"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.
On bended knee is no way to be free
Lifting up an empty cup I ask silently
That all my destinations will accept the one that's me
So I can breath
Circles they grow and they swallow people whole
Half their lives they say goodnight to wive's they'll never know
Got a mind full of questions and a teacher in my soul
So it goes
Don't come closer or I'll have to go
Holding me like gravity are places that pull
If ever there was someone to keep me at home
It would be you
Everyone I come across in cages they bought
They think of me and my wandering
But I'm never what they thought
Got my indignation but I'm pure in all my thoughts
I'm alive
Wind in my hair, I feel part of everywhere
Underneath my being is a road that disappeared
Late at night I hear the trees
They're singing with the dead
Overhead
Leave it to me as I find a way to be
Consider me a satellite for ever orbiting
I knew all the rules but the rules did not know me
Guaranteed
Lifting up an empty cup I ask silently
That all my destinations will accept the one that's me
So I can breath
Circles they grow and they swallow people whole
Half their lives they say goodnight to wive's they'll never know
Got a mind full of questions and a teacher in my soul
So it goes
Don't come closer or I'll have to go
Holding me like gravity are places that pull
If ever there was someone to keep me at home
It would be you
Everyone I come across in cages they bought
They think of me and my wandering
But I'm never what they thought
Got my indignation but I'm pure in all my thoughts
I'm alive
Wind in my hair, I feel part of everywhere
Underneath my being is a road that disappeared
Late at night I hear the trees
They're singing with the dead
Overhead
Leave it to me as I find a way to be
Consider me a satellite for ever orbiting
I knew all the rules but the rules did not know me
Guaranteed
Lyrics submitted by CCDevlin, edited by arsinux, freelikethesea
Guaranteed Lyrics as written by Eddie Vedder
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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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.
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.
Amazing
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran tells a story of unsuccessfully trying to feel “Amazing.” This track is about the being weighed down by emotional stress despite valiant attempts to find some positivity in the situation. This track was written by Ed Sheeran from the perspective of his friend. From the track, we see this person fall deeper into the negative thoughts and slide further down the path of mental torment with every lyric.
Some of the interpretations here seem to be a bit misguided, so I wanted to clear some things up. Having read John Krakauer's article in Outside magazine, the book, followed the recent affair of the controversy over how he actually died, and seen the movie several times, as well as knowing how to play this song on guitar (and therefore having had the time to memorize and mull over the lyrics), here's my view.
On bended knee is no way to be free. [In society, people have specialized skill sets and therefore are interdependent. If you can't achieve what you want by yourself, you depend on others and are reduced to begging. On bended knee means begging. You are not free if you must beg] Lifting up an empty cup, I ask silently All my destinations will accept the one that's me. So I can breathe. [I have stripped myself of the desires of society, in lifting up my cup (i.e. when I beg) I ask only that there be air to breathe and places to go. I don't depend on others to achieve those desires]
Circles they grow and they swallow people whole. Half their lives they say goodnight to wives they'll never know. [Friend circles in society are big. You lose yourself in the group and don't really know anybody that well, even your wife]. A mind full of questions and a teacher in my soul [I know little and there is always more to learn, but you know even less so I feel it is my duty to impart what I have learned.] So it goes [It's ironic that I find myself in a teaching role despite how little I know. How is it that people in society know so little?]
Don't come closer or I'll have to go. [Becoming emotionally attached threatens my independence, so I'll leave if you try to get close to me]. Holding me like gravity are places that pull [I'm not ready to become attached; there is so much more out there left to see] If ever there was someone to keep me at home It WOULDN'T be you. [I've listened to this part closely and am convinced he says wouldn't. McCandless wanted to settle down one day once he had finished his adventures, but only if he found the right person to settle with. He didn't. Also he left home partially to explore, but also simply to get away from his parents.]
Everyone I come across in cages they bought. [The material possessions that people buy, including houses, root them in their hometowns and prevent from simply getting up and leaving. They're trapped] They look at me and my wandering, but I'm never what they thought [People misunderstand my motives] I've got my indignation but I'm pure in all my thoughts. [Although I look down on others, I don't live this way out of spite. I live my life by a set of good morals]
I'm alive. Wind in my hair I feel part of everywhere. Underneath my being is a road that disappeared. Late at night I hear the trees they're singing with the dead. Overhead. [I am truly alive and in sync with nature. Nature is my spirituality].
Leave it to me as I find a way to be. Consider me a satellite forever orbitting. [I will answer my own questions and find real answers, not the dogma that society has passed on through the generations, so don't try to impose your views on me.] I knew all the rules but the rules did not know me. Guaranteed [I knew society's rules but chose to eschew them as they didn't make sense. The system didn't anticipate this].
Most accurate interpretation.
I like this interpretation the most. I think there's a chance that the first part is a marriage proposal without a bended knee. Second and third can also be a struggling throughout the marrage followed by a divorce.