"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 in a spiral of thoughts,the past,the pain, it all comes back
I see but now I see more,even feel their side of this tale
I realize their fate,no one's to blame, two sides
My life's a mirror that no one sees
so if I could show them my own vision to this world
My life's a mirror I need them to see,
so they would open up to me and fill up my emptiness
I still really try to feel, a strange experience to enter the other side
I feel there's so much we never said
It's all misunderstood, the emotions that we had
My life's a mirror that no one sees,
so if I could show them my own vision to this world
My life's a mirror I need them to see
Voice in the back of her head
Maybe if you would have the guts to open up
maybe the world would do the same,maybe,maybe
You can still be a part of this world,still be the queen of the ball
not of your own empty paradise where no one sees the beauty inside
Face the world outside my safe shell
I must face reality for once
I've never felt the passion of a warm life
Games, TV, I know they're not real, they're just a substitute
This could mean
the breaking point in these three lives
The moment of insight that could change their misfortune
Let this help be enough to make it
Let this be stronger than pain,the ancient wall between love and the comprehension
that will lead to the inner forgiveness
A reflection outside the circle of your life is all you should seek
I see but now I see more,even feel their side of this tale
I realize their fate,no one's to blame, two sides
My life's a mirror that no one sees
so if I could show them my own vision to this world
My life's a mirror I need them to see,
so they would open up to me and fill up my emptiness
I still really try to feel, a strange experience to enter the other side
I feel there's so much we never said
It's all misunderstood, the emotions that we had
My life's a mirror that no one sees,
so if I could show them my own vision to this world
My life's a mirror I need them to see
Voice in the back of her head
Maybe if you would have the guts to open up
maybe the world would do the same,maybe,maybe
You can still be a part of this world,still be the queen of the ball
not of your own empty paradise where no one sees the beauty inside
Face the world outside my safe shell
I must face reality for once
I've never felt the passion of a warm life
Games, TV, I know they're not real, they're just a substitute
This could mean
the breaking point in these three lives
The moment of insight that could change their misfortune
Let this help be enough to make it
Let this be stronger than pain,the ancient wall between love and the comprehension
that will lead to the inner forgiveness
A reflection outside the circle of your life is all you should seek
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Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
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Amazing
Ed Sheeran
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Ed Sheeran tells a story of unsuccessfully trying to feel “Amazing.” This track is about the being weighed down by emotional stress despite valiant attempts to find some positivity in the situation. This track was written by Ed Sheeran from the perspective of his friend. From the track, we see this person fall deeper into the negative thoughts and slide further down the path of mental torment with every lyric.
I believe the daughter in this song is realizing how closed off she is from everyone else and sees how she is repeating the way she was treated. She decides to confront her parents and face her reality.