"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.
Left to our own devices, preciseness,
We've made something indestructible and priceless.
Lightning is the fury. Thunder the obsession.
Hours in between and I'm under the impression.
When I heard your music I tried to dance and fell.
Advancing well, but I don't have a chance in hell.
Enhance. Excell. The darkest night - I should have been there.
But every time I come close you disappear into thin air.
I walk a mile through broken fields and bandaged woods.
We talk a while. The words are incoherent. I'm damaged goods.
I try to work my way down a list of growing factors
But instead I'm going backwards.
There's been an accident. Condition stable. Intravenous.
Holding your hand with the kitchen table in between us.
Your perfect hands - I recognize them right away.
Your naked truth that will never see the light of day.
We speak a secret language. Explaining scars,
Birds in the trees, waterfalls and flaming stars.
All the little things that can take my breath away.
Lying to myself, I fake my death today.
(Why am I doing this...)
Leavin' to stay. Tomorrow - all hail to it.
Blank piece of paper. Bored with a nail through it.
You belong to something else - part of my dreams.
Different story. I'm coming apart at the seams.
The face you want to know and the mask you touch.
I don't know what's worse and I ask too much.
Going down on each other and caught in the act.
Up against the wall and shot in the back.
Two rivers. Similarity and other-ness.
Another day in a life that is motherless.
Thorn in the side. Diamonds adorn the sky.
I'm under the impression and I was born to die.
We've made something indestructible and priceless.
Lightning is the fury. Thunder the obsession.
Hours in between and I'm under the impression.
When I heard your music I tried to dance and fell.
Advancing well, but I don't have a chance in hell.
Enhance. Excell. The darkest night - I should have been there.
But every time I come close you disappear into thin air.
I walk a mile through broken fields and bandaged woods.
We talk a while. The words are incoherent. I'm damaged goods.
I try to work my way down a list of growing factors
But instead I'm going backwards.
There's been an accident. Condition stable. Intravenous.
Holding your hand with the kitchen table in between us.
Your perfect hands - I recognize them right away.
Your naked truth that will never see the light of day.
We speak a secret language. Explaining scars,
Birds in the trees, waterfalls and flaming stars.
All the little things that can take my breath away.
Lying to myself, I fake my death today.
(Why am I doing this...)
Leavin' to stay. Tomorrow - all hail to it.
Blank piece of paper. Bored with a nail through it.
You belong to something else - part of my dreams.
Different story. I'm coming apart at the seams.
The face you want to know and the mask you touch.
I don't know what's worse and I ask too much.
Going down on each other and caught in the act.
Up against the wall and shot in the back.
Two rivers. Similarity and other-ness.
Another day in a life that is motherless.
Thorn in the side. Diamonds adorn the sky.
I'm under the impression and I was born to die.
Lyrics submitted by MrSimpson
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More Featured Meanings
Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman
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.
Blue
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
“Blue” is a song about a love that is persisting in the discomfort of the person experiencing the emotion. Ed Sheeran reflects on love lost, and although he wishes his former partner find happiness, he cannot but admit his feelings are still very much there. He expresses the realization that he might never find another on this stringed instrumental by Aaron Dessner.
Head > Heels
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
“Head > Heels” is a track that aims to capture what it feels like to experience romance that exceeds expectations. Ed Sheeran dedicates his album outro to a lover who has blessed him with a unique experience that he seeks to describe through the song’s nuanced lyrics.
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.