"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.
Please catch me now, I'm lying.
You taught me how it can feel like love.
Just catch your breath.
We'll dive in and our dissent will somehow feel like life.
Oh, my, my, you're oh so sly.
Let's leave unsaid what's left unspoken.
Please hold me now, I'm freezing.
God tell me how we ever got this cold.
Oh, my, my, you're oh so sly.
Let's leave unsaid what's left unspoken and oh, my boy, you're so so coy let's just pretend that nothing's broken.
We'll censor the ending for me...for you.
You taught me how it can feel like love.
Just catch your breath.
We'll dive in and our dissent will somehow feel like life.
Oh, my, my, you're oh so sly.
Let's leave unsaid what's left unspoken.
Please hold me now, I'm freezing.
God tell me how we ever got this cold.
Oh, my, my, you're oh so sly.
Let's leave unsaid what's left unspoken and oh, my boy, you're so so coy let's just pretend that nothing's broken.
We'll censor the ending for me...for you.
Lyrics submitted by NirvanAFI
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Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
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Silent Planet
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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.
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Ed Sheeran
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Plastic Bag
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
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“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.
All I can say is that you can literally hear Davey's heart breaking during this song. It's tragic. I'm confirmed that this song is about a (excuse my french) fuck-buddy who he didn't mean to fall in love with. "You taught me how it can feel like love" makes me think it's not a real relationship. This boy he sings about is distant from him, in such a away that Davey feels hopeless in his affection. "Gotta tell me how we ever got this cold" is saying that they've come to a point where they just going through the motions, so to speak. "what's left unspoken" i honestly believe are the words I love you; he's never going to hear that, so he is just accepting it. And "pretend that nothing's broken" Davey refers to his heart. "Censoring the ending" I'm sure means that he's not going to tell this boy how he feels, so that it's easier for both of them. Truly an amazing song. But I'm wondering what the voices are saying in the beginning; does anyone know?
@aidanx Davey isn\'t gay though, this has been spoken on many times by the band.