"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.
so I'm saving all my secrets for a deaf man
blabber on I blabber on
stare empty at a wall
and make it try to sing along
carry on I carry on
you’re shackled all you pain is stiff
tattooed lovers they don't like to reminisce
keep pictures of the people you once loved
in a safe oh in a safe
oh no you lost the combination oh no you have the wrong address
scribble names unscramble names
oh you’re shackled all your pain is stiff
I know you’re planning your vengeance
tattooed lovers they don't like to reminisce
who knows what name they're screaming now
so I'm saving all my secrets for a deaf man
blabber on and on and on and on
oh no you lost the combination oh no you have the wrong address
scribble names unscramble names
see this world is not just a ball
of vagueness you can just bounce off
dear Jane, well I wrote this line to say
hope you still can recall my name
dear Jane, I wish everything is okay
oh Jane, forgive all they may say
dear Jane, well I wrote this line to say
hope you still can recall my name
blabber on I blabber on
stare empty at a wall
and make it try to sing along
carry on I carry on
you’re shackled all you pain is stiff
tattooed lovers they don't like to reminisce
keep pictures of the people you once loved
in a safe oh in a safe
oh no you lost the combination oh no you have the wrong address
scribble names unscramble names
oh you’re shackled all your pain is stiff
I know you’re planning your vengeance
tattooed lovers they don't like to reminisce
who knows what name they're screaming now
so I'm saving all my secrets for a deaf man
blabber on and on and on and on
oh no you lost the combination oh no you have the wrong address
scribble names unscramble names
see this world is not just a ball
of vagueness you can just bounce off
dear Jane, well I wrote this line to say
hope you still can recall my name
dear Jane, I wish everything is okay
oh Jane, forgive all they may say
dear Jane, well I wrote this line to say
hope you still can recall my name
Lyrics submitted by LauraKilla
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More Featured Meanings
Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman
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."
No Surprises
Radiohead
Radiohead
Same ideas expressed in Fitter, Happier are expressed in this song. We're told to strive for some sort of ideal life, which includes getting a good job, being kind to everyone, finding a partner, getting married, having a couple kids, living in a quiet neighborhood in a nice big house, etc. But in Fitter, Happier the narrator(?) realizes that it's incredibly robotic to live this life. People are being used by those in power "like a pig in a cage on antibiotics"--being pacified with things like new phones and cool gadgets and houses while being sucked dry. On No Surprises, the narrator is realizing how this life is killing him slowly. In the video, his helmet is slowly filling up with water, drowning him. But he's so complacent with it. This is a good summary of the song. This boring, "perfect" life foisted upon us by some higher powers (not spiritual, but political, economic, etc. politicians and businessmen, perhaps) is not the way to live. But there is seemingly no way out but death. He'd rather die peacefully right now than live in this cage. While our lives are often shielded, we're in our own protective bubbles, or protective helmets like the one Thom wears, if we look a little harder we can see all the corruption, lies, manipulation, etc. that is going on in the world, often run by huge yet nearly invisible organizations, corporations, and 'leaders'. It's a very hopeless song because it reflects real life.
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.
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.
I think this song is about reminiscing of pass failed relationships. Maybe realizing that most, maybe all of the breakups were her fault. At least this is how I’m interpreting this song.
"So I'm saving all my secrets for a deaf man blabber on I blabber on"
The song could be starting out with her realization of the things she did to ruin her past relationship (her Secrets). “Stare empty at a wall and make it try to sing along. Carry on I carry on”
This could be her trying to convince herself that she's not to blame for her history of bad relationship. So she carries on like she's innocent in all this, without openly acknowledging her role in it.
“You’re shackled all you pain is stiff Tattooed lovers they don’t like to reminisce”
-The tattooed lovers verse is a little tricky. When I think of a tattooed individual, I think of a rebel, a strong person, and outlaws. Well pretty much a tough individual that ideally should not be bothered by past lovers. But in this case, the hurt and/or remorse this person is feeling has them defeated (shackled).
“keep pictures of the people you once loved in a safe oh in a safe oh no you lost the combination oh no you have the wrong address scribble names unscramble names”
-This part continues with the reminiscing. A picture is painted of a person looking through memorabilia and photographs of past lovers, realizing that these lovers are no longer available and have moved on.
“Oh you’re shackled all your pain is stiff I know you’re planning your vengeance tattooed lovers they don't like to reminisce who knows what name they're screaming now”
-Continuing with the same theme, she makes a statement about karma. She acknowledges that someday life will get even with her. She goes on to wonder with who her former lovers are with at the moment.
“So I'm saving all my secrets for a deaf man blabber on and on and on and on oh no you lost the combination oh no you have the wrong address scribble names unscramble names.”
-Continues with the theme of the song
“See this world is not just a ball of vagueness you can just bounce off.”
-She pretty much saying that life does not have to be so obscured. One can just step aside and realize the error of their ways.
“Dear Jane, well I wrote this line to say hope you still can recall my name Dear Jane, I wish everything is okay Oh Jane, forgive all they may say dear Jane, well I wrote this line to say hope you still can recall my name.”
-The song is ended with a message to all of their past lovers. By reaching out to them with a “Dear John” letter. In this case a Dear Jane letter, being that two 3rds of the band are openly gay.
I would like to someday ask the band about this song and a few others. I’m most likely way off but this is the fun part about trying to figure out the meanings of songs. “Girl In A Coma” Rulz!!!!