"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.
Well if you've been a married woman
And things didn't seem to work out
Well divorce is the key to be loose and free
So you're gonna be talked about
Everybody knows that you've loved once
And they think you'll love again
You can't have a male friend
If you're a has-been
Or a woman rated X
Well if you're rated X
You're some kind of goal
Even men turned civil try to make
But I think it's wrong to judge every picture
If a cheap camera makes a mistake
And when your best friend's husband
Says to you
You've sure started looking good
You should have known he would
And he would if he could
And he will if you're rated X
Well nobody knows where you're going
But they sure know where you've been
And all they're thinking of
Is your experience of love
All their minds eat up with sin
Women all look at you like you're bad
And the men all hope you are
But if you go too far
You're gonna wear the scar
Of a woman rated X
Well if you're rated X
You're some kind of goal
Even men turned civil try to make
But I think it's wrong to judge every picture
If a cheap camera makes a mistake
And when your best friend's husband
Says to you
You've sure started looking good
You should have known he would
And he would if he could
And he will if you're rated X
You should have known he would
And he would if he could
And he will if you're rated X
And things didn't seem to work out
Well divorce is the key to be loose and free
So you're gonna be talked about
Everybody knows that you've loved once
And they think you'll love again
You can't have a male friend
If you're a has-been
Or a woman rated X
Well if you're rated X
You're some kind of goal
Even men turned civil try to make
But I think it's wrong to judge every picture
If a cheap camera makes a mistake
And when your best friend's husband
Says to you
You've sure started looking good
You should have known he would
And he would if he could
And he will if you're rated X
Well nobody knows where you're going
But they sure know where you've been
And all they're thinking of
Is your experience of love
All their minds eat up with sin
Women all look at you like you're bad
And the men all hope you are
But if you go too far
You're gonna wear the scar
Of a woman rated X
Well if you're rated X
You're some kind of goal
Even men turned civil try to make
But I think it's wrong to judge every picture
If a cheap camera makes a mistake
And when your best friend's husband
Says to you
You've sure started looking good
You should have known he would
And he would if he could
And he will if you're rated X
You should have known he would
And he would if he could
And he will if you're rated X
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Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
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Dreamwalker
Silent Planet
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I think much like another song “Anti-Matter” (that's also on the same album as this song), this one is also is inspired by a horrifying van crash the band experienced on Nov 3, 2022. This, much like the other track, sounds like it's an extension what they shared while huddled in the wreckage, as they helped frontman Garrett Russell stem the bleeding from his head wound while he was under the temporary effects of a concussion. The track speaks of where the mind goes at the most desperate & desolate of times, when it just about slips away to all but disconnect itself, and the aftermath.
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Amazing
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
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The song is pretty clear but has some clever lines.