"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.
Had a dream
I was born
Took me naked in the eye of the storm
And now it's standing right in front of me
What's it gonna do to me?
Who knows?
Had a dream
It was time
To be taken to the front of a line
Well, that is not a place you want to be
Sleeping with the enemy
You know
I don't care
What the future brings
Give a damn
About anything
I'd be fine
If they'd only leave me alone
But it's time
Gotta take a stance
'Cause I won't
Get a second chance
And I know
Now I have to make it alone
Had a dream
It was war
And they couldn't tell me what it was for
But it was something they could lie about
Something we could die about
You know
Anytime
Anyplace
When you look that man in the face
Well, it is not a face you want to see
Sleeping with the enemy
You know
Mary, can you hear me?
Can you tell me what it's all supposed to mean?
Holding out a photograph of all that I have seen
I wish I could hold you
I wish I could hold you
Had a dream
It was time
To be a witness at the scene of the crime
Well, that is something you can analyze
Something you can criticize
Who knows?
So we wait
Hesitate
And we're making such a mistake
Oh, whatever can the matter be?
Sleeping with the enemy
You know
I don't care
What the future brings
Give a damn
About anything
I'd be fine
If they'd only leave me alone
But it's time
Gotta take a stance
'Cause I won't
Get a second chance
And I know
Now I have to make it alone
But, you wanna know
But, you wanna know
But, you wanna know
But, you wanna know
But, you wanna know
But, you wanna know
But, you wanna know
But, you wanna know
But, you wanna know
But, you wanna know
But, you wanna know
But, you wanna know
But, you wanna know
But, you wanna know
But, you wanna know
But, you wanna know
I was born
Took me naked in the eye of the storm
And now it's standing right in front of me
What's it gonna do to me?
Who knows?
Had a dream
It was time
To be taken to the front of a line
Well, that is not a place you want to be
Sleeping with the enemy
You know
I don't care
What the future brings
Give a damn
About anything
I'd be fine
If they'd only leave me alone
But it's time
Gotta take a stance
'Cause I won't
Get a second chance
And I know
Now I have to make it alone
Had a dream
It was war
And they couldn't tell me what it was for
But it was something they could lie about
Something we could die about
You know
Anytime
Anyplace
When you look that man in the face
Well, it is not a face you want to see
Sleeping with the enemy
You know
Mary, can you hear me?
Can you tell me what it's all supposed to mean?
Holding out a photograph of all that I have seen
I wish I could hold you
I wish I could hold you
Had a dream
It was time
To be a witness at the scene of the crime
Well, that is something you can analyze
Something you can criticize
Who knows?
So we wait
Hesitate
And we're making such a mistake
Oh, whatever can the matter be?
Sleeping with the enemy
You know
I don't care
What the future brings
Give a damn
About anything
I'd be fine
If they'd only leave me alone
But it's time
Gotta take a stance
'Cause I won't
Get a second chance
And I know
Now I have to make it alone
But, you wanna know
But, you wanna know
But, you wanna know
But, you wanna know
But, you wanna know
But, you wanna know
But, you wanna know
But, you wanna know
But, you wanna know
But, you wanna know
But, you wanna know
But, you wanna know
But, you wanna know
But, you wanna know
But, you wanna know
But, you wanna know
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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,
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.
Page
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
There aren’t many things that’ll hurt more than giving love a chance against your better judgement only to have your heart crushed yet again. Ed Sheeran tells such a story on “Page.” On this track, he is devastated to have lost his lover and even more saddened by the feeling that he may never move on from this.
The lyric should be "to be naked in the eye of the storm".
It is about a person who, although he has thought about the evils of the world, has shielded himself from it. He is pure and untouched by evil. Now, he has come face to face with it and wonders how it will effect him. It is time for him to face the realities of life and meet them head on. He blames the world for putting him in that position and wishes they would just "leave me alone". But, despite that, he knows he must face his fears and take an offensive against it. He feels that men fight wars without knowing why they're fighting them--they just fight. No one wants to face the fact that they may be fighting an unjust war.
The person in the song wants to go back to his love and for her to embrace him. He wants to forget all the problems of the world. Everyone, at sometime in their lives, will witness some type of injustice. You can analyze it, criticise it, but who is the real judge in the matter? No one seems to care or do anything about it. We just wait around watching the world crumble. The person feels that that is a great mistake. He feels we should take a stance and do something about it before it's too late. For those who don't, they're just sleeping with the enemy.