"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.
Baby
I finally know what I'm going after
I'm learning to let in all the laughter
Holy Molly, you're so funny
You crack me up, you crack me up
Look out
For dreams that keep returning
Cause magic ain't no hand-me-down yearning
You have to feel it
You gotta want it
The way I want you, babe
Traveling by choo-choo train, yeah
We know where, we just don't know when
Like some everlasting onion peeled by love
Never
Heard a better bad joke said out loud
You flip, flap and I wild out
Can you believe it? I can't believe it
But it's true
You're giving
Eighty billion years of giggling
A whole new world to live in
But this one's real, this one's real
This one's real
Like an old, tired kangaroo
You be one and I'll be one too
Play it goofy or play it cool, well, I don't mind
Everything that happened
You know it don't mean a thing to us
'Cause so much is going to happen
Because
You showed me
A sunset overflowing
But who cares where it's going
As long as you're next to me
I finally know what I'm going after
I'm learning to let in all the laughter
Holy Molly, you're so funny
You crack me up, you crack me up
Look out
For dreams that keep returning
Cause magic ain't no hand-me-down yearning
You have to feel it
You gotta want it
The way I want you, babe
Traveling by choo-choo train, yeah
We know where, we just don't know when
Like some everlasting onion peeled by love
Never
Heard a better bad joke said out loud
You flip, flap and I wild out
Can you believe it? I can't believe it
But it's true
You're giving
Eighty billion years of giggling
A whole new world to live in
But this one's real, this one's real
This one's real
Like an old, tired kangaroo
You be one and I'll be one too
Play it goofy or play it cool, well, I don't mind
Everything that happened
You know it don't mean a thing to us
'Cause so much is going to happen
Because
You showed me
A sunset overflowing
But who cares where it's going
As long as you're next to me
Lyrics submitted by pinksugarelephants
Baby Lyrics as written by Devendra Banhart
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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More Featured Meanings
Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman
Cajun Girl
Little Feat
Little Feat
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”
Holiday
Bee Gees
Bee Gees
@[Diderik:33655] "Your a holiday!" Was a popular term used in the 50s/60s to compliment someone on their all around. For example, not only are they beautiful, but they are fun and kind too ... just an all around "holiday".
I think your first comment is closer to being accurate. The singer/song writers state "Millions of eyes can see, yet why am i so blind!? When the someone else is me, its unkind its unkind". I believe hes referring to the girl toying with him and using him. He wants something deeper with her, thats why he allows himself to be as a puppet (even though for her fun and games) as long as it makes her happy. But he knows deep down that she doesnt really want to be serious with him and thats what makes him.
Dreamwalker
Silent Planet
Silent Planet
I think much like another song “Anti-Matter” (that's also on the same album as this song), this one is also is inspired by a horrifying van crash the band experienced on Nov 3, 2022. This, much like the other track, sounds like it's an extension what they shared while huddled in the wreckage, as they helped frontman Garrett Russell stem the bleeding from his head wound while he was under the temporary effects of a concussion. The track speaks of where the mind goes at the most desperate & desolate of times, when it just about slips away to all but disconnect itself, and the aftermath.
Gentle Hour
Yo La Tengo
Yo La Tengo
This song was originally written by a guy called Peter Gutteridge. He was one of the founders of the "Dunedin Sound" a musical scene in the south of New Zealand in the early 80s. From there it was covered by "The Clean" one of the early bands of that scene (he had originally been a member of in it's early days, writing a couple of their best early songs). The Dunedin sound, and the Clean became popular on american college radio in the mid to late 80s. I guess Yo La Tengo heard that version.
Great version of a great song,
i think this song is what love sounds like-- not the soaring, grandiose theme music from the titanic movie; but a simple, sunny ditty that makes everyone who hears it smile a little inside
what say about the verse "You´re giving eighty billion years of giggling/ a whole new world to live in/ but this one´s real, this one´s real, this one´s real"?? 80b yrs is the time period in which allan sandage (the guy who first dated the universe from the big bang until now) projected the universe expands and contracts.. so devendra is maybe saying this girl could make him laugh for as long as the universe exists? i like it :-)