"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.
In the nightmare desert stood a building
Outside someone was digging a hole in the ground
They were burying my luck
What have you done?
The man in the hole has smoked up all my income
My better days his for the take and I watched it all
Him putting pins into a doll
What have you done?
The dream blinks into night
The man in the hole
Has carried away the moonlight
Cupped in his hands
A dime on the water
He's a patient man
As his careful stepping shows
Will he take her love?
Will his hands know what mine did?
Will your body like the fit?
Will he take her love?
What have you done?
Outside someone was digging a hole in the ground
They were burying my luck
What have you done?
The man in the hole has smoked up all my income
My better days his for the take and I watched it all
Him putting pins into a doll
What have you done?
The dream blinks into night
The man in the hole
Has carried away the moonlight
Cupped in his hands
A dime on the water
He's a patient man
As his careful stepping shows
Will he take her love?
Will his hands know what mine did?
Will your body like the fit?
Will he take her love?
What have you done?
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
Bron-Y-Aur Stomp
Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin
This is about bronies. They communicate by stomping.
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”
Mountain Song
Jane's Addiction
Jane's Addiction
Jane's Addiction vocalist Perry Farrell gives Adam Reader some heartfelt insight into Jane’s Addiction's hard rock manifesto "Mountain Song", which was the second single from their revolutionary album Nothing's Shocking. Mountain song was first recorded in 1986 and appeared on the soundtrack to the film Dudes starring Jon Cryer. The version on Nothing's Shocking was re-recorded in 1988.
"'Mountain Song' was actually about... I hate to say it but... drugs. Climbing this mountain and getting as high as you can, and then coming down that mountain," reveals Farrell. "What it feels to descend from the mountain top... not easy at all. The ascension is tough but exhilarating. Getting down is... it's a real bummer. Drugs is not for everybody obviously. For me, I wanted to experience the heights, and the lows come along with it."
"There's a part - 'Cash in now honey, cash in Miss Smith.' Miss Smith is my Mother; our last name was Smith. Cashing in when she cashed in her life. So... she decided that, to her... at that time, she was desperate. Life wasn't worth it for her, that was her opinion. Some people think, never take your life, and some people find that their life isn't worth living. She was in love with my Dad, and my Dad was not faithful to her, and it broke her heart. She was very desperate and she did something that I know she regrets."
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.
i'm rather sure it's putting "pins" into a doll rather than "hands" and that the "the" in the "this dream wakes..." section is unnecessary as the last word is "tonight"
In the nightmare desert stood a building. Outside someone was diggin' a hole in the ground. They were burying my luck.
What have you done?
The man in the hole has smoked up all my income. My better days, his for the take. And I watched it all: him putting pins into a doll.
What have you done?
This dream fades into night
The man in the hole has carried away the moonlight Cupped in his hands, a dime on the water He's a patient man, As his careful stepping shows
Will he take her love? Will his hands know what mine did? Will her body like the fit?
Will he take her love?
What have you done?
Above are the correct lyrics, as confirmed by Jake Snider.
dxm is right, thats what the booklet says
except actually it is "this dream clinks into night" instead of "this dream fades into night"
The booklet actually says "Blinks into night", it looks like a C but it's a B. Strange typeface.
so no one has any idea what it means? it seems like it'd be obvious.
i think this song is about losing a girl to another guy...
TLDR: This song is about a guy dreaming about killing a close friend of his and feels regret about it. Later, that close friend "takes" his girlfriend.
--
The song is split into two halves divided by the line "This dream fades into night." The first half is about a dream/nightmare the singer has. The second half is about reality.
In the dream, someone close to the narrator has died. I'm going to call him the man in the hole. They are digging his grave and placing him in it. The refrain makes it sound like the singer killed the man in the hole and is now feeling regret.
I'm unsure of the relationship between the singer and the man in the hole - the man is "his luck", but he "smoked up all [my] income". "My better days, his for the take." It sounds like he was a close friend that would always take advantage of the singer.
In the second half of the song, the singer wakens from his dream. The man in the hole is alive. The singer's girlfriend has left him for the man in the hole. The singer is sad and blames the man in the hole for being a manipulative fellow that used careful planning in order to 'take' her.
How does it all fit together? I don't know, but maybe there's a clue in that in the first line, he's having a 'nightmare', but at the end of it it's a "dream."
Anyway, I feel I'm missing a bunch.. please chime in!
playing off of what dendrite said, because i agree with him/her for the most part;
The man in the hole has carried away the moonlight Cupped in his hands, a dime on the water He's a patient man, As his careful stepping shows
the dime = the girl ("a perfect 10") and he's (the man in the hole) got her now, literally, in the palm of his hand.
minus the bear is good, but sometimes they sound emo.