"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.
sometimes the light don't shine
sometimes the light don't shine
sometimes the light don't shine
what?
sometimes the light don't shine
what?
rehabilitated
some say the only way to ease the pain is gettin' down to pray
I'm with no guru, no teacher for me
I got no faith in no fantasy
one too many, went flyin' too long
so many mornings already gone wrong, baby
been so long and I've been feelin so bad
deep down in a dark, dark, dark cave
sometimes the light don't shine
that's the time we gotta open our eyes, yeah
sometimes the light don't shine
rehabilitated
sometimes the light don't shine
that's the time we gotta open our eyes, yeah
sometimes the light don't shine
you and me baby gonna get
rehabilitated
well ah, hey, I went down to N.A.
business was a bouncin' like back in the day
hypocrites hidin' habits all over town
pop stars gushin' bout the faith they've found
left me so cold, I walked out in the rain
waitin' early for that midnight train
been so long, I've been feeling so bad
I'm gonna blow away the blues tonight
'cause'a
sometimes the light don't shine
that's the time we gotta open our eyes, yeah
sometimes the light don't shine
you and me baby gonna get rehabilitated
sometimes the light don't shine
that's the time we gotta open our eyes, yeah
sometimes the light don't shine
you and me baby gonna get rehabilitated
R is for the recovery you're going to make in my sumptious retreat in the hills
E is for how I'm gonna enable you to cure all of your ills
H is for the hurtin' heartache I'm going to help you lose
A: assessment successful
B: good bye b-blues
sometimes the light don't shine
what?
rehabilitated
sometimes the light don't shine
rehabilitated
sometimes the light don't shine
rehabilitated
sometimes the light don't shine
sing it now
sometimes the light don't shine
that's the time we gotta open our eyes, yeah
sometimes the light don't shine
you and me baby gonna get rehabilitated
sometimes the light don't shine
that's the time we gotta open our eyes, yeah
sometimes the light don't shine
you and me baby gonna get rehabilitated
soemtimes the light don't shine
everybody say
sometimes the light don't shine
everybody say
sometimes the light don't shine
everybody say
sometimes the light don't shine
you and me gonna get rehabilitated
you ever have a frustrated liver??
I know another guy who had a frustrated liver??
one morn, he's asleep
an just gets right up out and just went
ran along the road
goin' bare as a woman just comin in from have their ever stand (??) , heh heh
sometimes the light don't shine
sometimes the light don't shine
what?
sometimes the light don't shine
what?
rehabilitated
some say the only way to ease the pain is gettin' down to pray
I'm with no guru, no teacher for me
I got no faith in no fantasy
one too many, went flyin' too long
so many mornings already gone wrong, baby
been so long and I've been feelin so bad
deep down in a dark, dark, dark cave
sometimes the light don't shine
that's the time we gotta open our eyes, yeah
sometimes the light don't shine
rehabilitated
sometimes the light don't shine
that's the time we gotta open our eyes, yeah
sometimes the light don't shine
you and me baby gonna get
rehabilitated
well ah, hey, I went down to N.A.
business was a bouncin' like back in the day
hypocrites hidin' habits all over town
pop stars gushin' bout the faith they've found
left me so cold, I walked out in the rain
waitin' early for that midnight train
been so long, I've been feeling so bad
I'm gonna blow away the blues tonight
'cause'a
sometimes the light don't shine
that's the time we gotta open our eyes, yeah
sometimes the light don't shine
you and me baby gonna get rehabilitated
sometimes the light don't shine
that's the time we gotta open our eyes, yeah
sometimes the light don't shine
you and me baby gonna get rehabilitated
R is for the recovery you're going to make in my sumptious retreat in the hills
E is for how I'm gonna enable you to cure all of your ills
H is for the hurtin' heartache I'm going to help you lose
A: assessment successful
B: good bye b-blues
sometimes the light don't shine
what?
rehabilitated
sometimes the light don't shine
rehabilitated
sometimes the light don't shine
rehabilitated
sometimes the light don't shine
sing it now
sometimes the light don't shine
that's the time we gotta open our eyes, yeah
sometimes the light don't shine
you and me baby gonna get rehabilitated
sometimes the light don't shine
that's the time we gotta open our eyes, yeah
sometimes the light don't shine
you and me baby gonna get rehabilitated
soemtimes the light don't shine
everybody say
sometimes the light don't shine
everybody say
sometimes the light don't shine
everybody say
sometimes the light don't shine
you and me gonna get rehabilitated
you ever have a frustrated liver??
I know another guy who had a frustrated liver??
one morn, he's asleep
an just gets right up out and just went
ran along the road
goin' bare as a woman just comin in from have their ever stand (??) , heh heh
Lyrics submitted by Foggs
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More Featured Meanings
Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman
Mental Istid
Ebba Grön
Ebba Grön
This is one of my favorite songs. https://fnfgo.io
Gentle Hour
Yo La Tengo
Yo La Tengo
This song was originally written by a guy called Peter Gutteridge. He was one of the founders of the "Dunedin Sound" a musical scene in the south of New Zealand in the early 80s. From there it was covered by "The Clean" one of the early bands of that scene (he had originally been a member of in it's early days, writing a couple of their best early songs). The Dunedin sound, and the Clean became popular on american college radio in the mid to late 80s. I guess Yo La Tengo heard that version.
Great version of a great song,
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.
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.
Brilliant piece of work; very catchy. Creates a strong contrast in its boldness and gung-ho attitude when compared to, say, the whiny-pointless wittering of Amy Winehouse's song on the same subject.