"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.
Time keeps slipping away, and I'd hate to say,
I never tried to read your eyes so Please, take a seat next to me,
Find a place you can be yourself, there's no one else
Just a face in the crowd, have to scream out loud, your everything I need,
Don't know what to say, all I know is feel this way,
Can't you hear my heart scream
Crying out loud, your breaking down
I've thought of this moment a million times, how can I get this right,
Waiting for your eyes to find me here, practiced my part almost everyday,
Every word you might say, and now here we are.
Time keeps slipping away, and I'd hate to say all this time
I never tried to read your eyes so Please, take a seat next to me,
Find a place you can be yourself, there's no one else
Just a face in the crowd, have to scream out loud, your everything I need,
Don't know what to say, all I know is feel this way,
Can't you hear my heart scream
Crying out loud, your breaking down
I've thought of this moment a million times, how can I get this right,
Waiting for your eyes to find me here, practiced my part almost everyday,
Every word you might say, and now here we are.
Time keeps slipping away, and I'd hate to say all this time
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
Mountain Song
Jane's Addiction
Jane's Addiction
Jane's Addiction vocalist Perry Farrell gives Adam Reader some heartfelt insight into Jane’s Addiction's hard rock manifesto "Mountain Song", which was the second single from their revolutionary album Nothing's Shocking. Mountain song was first recorded in 1986 and appeared on the soundtrack to the film Dudes starring Jon Cryer. The version on Nothing's Shocking was re-recorded in 1988.
"'Mountain Song' was actually about... I hate to say it but... drugs. Climbing this mountain and getting as high as you can, and then coming down that mountain," reveals Farrell. "What it feels to descend from the mountain top... not easy at all. The ascension is tough but exhilarating. Getting down is... it's a real bummer. Drugs is not for everybody obviously. For me, I wanted to experience the heights, and the lows come along with it."
"There's a part - 'Cash in now honey, cash in Miss Smith.' Miss Smith is my Mother; our last name was Smith. Cashing in when she cashed in her life. So... she decided that, to her... at that time, she was desperate. Life wasn't worth it for her, that was her opinion. Some people think, never take your life, and some people find that their life isn't worth living. She was in love with my Dad, and my Dad was not faithful to her, and it broke her heart. She was very desperate and she did something that I know she regrets."
When We Were Young
Blink-182
Blink-182
This is a sequel to 2001's "Reckless Abandon", and features the band looking back on their clumsy youth fondly.
Head > Heels
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
“Head > Heels” is a track that aims to capture what it feels like to experience romance that exceeds expectations. Ed Sheeran dedicates his album outro to a lover who has blessed him with a unique experience that he seeks to describe through the song’s nuanced lyrics.
Plastic Bag
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
“Plastic Bag” is a song about searching for an escape from personal problems and hoping to find it in the lively atmosphere of a Saturday night party. Ed Sheeran tells the story of his friend and the myriad of troubles he is going through. Unable to find any solutions, this friend seeks a last resort in a party and the vanity that comes with it.
“I overthink and have trouble sleepin’ / All purpose gone and don’t have a reason / And there’s no doctor to stop this bleedin’ / So I left home and jumped in the deep end,” Ed Sheeran sings in verse one. He continues by adding that this person is feeling the weight of having disappointed his father and doesn’t have any friends to rely on in this difficult moment. In the second verse, Ed sings about the role of grief in his friend’s plight and his dwindling faith in prayer. “Saturday night is givin’ me a reason to rely on the strobe lights / The lifeline of a promise in a shot glass, and I’ll take that / If you’re givin’ out love from a plastic bag,” Ed sings on the chorus, as his friend turns to new vices in hopes of feeling better.
lyrics are wrong....
yeah the lyrics are pretty much wrong "For crying out loud, your breaking me down" nope it's can you hear me ... crying out loud eh but i can t believe im the first well second but...comment this song is really cool and i like it very much
This song is amazing, and is my number one played song on my ipod.
For me, the song is about a person trapped in the norm and the ongoing cycle of everyday life. This person goes on living unnoticed by the people who once meant the world to him or her. The lyrics as a whole are pretty selfexplanitory, but still.. i've lost track of the amount of times i've wanted to shout "can you hear me?" outloud to the people i thought meant everything to me. Hah, "Just a face in the crowd" seems to describe the way I feel perfectly. I mean, surely I'm not the only one who can go to school put on this huge happy act to please "the friends" and every desperate sign of help thats thrown out to them is casted away without second thought? I don't know, bad day sorry for that tangent but sadly i'm sure other people can relate to the emotional ignorance of others.
I can relate to you, and like you said, i'm sure everyone else can too. The song to me is more about a single girl in this guy's life that really meant a lot to him. He's regretting that he isn't doing all he can do for him and her and he's becoming "just a face in the crowd" to her and he doesn't know how to tell her how he feels.