"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.
Can you see them rushing in?
Hate to think how long it's been
Wasting time at finding faults
Voice a question, take a shot
I don't want you to think I do these things I do because of you
Tightly kept from misread words
Wash away those things you heard
Let's pretend that everything is just fine
Let's pretend that everything is alright
Let's pretend that everything is just fine, better, better
Let's pretend that everything is alright, better, better
Carried hopes were not enough
Draw a line at things we've got
Hate to say that you were right
Many ways I've failed in sight
I don't want you to think I do these things I do because of you
Walked in circles, held in breath
Stumbled back into this mess
Are you listening?
Are you watching out for who they are now?
Hate to think how long it's been
Wasting time at finding faults
Voice a question, take a shot
I don't want you to think I do these things I do because of you
Tightly kept from misread words
Wash away those things you heard
Let's pretend that everything is just fine
Let's pretend that everything is alright
Let's pretend that everything is just fine, better, better
Let's pretend that everything is alright, better, better
Carried hopes were not enough
Draw a line at things we've got
Hate to say that you were right
Many ways I've failed in sight
I don't want you to think I do these things I do because of you
Walked in circles, held in breath
Stumbled back into this mess
Are you listening?
Are you watching out for who they are now?
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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"
I Can't Go To Sleep
Wu-Tang Clan
Wu-Tang Clan
This song is written as the perspective of the boys in the street, as a whole, and what path they are going to choose as they get older and grow into men. (This is why the music video takes place in an orphanage.) The seen, and unseen collective suffering is imbedded in the boys’ mind, consciously or subconsciously, and is haunting them. Which path will the boys choose? Issac Hayes is the voice of reason, maybe God, the angel on his shoulder, or the voice of his forefathers from beyond the grave who can see the big picture and are pleading with the boys not to continue the violence and pattern of killing their brothers, but to rise above. The most beautiful song and has so many levels. Racism towards African Americans in America would not exist if everyone sat down and listened to this song and understood the history behind the words. The power, fear, pleading in RZA and Ghostface voices are genuine and powerful. Issac Hayes’ strong voice makes the perfect strong father figure, who is possibly from beyond the grave.
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.
Plastic Bag
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
“Plastic Bag” is a song about searching for an escape from personal problems and hoping to find it in the lively atmosphere of a Saturday night party. Ed Sheeran tells the story of his friend and the myriad of troubles he is going through. Unable to find any solutions, this friend seeks a last resort in a party and the vanity that comes with it.
“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.
I think the first line is wrong. Laura-Mary sings: Can you hear them rushing in? I totally love this song! It's along with I wish I was someone better my fav Blood Red Shoes song
This is definitely my favourite BRS song. The entire album is fantastic but there's something very haunting and true in the lyrics.
i just really looove brs, and this song's just amazing <3
it should be "wash away those things i've heard". other than that the lyrics are right. this song is amazing. i'm not completely sure what it's about though. does anyone have any thoughts on it?
something about an ex doing michevious things and the person thinks the ex it because of the person. so the ex says, "I don't want you to think I do these things I do because of you"?
that's the best I got.
*does it
I think it's about people who are dating and having serious problems with their relationship. But they get so deep into the problems, that they just want to forget about it and ignore and try to go back to the way things were before. They get into a pretty huge, nonconstructive argument and blame each other for the problems they're facing as a couple. It seems to happen a lot (stumble back into this mess).
I especially like how at the end you can hear both vocalists singing "are you listening?" at the same time, and it helps one's male and one's female. Because obviously, they're not listening to each other when they're trying to talk over one another.
And as for the "I don't want you to think I do these things I do because of you" part: it makes me think of arguments I've had with my boyfriend. I don't want him to think that the things I do for myself I'm doing to impress him some way. It's hard to explain.
I understand what you mean :)