"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.
Nothing must pass this line
Unless it is well defined
You just have to be resigned
You're crashing by design
You once believed that crazy accidents
Were happening to you
You were chasing a capricious wind
Whenever bad luck and trouble
Happened to pursue you
The dice would surely save your skin
But when you look back you must realize
That nothing in your life's divine
Everything that's ever befallen you
Happened simply 'cause it crossed your mind
You're crashing by design
Nothing must pass this line
Unless it is well defined
You just have to be resigned
You're crashing by design
In your single-roomed flat in a courtyard building
You sit alone just like a broken toy
Where's your mother, where's your lover
And where are the children
Are you a man or still a boy?
Who left you behind, or did you run
From the crush of so many options?
Now you know the special despair of the man
Discussed, debated and offered for adoption
Nothing must pass this line
Unless it is well defined
You just have to be resigned
Another man without a woman
Dropped like a useless tool no longer required
A man who longs for the stifling
Milk flowered bosom, a fool
Who's no longer desired
Another man without a woman
Too many rages have cost you this time
Another man among a hundred children
You're just a child who is lost in time
You're crashing by design
You're crashing by design
It all happens by design
It all happens by design
You're crashing by design
It all happens by design
It all happens by design
You're crashing by desig
Unless it is well defined
You just have to be resigned
You're crashing by design
You once believed that crazy accidents
Were happening to you
You were chasing a capricious wind
Whenever bad luck and trouble
Happened to pursue you
The dice would surely save your skin
But when you look back you must realize
That nothing in your life's divine
Everything that's ever befallen you
Happened simply 'cause it crossed your mind
You're crashing by design
Nothing must pass this line
Unless it is well defined
You just have to be resigned
You're crashing by design
In your single-roomed flat in a courtyard building
You sit alone just like a broken toy
Where's your mother, where's your lover
And where are the children
Are you a man or still a boy?
Who left you behind, or did you run
From the crush of so many options?
Now you know the special despair of the man
Discussed, debated and offered for adoption
Nothing must pass this line
Unless it is well defined
You just have to be resigned
Another man without a woman
Dropped like a useless tool no longer required
A man who longs for the stifling
Milk flowered bosom, a fool
Who's no longer desired
Another man without a woman
Too many rages have cost you this time
Another man among a hundred children
You're just a child who is lost in time
You're crashing by design
You're crashing by design
It all happens by design
It all happens by design
You're crashing by design
It all happens by design
It all happens by design
You're crashing by desig
Lyrics submitted by ButNeverOutgunned
Crashing by Design Lyrics as written by Peter Dennis Blandfor Townshend
Lyrics © Spirit Music Group
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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Fast Car
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Plastic Bag
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“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.
I think it means that things don't happen by chance... our thoughts and actions shape our lives.
Yeah I agree...luck plays a smaller role than we think. We more or less create our own problems. I think it also alludes to the idea that we, as humans, engage in a lot of self-sabotage.
The lyrics tie into the story of the White City, as I understand it. As others have stated, there is the message that we, humans, more often create our own problems. This is combined with the setting of the White City (which is detailed more in the song "White City Fighting"), which is a depressing sort of place.
All in all, this is another great song from Pete Townshend.