"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.
Dear landlord
Please don't put a price on my soul
My burden is heavy
And my dreams are beyond control
When that steam-boat whistle blows
I'm gonna give you all i've got to give
And i do hope you receive it, well
Depending on the way you feel that you live
Dear landlord
Please heed these words that i speak
I know you've suffered much
But in this you are not so unique
All of us at times, we might work too hard
Too heavy, too fast and too much
And anyone can fill their life up with things
They can see but just cannot touch
Dear landlord
Please don't dismiss my case
I'm not about to argue
I'm not about to move to no other place
Now each of us has our own special gift
And you know this was meant to be true
And if you don't underestimate me
I won't underestimate you
Please don't put a price on my soul
My burden is heavy
And my dreams are beyond control
When that steam-boat whistle blows
I'm gonna give you all i've got to give
And i do hope you receive it, well
Depending on the way you feel that you live
Dear landlord
Please heed these words that i speak
I know you've suffered much
But in this you are not so unique
All of us at times, we might work too hard
Too heavy, too fast and too much
And anyone can fill their life up with things
They can see but just cannot touch
Dear landlord
Please don't dismiss my case
I'm not about to argue
I'm not about to move to no other place
Now each of us has our own special gift
And you know this was meant to be true
And if you don't underestimate me
I won't underestimate you
Lyrics submitted by Girlsdontgocrazy
Dear Landlord Lyrics as written by Bob Dylan
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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Ed Sheeran sings about missing his former partner and learning important life lessons in the process on “Punchline.” This track tells a story of battling to get rid of emotions for a former lover, whom he now realized might not have loved him the same way. He’s now caught between accepting that fact and learning life lessons from it and going back to beg her for another chance.
Given the general political tone of this album, I believe this song (one of my favorites from "To All We Stretch An Open Arm") is an appeal to emotionally connect past class and income boundaries.
The landlord has an inherently superior social status to his/her tenants (the landlord can kick out tenants, but not vice versa), but serves as an ideal model for cooperation and understanding because a landlord also is responsible for keeping things working and comfortable for the tenants--a landlord isn't a baron with an inherited fiefdom, but a working person.
The song does have some references to American slavery--"don't put a price on my soul"..."when that steam-boat whistle blows / I'm gonna give you all I've got to give"--but it has a modern voice and feel ("don't dismiss my case," "I'm not about to move to no other place") that let us know the song's subject is more contemporary.
This song is about mutual respect between social barriers, creating lateral negotiative relationships (tit for tat) rather than heirarchal social ones. Especially the last verse emphasizes the narrator's desire for a mutually beneficial arrangement.
So, in summary, it's about breaking down class distinctions (or at least the popular image of class distinctions).
I also question the comma placement in the second line of the second verse.
I think it should be: "And i do hope you receive it well" not "And i do hope you receive it, well"