"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.
You can look a hurricane right in the eye
Twelve hundred people dead or left to die
Follow the leaders
Were it an eye for an eye
We'd all be blind, deaf or murdered
This I'm sure
In this uncertain time
So come pull a sheet over my eyes
So I can sleep tonight
Despite what I've seen today
I find you guilty of the crime
Of sleeping in a time when you should have been wide awake
Down on the road the world is floating by
The poor and undefended left behind
While you're somewhere trading lives for oil
As if the whole world were blind
So come pull a sheet over my eyes
So I can sleep tonight
Despite what I've seen today
I've found you guilty of the crime
Of sleeping in a time when you should have been wide awake
Come pull this sheet over my eyes
So I can sleep tonight
Despite what I've seen today
I found you guilty of the crime
Of sleeping in a time when you should have been wide awake
Wide awake
Wide awake
Wide awake
Wide awake
Twelve hundred people dead or left to die
Follow the leaders
Were it an eye for an eye
We'd all be blind, deaf or murdered
This I'm sure
In this uncertain time
So come pull a sheet over my eyes
So I can sleep tonight
Despite what I've seen today
I find you guilty of the crime
Of sleeping in a time when you should have been wide awake
Down on the road the world is floating by
The poor and undefended left behind
While you're somewhere trading lives for oil
As if the whole world were blind
So come pull a sheet over my eyes
So I can sleep tonight
Despite what I've seen today
I've found you guilty of the crime
Of sleeping in a time when you should have been wide awake
Come pull this sheet over my eyes
So I can sleep tonight
Despite what I've seen today
I found you guilty of the crime
Of sleeping in a time when you should have been wide awake
Wide awake
Wide awake
Wide awake
Wide awake
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More Featured Meanings
Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman
Mental Istid
Ebba Grön
Ebba Grön
This is one of my favorite songs. https://fnfgo.io
Bron-Y-Aur Stomp
Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin
This is about bronies. They communicate by stomping.
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,
Just A Little Lovin'
Dusty Springfield
Dusty Springfield
I don't think it's necessarily about sex. It's about wanting to start the day with some love and affection. Maybe a warm cuddle. I'm not alone in interpreting it that way! For example:
"'Just a Little Lovin’ is a timeless country song originally recorded by Eddy Arnold in 1954. The song, written by Eddie Miller and Jimmy Campbell, explores the delicate nuances of love and showcases Arnold’s emotive vocals. It delves into the universal theme of love and how even the smallest gesture of affection can have a profound impact on our lives." https://oldtimemusic.com/the-meaning-behind-the-song-just-a-little-lovin-by-eddy-arnold/
"The poor and undefended left behind While you're somewhere trading lives for oil As if the whole world were blind"
Talking about how the President was still sending troops to Iraq while there are people dieing in America from a disaster. The President should be more concerd about his peoples health and not leaving them to die instead of fighting a "trading lives for oil"(War In Iraq) As if the hole world were blind, Meaning Bush thinks no one nos what hes doing and thinks hes justified doing what hes doing
peace!
This is such a great song...the best one on the album along with "Sound of a Gun", and maybe "Original Fire"....
To sum it all up: Bush is an asshole. A very big asshole. You don't normally get assholes as big as him.
It's pretty obvious it's about Katrina, and the "I found you guilty of a crime" line is a very fine moment indeed...
Don't let the political lyrics overtake the actual song, as it's equally strong...
As I listen to this song more and more, the thing that has me hooked on this song is Cornell's voice on the verses. It sounds so accusing, so disgusted with what has happened.
First comment (no, I have no idea why I got the song early). There's something really haunting about this song. Its definately political, but it isn't as in your face as a Rage song would have been about this.
Its supposed to be about Hurricane Katrina.
Definately about Bush Government in general and the Hurricane incidents...
Its my favorite song of the new album (not because of its contents) - but it has a similar dark theme like "Like a Stone" from the first album
pretty obviously condemns the incompetence and hypocrisy of the bush administration.
"I find you guilty of a crime of sleeping at a time when you should have been wide awake"
it's basically saying how the administration chose to neglect it's own people when they were most in need....... meanwhile continued to focus solely on their operations in the middle east.
They didn't "make him" do shit...
Cornell wrote this on his own accord...and who could blame him?
The mishandling of the hurricane relief and preparation was one of the most idiotic moves, well, ever...
This song is beautiful!! I love it!
I love the chorous of this song.
And the lyrics stand out as well, this is Audioslaves most political song yet... a well written piece about government inaction post-katrina, claiming that people were left to die.
I agree strongly with what these lyrics are saying.
The connection to the war in Iraq is this. A poor sub-America has formed and while Bush talks so strongly about defending these rights for people across the country, he is denying them to people who actually live in the US.