"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.
Like the doctors we wanted to fix your heart
Well, my baby and I dance in my kitchen.
My baby is like a doctor,
She cures me when I'm sick.
Well, and you all are all the little doctors.
And I’m a doctor.
We’re the same, we’re the same.
It’s not our fault we’re to blame.
It’s our songs, it’s your job.
It’s the place where we’re from.
Some will notice some wont,
And some care but most don’t.
We know how it goes but we defiantly don’t.
Yeah, and it's true;
We’re shallow and scared but it's cool.
And I know that it’s cold.
And it's cold all alone in our houses,
When our houses are houses not homes.
Ask your parents, your friends, your siblings yourself,
Why we wait so damn long to ask for some help.
My sister Samantha reads books in her room,
While I keep my door locked when I'm writing for you.
Like my best friends you can tell I haven’t been myself.
Myself is you as a writer and other writers.
Like a writer you second guess every time you guess.
We keep guessing till our little heart stops,
Then it stops.
And it’s in the people you see at work everyday.
It’s in the people in the streets or in homes everyday.
It’s in my girlfriend on the phone, in her bed at night.
It’s in your boyfriend in the halls at your school.
Am I right?
And if we’re lucky to have met them and have something to share.
We get so wrapped up in timing, location and what’s fair.
You love it or you hate it,
And it’s somewhat the same.
You’re living and dying like everything, everyday.
We got problems.
Yeah, we got cancer.
We lose our girlfriends, our mothers, and our brothers.
Then we gain some friends and we love them for them.
And we’ll be great parents, great uncles, and cousins.
Our hearts are little clocks screaming tick tock, tick tock.
We go tick tick, tick tock.
Yeah, we all tick tock, tick tock.
An Apple is an apple.
And an apple is the same.
And an apple a day will keep these nightmares away.
Well, my baby and I dance in my kitchen.
My baby is like a doctor,
She cures me when I'm sick.
Well, and you all are all the little doctors.
And I’m a doctor.
We’re the same, we’re the same.
It’s not our fault we’re to blame.
It’s our songs, it’s your job.
It’s the place where we’re from.
Some will notice some wont,
And some care but most don’t.
We know how it goes but we defiantly don’t.
Yeah, and it's true;
We’re shallow and scared but it's cool.
And I know that it’s cold.
And it's cold all alone in our houses,
When our houses are houses not homes.
Ask your parents, your friends, your siblings yourself,
Why we wait so damn long to ask for some help.
My sister Samantha reads books in her room,
While I keep my door locked when I'm writing for you.
Like my best friends you can tell I haven’t been myself.
Myself is you as a writer and other writers.
Like a writer you second guess every time you guess.
We keep guessing till our little heart stops,
Then it stops.
And it’s in the people you see at work everyday.
It’s in the people in the streets or in homes everyday.
It’s in my girlfriend on the phone, in her bed at night.
It’s in your boyfriend in the halls at your school.
Am I right?
And if we’re lucky to have met them and have something to share.
We get so wrapped up in timing, location and what’s fair.
You love it or you hate it,
And it’s somewhat the same.
You’re living and dying like everything, everyday.
We got problems.
Yeah, we got cancer.
We lose our girlfriends, our mothers, and our brothers.
Then we gain some friends and we love them for them.
And we’ll be great parents, great uncles, and cousins.
Our hearts are little clocks screaming tick tock, tick tock.
We go tick tick, tick tock.
Yeah, we all tick tock, tick tock.
An Apple is an apple.
And an apple is the same.
And an apple a day will keep these nightmares away.
Lyrics submitted by remembermaine
Add your thoughts
Log in now to tell us what you think this song means.
Don’t have an account? Create an account with SongMeanings to post comments, submit lyrics, and more. It’s super easy, we promise!
More Featured Meanings
Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman
Holiday
Bee Gees
Bee Gees
@[Diderik:33655] "Your a holiday!" Was a popular term used in the 50s/60s to compliment someone on their all around. For example, not only are they beautiful, but they are fun and kind too ... just an all around "holiday".
I think your first comment is closer to being accurate. The singer/song writers state "Millions of eyes can see, yet why am i so blind!? When the someone else is me, its unkind its unkind". I believe hes referring to the girl toying with him and using him. He wants something deeper with her, thats why he allows himself to be as a puppet (even though for her fun and games) as long as it makes her happy. But he knows deep down that she doesnt really want to be serious with him and thats what makes him.
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.
No Surprises
Radiohead
Radiohead
Same ideas expressed in Fitter, Happier are expressed in this song. We're told to strive for some sort of ideal life, which includes getting a good job, being kind to everyone, finding a partner, getting married, having a couple kids, living in a quiet neighborhood in a nice big house, etc. But in Fitter, Happier the narrator(?) realizes that it's incredibly robotic to live this life. People are being used by those in power "like a pig in a cage on antibiotics"--being pacified with things like new phones and cool gadgets and houses while being sucked dry. On No Surprises, the narrator is realizing how this life is killing him slowly. In the video, his helmet is slowly filling up with water, drowning him. But he's so complacent with it. This is a good summary of the song. This boring, "perfect" life foisted upon us by some higher powers (not spiritual, but political, economic, etc. politicians and businessmen, perhaps) is not the way to live. But there is seemingly no way out but death. He'd rather die peacefully right now than live in this cage. While our lives are often shielded, we're in our own protective bubbles, or protective helmets like the one Thom wears, if we look a little harder we can see all the corruption, lies, manipulation, etc. that is going on in the world, often run by huge yet nearly invisible organizations, corporations, and 'leaders'. It's a very hopeless song because it reflects real life.
Punchline
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
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.
i think it's about how everyone's the same in the sense that we're all living and dying at the same time, and how we all have problems.