"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.
Scrape you off the pavement
Just like I said I would
But I can't stand to watch the way
You break yourself against the ground
The things you are
The way you do
Shouldn't have a thing to do
With anyone but you
and it may be that things in your life
Are coming in too clear
Go ahead do the right thing
I'll just watch from here
Woo hoo hoo
you're banging on the screen door
Looking for the scraps
Any little piece of me
Anything that you can have
Well I'm so spent
I'm so gone
I don't have a thing you want
and it may be that things in your life
Are coming in too clear
Go ahead do the right thing
And I'll just watch from here
Woo hoo
I'm not the girl that you think you say
Popping my knuckles just waiting to fall
and it may be that things in your life
Are coming in too clear
Go ahead do the right thing
And I'll just watch from here
Woo hoo hoo
me not caring is the best thing happening to you
Just like I said I would
But I can't stand to watch the way
You break yourself against the ground
The things you are
The way you do
Shouldn't have a thing to do
With anyone but you
and it may be that things in your life
Are coming in too clear
Go ahead do the right thing
I'll just watch from here
Woo hoo hoo
you're banging on the screen door
Looking for the scraps
Any little piece of me
Anything that you can have
Well I'm so spent
I'm so gone
I don't have a thing you want
and it may be that things in your life
Are coming in too clear
Go ahead do the right thing
And I'll just watch from here
Woo hoo
I'm not the girl that you think you say
Popping my knuckles just waiting to fall
and it may be that things in your life
Are coming in too clear
Go ahead do the right thing
And I'll just watch from here
Woo hoo hoo
me not caring is the best thing happening to you
Lyrics submitted by reflectlight
From Here Lyrics as written by Jennifer Owen Youngs
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman
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,
Magical
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
How would you describe the feeling of being in love? For Ed Sheeran, the word is “Magical.” in HIS three-minute album opener, he makes an attempt to capture the beauty and delicacy of true love with words. He describes the magic of it all over a bright Pop song produced by Aaron Dessner.
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.
Plastic Bag
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
“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.
This one is pretty simple. It's a girl trying to convince a guy that she isn't right for him.
"me not caring is the best thing happening to you"
This in essence says "the best thing she can do for him is to ignore him"