"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.
Morning came with such a jolt
That I forgot my soul at home
This pick-me-up, stale coffee cup
Is filling up my insides, though
And here I sit on subway stains
With blue pin stripe corporate charades
Outside I'm sure it's magical
But today I've got to get paid
Little birds over the South Pacific sea
Falling from the sky in perfect symmetry
Well, there goes each and every one of my dreams
Shattered images of who I'll never be
What is summer without sunshine?
Who likes dancing on a straight line?
When all these colours fade into mine
Tell me, am I black and blue?
It's comforting to know the day begins
And it will surely end
Tucked between these filthy sheets
Where nightmares start
Where sweet dreams end
Caught in a kaleidoscope
Of timely orchestrated screams
Filling space with barren thoughts
Motionless antipathy
Little birds over the South Pacific sea
Falling from the sky in perfect symmetry
Well, there goes each and every one of my dreams
Shattered images of who I'll never be
It's like fucking without kissing
Or never knowing what you're missing
And you're finally confessing
That you'll never stand a chance
Seeing Venice through a TV
Or thinking beautiful means pretty
When all these colours blend completely
Tell me, can you even see me?
That I forgot my soul at home
This pick-me-up, stale coffee cup
Is filling up my insides, though
And here I sit on subway stains
With blue pin stripe corporate charades
Outside I'm sure it's magical
But today I've got to get paid
Little birds over the South Pacific sea
Falling from the sky in perfect symmetry
Well, there goes each and every one of my dreams
Shattered images of who I'll never be
What is summer without sunshine?
Who likes dancing on a straight line?
When all these colours fade into mine
Tell me, am I black and blue?
It's comforting to know the day begins
And it will surely end
Tucked between these filthy sheets
Where nightmares start
Where sweet dreams end
Caught in a kaleidoscope
Of timely orchestrated screams
Filling space with barren thoughts
Motionless antipathy
Little birds over the South Pacific sea
Falling from the sky in perfect symmetry
Well, there goes each and every one of my dreams
Shattered images of who I'll never be
It's like fucking without kissing
Or never knowing what you're missing
And you're finally confessing
That you'll never stand a chance
Seeing Venice through a TV
Or thinking beautiful means pretty
When all these colours blend completely
Tell me, can you even see me?
Lyrics submitted by limari
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
The Night We Met
Lord Huron
Lord Huron
This is a hauntingly beautiful song about introspection, specifically about looking back at a relationship that started bad and ended so poorly, that the narrator wants to go back to the very beginning and tell himself to not even travel down that road. I believe that the relationship started poorly because of the lines:
"Take me back to the night we met:When the night was full of terrors: And your eyes were filled with tears: When you had not touched me yet"
So, the first night was not a great start, but the narrator pursued the relationship and eventually both overcame the rough start to fall in love with each other:
"I had all and then most of you"
Like many relationships that turn sour, it was not a quick decline, but a gradual one where the narrator and their partner fall out of love and gradually grow apart
"Some and now none of you"
Losing someone who was once everything in your world, who you could confide in, tell your secrets to, share all the most intimate parts of your life, to being strangers with that person is probably one of the most painful experiences a person can go through. So Painful, the narrator wants to go back in time and tell himself to not even pursue the relationship.
This was the perfect song for "13 Reasons Why"
When We Were Young
Blink-182
Blink-182
This is a sequel to 2001's "Reckless Abandon", and features the band looking back on their clumsy youth fondly.
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.
Punchline
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran sings about missing his former partner and learning important life lessons in the process on “Punchline.” This track tells a story of battling to get rid of emotions for a former lover, whom he now realized might not have loved him the same way. He’s now caught between accepting that fact and learning life lessons from it and going back to beg her for another chance.