The song lyrics were written by the band Van Halen, as they were asked to write a song for the 1979 movie "Over the Edge" starring Matt Dillon. The movie (and the lyrics, although more obliquely) are about bored, rebellious youth with nothing better to do than get into trouble. If you see the movie, these lyrics will make more sense. It's a great movie if you grew up in the 70s/80s you'll definitely remember some of these characters from your own life. Fun fact, after writing the song, Van Halen decided not to let the movie use it.
I follow through the atmosphere as the guitar's feedback climbed
The pegs were gold, the band was old, they played in half time
Now every dream gets whittled down just like every fool gets wise
You'll never reap of any seed deprived of sunlight
So I have become the middleman
The gray areas are mine
The in-between, the absentee
Is a beautiful disguise
So I keep my footlights shining bright
Just like I keep my exits wide
Because I never know when it's time to go, it's too crowded now inside
And the dead can hide beneath the ground and the birds can always fly
But the rest of us do what we must in constant compromise
So I have become the middleman
The gray areas are mine
The "I don't know," the "maybe so"
Is the only real, it's the only true
It's the only real reply
The pegs were gold, the band was old, they played in half time
Now every dream gets whittled down just like every fool gets wise
You'll never reap of any seed deprived of sunlight
So I have become the middleman
The gray areas are mine
The in-between, the absentee
Is a beautiful disguise
So I keep my footlights shining bright
Just like I keep my exits wide
Because I never know when it's time to go, it's too crowded now inside
And the dead can hide beneath the ground and the birds can always fly
But the rest of us do what we must in constant compromise
So I have become the middleman
The gray areas are mine
The "I don't know," the "maybe so"
Is the only real, it's the only true
It's the only real reply
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"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.
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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.
To me this song is, like many by the band, weaves in between two levels. I think the "band" concept of watching/being the band on stage in a crowded room is the most valid surface interpretation, especially since a theme of alienation and agoraphobia run throughout Oberst's lyrics.
However, I'd like to refer to the album's title for the meaning of the chorus and title. Cassadaga is a spritualist community in Florida, referenced by the female speaker in the opening track. It's home or destination to a large number of psychics and mediums, and I think it's mediumship that's referenced here.
Oberst is comparing the life of a lyricist/performer to that of the medium. The opening line is analogous to the spiritual transcendance of a seance- the performer must bring his audience something "from the ether" for entertainment and enlightenment, just as the medium is called upon to "commune with the dead", to borrow a line from "Four Winds".
The last two lines in the first verse point out the hook of the song- that is, just as the reluctant messiah Donald Shimoda does in Richard Bach's Illusions, the narrator has grown tired of the constant demand of the audience. The fool that gets wise in the third line is the narrator after realizing the demand to perform is depriving his "seed", his creativity, of "sunlight", or inspiration.
The chorus is where the narrator begins to feel that his stage persona is now just that- a persona, and not a true reflection of his person. He's reduced to "I don't knows" and "maybe sos" to answer the demand, no longer capable of offering substance or real insight. His audience is oblivious, and his popularity grows, evident in the second line of the second verse.
The climax of the song is the narrator's acceptance of his plight though still in admiration of the dead and the birds, both capable of escaping the crowds and the demand.
Interesting song, and if I've left any loose ends, comment back and I'll tie up what I can.