"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.
It's been a long time coming
Ye it's been a long time coming
But you know you had it coming
You know you had it coming
Everyone's running from something but we don't know when it's coming
So we keep running and running
Now I'm looking up the bible trying to find a Loophole
Ye I'm living for revival, dying for a new soul
Now there's no light to guide me on my way home
Now there's no time to shine my rusty halo
It's been a long time coming
Ye it's been a long time coming
It's been a long time coming
Been so long but I gotta Shine my Rusty halo
Now I'm running for the light in the tunnel but it's just the train
Ye I'm looking for the right type of pleasure but all I find is pain
Now there's no light to guide me on my way home
Now there's no time to shine my rusty halo
It's been a long time coming
Ye it's been a long time coming
It's been a long time coming
Been so long but I gotta Shine my Rusty halo
Everyone's running from something but we don't know when it's coming
So we keep running and running
Ye it's been a long time coming
But you know you had it coming
You know you had it coming
Everyone's running from something but we don't know when it's coming
So we keep running and running
Now I'm looking up the bible trying to find a Loophole
Ye I'm living for revival, dying for a new soul
Now there's no light to guide me on my way home
Now there's no time to shine my rusty halo
It's been a long time coming
Ye it's been a long time coming
It's been a long time coming
Been so long but I gotta Shine my Rusty halo
Now I'm running for the light in the tunnel but it's just the train
Ye I'm looking for the right type of pleasure but all I find is pain
Now there's no light to guide me on my way home
Now there's no time to shine my rusty halo
It's been a long time coming
Ye it's been a long time coming
It's been a long time coming
Been so long but I gotta Shine my Rusty halo
Everyone's running from something but we don't know when it's coming
So we keep running and running
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More Featured Meanings
Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
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Little Feat
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Overall about difficult moments of disappointment and vulnerability. Having hope and longing, while remaining optimistic for the future. Encourages the belief that with each new morning there is a chance for things to improve.
The chorus offers a glimmer of optimism and a chance at a resolution and redemption in the future.
Captures the rollercoaster of emotions of feeling lost while loving someone who is not there for you, feeling let down and abandoned while waiting for a lover. Lost with no direction, "Now I'm up in the air with the rain in my hair, Nowhere to go, I can go anywhere"
The bridge shows signs of longing and a plea for companionship. The Lyrics express a desire for authentic connection and the importance of Loving someone just as they are. "Just in passing, I'm not asking. That you be anyone but you”
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Ed Sheeran
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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.
Page
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
There aren’t many things that’ll hurt more than giving love a chance against your better judgement only to have your heart crushed yet again. Ed Sheeran tells such a story on “Page.” On this track, he is devastated to have lost his lover and even more saddened by the feeling that he may never move on from this.
Is it me or does he sound really like Sting/The Police in this song, it's quite eerie!
Exactly! Gotta like it just for that. Not a fan of the lyrics though.
u hit the nail on the head. i've been trying to figure out who this sounds like and it sound like 80's police hits like every little thing she does is magic or msg in a bottle.
The song could possibly be a personal revival; trying to become "good" again? I could be wrong. :P
I love the lyrics "Now I'm looking up the Bible Trying to find a loophole. "
This clearly has a religious interpretation. About the judgement day when your soul will be judged. You don't know when it's coming and your halo might be "rusty" but you gotta try to shine it before it's judged, not to try and find a "loophole" or a way to justify your actions in life.
omg yes, blessbabe
he so does sound like sting, even my parents picked it!
but yer im thinking its about religion i think the shining of the rusty halo, means that all the bad things that maybe he's done in his life are catching up with him.
one of my favs on the album. good song. i think the song is saying that everyone is afraid of the end, afraid of death, afraid of hell but no one knows when that is coming. and ppl have been saying that the end is near for so long(it's been a long time coming). he's saying that he knows he's been living wrong and all that time his halo has rusted and he needs to clean it up hoping to get back on the right track. or maybe he wants to shine it so he appears to look good even tho he isnt.
I think the song is about this:
This song is about the idea of religion as a whole. People created religion to have a point in life and think that something is still there after death Now I'm looking up the bible trying to find a Loophole Ye I'm living for revival, dying for a new soul The thing that has been coming for so long is death. We shine our rusty haloes as we're getting closer to death. We become more piet embracing death and hoping to overcome sins of our life by becoming pure religion-wise towards the end