"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.
It's just like a battle zone
You got a bottle, now you're on your own
Gotta be a scotch or a kamikaze
None of those other weapons will faze me
First of the last calls
It's in your heart, it's in your mind
First of the last calls
Cashing it in before your time
Hundred, hundred, hundred bottles on the wall
You wonder if you can drink them all
Gotta go home at 1 a.m.
The bottle wins the battle again
First of the last calls
It's in your heart, it's in your mind
First of the last calls
Cashing it in before your time
Just talking with you
First of the last calls
It's in your heart, it's in your mind
First of the last calls
Cashing it in before another time
The first of the last, first of the last
First of the last calls in your life
First of the last, first of the last
First of the last calls in your life
First of the last, first of the last
First of the last calls in your life
First of the last, first of the last
First of the last calls in your life
You got a bottle, now you're on your own
Gotta be a scotch or a kamikaze
None of those other weapons will faze me
First of the last calls
It's in your heart, it's in your mind
First of the last calls
Cashing it in before your time
Hundred, hundred, hundred bottles on the wall
You wonder if you can drink them all
Gotta go home at 1 a.m.
The bottle wins the battle again
First of the last calls
It's in your heart, it's in your mind
First of the last calls
Cashing it in before your time
Just talking with you
First of the last calls
It's in your heart, it's in your mind
First of the last calls
Cashing it in before another time
The first of the last, first of the last
First of the last calls in your life
First of the last, first of the last
First of the last calls in your life
First of the last, first of the last
First of the last calls in your life
First of the last, first of the last
First of the last calls in your life
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More Featured Meanings
Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman
Cajun Girl
Little Feat
Little Feat
Overall about difficult moments of disappointment and vulnerability. Having hope and longing, while remaining optimistic for the future. Encourages the belief that with each new morning there is a chance for things to improve.
The chorus offers a glimmer of optimism and a chance at a resolution and redemption in the future.
Captures the rollercoaster of emotions of feeling lost while loving someone who is not there for you, feeling let down and abandoned while waiting for a lover. Lost with no direction, "Now I'm up in the air with the rain in my hair, Nowhere to go, I can go anywhere"
The bridge shows signs of longing and a plea for companionship. The Lyrics express a desire for authentic connection and the importance of Loving someone just as they are. "Just in passing, I'm not asking. That you be anyone but you”
Dreamwalker
Silent Planet
Silent Planet
I think much like another song “Anti-Matter” (that's also on the same album as this song), this one is also is inspired by a horrifying van crash the band experienced on Nov 3, 2022. This, much like the other track, sounds like it's an extension what they shared while huddled in the wreckage, as they helped frontman Garrett Russell stem the bleeding from his head wound while he was under the temporary effects of a concussion. The track speaks of where the mind goes at the most desperate & desolate of times, when it just about slips away to all but disconnect itself, and the aftermath.
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.
Blue
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
“Blue” is a song about a love that is persisting in the discomfort of the person experiencing the emotion. Ed Sheeran reflects on love lost, and although he wishes his former partner find happiness, he cannot but admit his feelings are still very much there. He expresses the realization that he might never find another on this stringed instrumental by Aaron Dessner.
Does anyone know what Bob says right before the guitar solo? To me, it sounds like "It's fuckin' liquor." Which would make sense in context of the song, but I'm still not sure.