"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.
Six Years five months
That's how long we've been havein' this thing
We've got every moment hasn't been perfect
But still when it's perfect it feels
Like we're the only people who have somethin' real
Now 3 years two weeks
That's how long we've been raisin' our family
And I wouldn't go tradin
The love we got
So don't go changin'
I love you just the way you are
[Chorus]
It's true love
When you say I need me like the way i need you
And you can't be without me
Like I can't be without you
It's true love
When we spend time talking on the phone
Cause when we're not around each other you don't want to be alone
It's true love, love, love, love
Don't you know it's good to be in love, love, love, love
Just believe me truthfully cause
Love is never ever makin you cry
Before I tell you a lie
I'll give you my life
Cause that true love
Now when the love is right
Somehow you just know
Because you hold it tight
And you don't want to let it go
And it's so deep inside of you that
You just can't take it cause it fills up your heart
And you just, you can't replace it alone
Somebody's makin love
Non-stop tonight
And And they can't make enough
I know what it feels like
Grab your lover by the hand
Say that you understand
How love really works
So good that it hurts
[Chorus]
Cause I don't need nobody but you in my life oh baby
Those of you who understand what I'm sayin'
Sing along with me say
Cause I don't need nobody but
You in my life oh baby
Those of you who understand what I'm sayin'
Let me hear you say true love
[Chorus]
That's how long we've been havein' this thing
We've got every moment hasn't been perfect
But still when it's perfect it feels
Like we're the only people who have somethin' real
Now 3 years two weeks
That's how long we've been raisin' our family
And I wouldn't go tradin
The love we got
So don't go changin'
I love you just the way you are
[Chorus]
It's true love
When you say I need me like the way i need you
And you can't be without me
Like I can't be without you
It's true love
When we spend time talking on the phone
Cause when we're not around each other you don't want to be alone
It's true love, love, love, love
Don't you know it's good to be in love, love, love, love
Just believe me truthfully cause
Love is never ever makin you cry
Before I tell you a lie
I'll give you my life
Cause that true love
Now when the love is right
Somehow you just know
Because you hold it tight
And you don't want to let it go
And it's so deep inside of you that
You just can't take it cause it fills up your heart
And you just, you can't replace it alone
Somebody's makin love
Non-stop tonight
And And they can't make enough
I know what it feels like
Grab your lover by the hand
Say that you understand
How love really works
So good that it hurts
[Chorus]
Cause I don't need nobody but you in my life oh baby
Those of you who understand what I'm sayin'
Sing along with me say
Cause I don't need nobody but
You in my life oh baby
Those of you who understand what I'm sayin'
Let me hear you say true love
[Chorus]
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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"
Gentle Hour
Yo La Tengo
Yo La Tengo
This song was originally written by a guy called Peter Gutteridge. He was one of the founders of the "Dunedin Sound" a musical scene in the south of New Zealand in the early 80s. From there it was covered by "The Clean" one of the early bands of that scene (he had originally been a member of in it's early days, writing a couple of their best early songs). The Dunedin sound, and the Clean became popular on american college radio in the mid to late 80s. I guess Yo La Tengo heard that version.
Great version of a great song,
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.
American Town
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran shares a short story of reconnecting with an old flame on “American Town.” The track is about a holiday Ed Sheeran spends with his countrywoman who resides in America. The two are back together after a long period apart, and get around to enjoying a bunch of fun activities while rekindling the flames of their romance.
This song is self explanatory. If you have true love, you'll accept everything without trying to change the person.