"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.
Now I've heard it all
The way you build your reputation
You're fucking with my friends
Now I'm out to ruin you
There is no justice
To what you tried to get away with
Tried to be a little shit
You're nothing but a fucking git
What's the way you think so dumb
That what I do is shut you up
All I want is a chance
To take everything
What do you play
It's infused in what I play entirely
You haven't gotten kicks
Cause I win this game
You jump out from behind
To what gets one
You said, "You've been a bad girl,"
Then you slapped her right across the face
What could be going through your mind
This does no one good
I suggest you buy a cage
Cause I'm full of rage
Then you raped her
You left her in the alleyway
I know I have to see you
And all I think of you is right
Could've gone on after you
You're nothing but filthy scum
Now I have to wail on you
And your reputation
Just because you see her there
You think it's all fair and square
All I fucking see in you
Is one goddamn lame excuse
How could you stand in the display
The cause of so much pain?
I suggest that you buy a cage
Because I'm full of rage
Now you've heard it all
Leave it to your discretion
Between what's right and wrong
But don't you even give a damn?
Because I'm coming after you
You're nothing but filthy scum
I'd like to wail on you
And your reputation
Just because you sing of it
Think you're dumb, do it right
All I fucking see in you is one goddamn lame excuse
What could be going through your mind?
It's done no one good
I'll take a pan to your head
Cause I'm full of rage
The way you build your reputation
You're fucking with my friends
Now I'm out to ruin you
There is no justice
To what you tried to get away with
Tried to be a little shit
You're nothing but a fucking git
What's the way you think so dumb
That what I do is shut you up
All I want is a chance
To take everything
What do you play
It's infused in what I play entirely
You haven't gotten kicks
Cause I win this game
You jump out from behind
To what gets one
You said, "You've been a bad girl,"
Then you slapped her right across the face
What could be going through your mind
This does no one good
I suggest you buy a cage
Cause I'm full of rage
Then you raped her
You left her in the alleyway
I know I have to see you
And all I think of you is right
Could've gone on after you
You're nothing but filthy scum
Now I have to wail on you
And your reputation
Just because you see her there
You think it's all fair and square
All I fucking see in you
Is one goddamn lame excuse
How could you stand in the display
The cause of so much pain?
I suggest that you buy a cage
Because I'm full of rage
Now you've heard it all
Leave it to your discretion
Between what's right and wrong
But don't you even give a damn?
Because I'm coming after you
You're nothing but filthy scum
I'd like to wail on you
And your reputation
Just because you sing of it
Think you're dumb, do it right
All I fucking see in you is one goddamn lame excuse
What could be going through your mind?
It's done no one good
I'll take a pan to your head
Cause I'm full of rage
Lyrics submitted by LaDiablo
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Fast Car
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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.
Sometimes when I read Gits lyrics, I wonder if Mia knew the guy who raped and murdered her.