"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.
Shake your tambourine go and get yourself a whistle and [Repeat: x3]
Shake your tambourine go and [Repeat: x2]
Shake your tambourine go and get yourself a whistle and [Repeat: x8]
E.V.E. come through in the Mazarati
Doin it big like I live in the Taj Mahal,
Talk shit, and I don't get in the bla the bla
Ha, thats why they loving, ahh
Dats real, when the chick that they talk about
Goddamn is the words that come out they mouth
She look good always, without a doubt
Ask for her, she back and caking ou
So they be watching while we wiggle around
Look at them drooling, niggas ain't used to dis sound
I keep em moving, all ma ladies put ya hands in the air
It's all right now we gonna keep you on ya feet the whole night now
Pop them bottles, yea drink that up man
Got you feeling crazy yea that was the plan
Waiting for me wasn't ready for dis
He got the game sewn up, know I'm talking bout Swizz
Yeah I know u wanna fight it but why would you try
We got them shaking everything from the hood to Dubai
Yea we do it big man why would we lie?
C'mon
(1, 2, 3 everybody!)
Get low, get low then pick up, pick up
Get your hands in the air it's a stick-up, stick-up
Shake your tambourines move it quicker, quicker
Shake it down in town get the pitch up, pitch up
Shake it shake it to the floor, gotta love that
How she keep it goin' on you know you love that
Shake it shake it to the floor you gotta love that
Get ya ass on the dance floor
Dance on the dance floor
Move em out the way
If they ain't doing it how you want y'all
You ain't gotta ask me
C'mon, don't need my permission
Y'all heard, what you waiting for?
Shake your tambourine go and get yourself a whistle and [Repeat: x4]
Shake your tambourine go and [Repeat: x2]
Shake your tambourine go and get yourself a whistle and [Repeat: x8]
E.V.E. come through in the Mazarati
Doin it big like I live in the Taj Mahal,
Talk shit, and I don't get in the bla the bla
Ha, thats why they loving, ahh
Dats real, when the chick that they talk about
Goddamn is the words that come out they mouth
She look good always, without a doubt
Ask for her, she back and caking ou
So they be watching while we wiggle around
Look at them drooling, niggas ain't used to dis sound
I keep em moving, all ma ladies put ya hands in the air
It's all right now we gonna keep you on ya feet the whole night now
Pop them bottles, yea drink that up man
Got you feeling crazy yea that was the plan
Waiting for me wasn't ready for dis
He got the game sewn up, know I'm talking bout Swizz
Yeah I know u wanna fight it but why would you try
We got them shaking everything from the hood to Dubai
Yea we do it big man why would we lie?
C'mon
(1, 2, 3 everybody!)
Get low, get low then pick up, pick up
Get your hands in the air it's a stick-up, stick-up
Shake your tambourines move it quicker, quicker
Shake it down in town get the pitch up, pitch up
Shake it shake it to the floor, gotta love that
How she keep it goin' on you know you love that
Shake it shake it to the floor you gotta love that
Get ya ass on the dance floor
Dance on the dance floor
Move em out the way
If they ain't doing it how you want y'all
You ain't gotta ask me
C'mon, don't need my permission
Y'all heard, what you waiting for?
Shake your tambourine go and get yourself a whistle and [Repeat: x4]
Lyrics submitted by kooky-gurl
Tambourine Lyrics as written by Charles Brown Carl Kidd
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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
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.
Head > Heels
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
“Head > Heels” is a track that aims to capture what it feels like to experience romance that exceeds expectations. Ed Sheeran dedicates his album outro to a lover who has blessed him with a unique experience that he seeks to describe through the song’s nuanced lyrics.
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.
Geez.... why do some people always have to have a meaning for every single song? Can't artists just write about nothing?