant a word of it
You never did
Hollywood hills and suburban thrills
Hey you, who are you kidding?
I'm not like them, I won't buy in
Hollywood hills and suburban thrills
Hey you, who are you kidding?
I'm not like them, I won't buy in
Hollywood hills and suburban thrills
Hey you, who are you kidding?
I'm not like them, I won't buy in
Up or down, ups and downs
Well, don't pretend you've never been there
You kiss me like an over-dramatic actor
Who's starving for work
With one last shot to make it happen
You've won the role, you've played your part
You've been cordially invited
But I'm not impressed, and I'm definitely not excited
'Cause the film runs a shallow budget
And the writer's subject script isn't any deeper
So dive right in
Hollywood hills and suburban thrills
Hey you, who are you kidding?
I'm not like them, I won't buy in
Hollywood hills and suburban thrills
Hey you, who are you kidding?
Don't quit 'til 47
Then we'll turn it up, and we'll play a little faster
Take back everything you ever said
You never meant a word of it
You never did
Take back everything you said
You never meant a word of it
You never did
She said
"Alright alright, slow down"
Oh no, oh no, we won't
'Cause I regret everything that I said
To ever make her feel like she was something special
Or that she ever really mattered
Or did she ever really matter?
Hollywood hills and suburban thrills
Hey you, who are you kidding?
I'm not like them, I won't buy in
Hollywood hills and suburban thrills
Just don't count on this summer
Don't quit 'til 47
Then we'll turn it up, and we'll play a little faster
Take back everything you ever said
You never meant a word of it
You never did
Take back everything you said
You never meant a word of it
You never did
I'm not saying that I'm not breaking
Some hearts tonight, girl oh oh
I'm not saying that I'm not breaking
Some hearts tonight, girl
Alright, alright, slow down
Take back everything you ever said
You never meant a word of it
You never did
Take back everything you said
You never meant a word of it
You never did
Hollywood hills and suburban thrills
Hey you, who are you kidding?
I'm not like them, I won't buy in
Hollywood hills and suburban thrills
Hey you, who are you kidding?
I'm not like them, I won't buy in
Hollywood hills and suburban thrills
Hey you, who are you kidding?
I'm not like them, I won't buy in
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More Featured Meanings
Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman
The Night We Met
Lord Huron
Lord Huron
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.
Blue
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
“Blue” is a song about a love that is persisting in the discomfort of the person experiencing the emotion. Ed Sheeran reflects on love lost, and although he wishes his former partner find happiness, he cannot but admit his feelings are still very much there. He expresses the realization that he might never find another on this stringed instrumental by Aaron Dessner.
I love love love !!!!!! this song and the video. Jesus, William is sooo painfully lanky!! oh by the by: "don't quit till forty-seven" is a refrence to The Romones.
i can't believe no one has commented on this song. this is an amazing song.
yeah it is...
"Or that she ever really mattered Or did she ever really matter? "
this song most likely has several different meanings, but part of it sounded like someone the singer knew was a complete suburbian and tries to create drama to enhance their boring life ("you kissed me like an overdramatic actor") but he doesnt want anything to do with the suburbians ("im not like them, i wont buy in")
these guys are great live, i really rocemmend seeing a show
DUDE. The Academy Is... is so effing good. I think this is my favorite song of theirs, I could listen to it for forever.
i'm surprised that there aren't more comments...
this song has to be my favorite on the album. it's just so amazing...
"Hollywood hills and suburban thrills and you Who are you kidding? I'm not like them I won't buy it Hollywood hills and suburban thrills Just don't count on the summer donn’t Quit your forty-seven Then we'll turn it up and we'll play a little faster" i love the chorus.
very good song.
this song is my favorite by them! the chorus is so great, i can't stop listening to it!
Everyone just is way too dramatic and he is saying he's not like that and he won't give up doing what he loves until at least forty-seven? Don't know, but I love this song.
Simply in love w/ this song! my fav in the album =D
Tho' I think this song is simply about the hypocrisy of the entertainment world and how it changes people so fast, which he's reffering as to the subject of this song... I guess?
Btw, isn't it suppose to be 'Don't quit till forty-seven' and not 'donn’t Quit your forty-seven'?