"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.
I work in the dead of night
When the roads are quiet
No one is around
To track my moves
Racing the yellow lights
To find the gate is open
She's waiting in the room
I just slip on through
You get in
You get done
And then you get gone
You never leave a trace or show your face
You get gone
Should have turned around
And left before the sun came up again
But the sun came up again
Enter the morning light
To find the day is burning the curtains and the wine
In a little white room
No, I'm not alone
Her head is heavy on me
She's sleeping like a child
What could I do?
You get in
You get done
And then you get gone
You never leave a trace or show your face
You get gone
Should have turned around
And left before the sun came up again
But the sun came up again
I was a killer, was the best they'd ever seen
I'd steal your heart before you ever heard a thing
I'm an assassin and I had a job to do
Little did I know that girl was an assassin too
Suddenly I'm in over my head and I can hardly breathe
Suddenly I'm floating over her bed and I feel everything
Suddenly I know exactly what I did, but I cannot move a thing
Suddenly I know exactly what I'd done and what it's gonna mean to me, mean to me
I'm gone
I was a killer, was the best they'd ever seen
I'd steal your heart before you ever heard a thing
I'm an assassin and I had a job to do
Little did I know that girl was an assassin too
She's an assassin
She's an assassin
She's an assassin
She's an assassin and she had a job to do
When the roads are quiet
No one is around
To track my moves
Racing the yellow lights
To find the gate is open
She's waiting in the room
I just slip on through
You get in
You get done
And then you get gone
You never leave a trace or show your face
You get gone
Should have turned around
And left before the sun came up again
But the sun came up again
Enter the morning light
To find the day is burning the curtains and the wine
In a little white room
No, I'm not alone
Her head is heavy on me
She's sleeping like a child
What could I do?
You get in
You get done
And then you get gone
You never leave a trace or show your face
You get gone
Should have turned around
And left before the sun came up again
But the sun came up again
I was a killer, was the best they'd ever seen
I'd steal your heart before you ever heard a thing
I'm an assassin and I had a job to do
Little did I know that girl was an assassin too
Suddenly I'm in over my head and I can hardly breathe
Suddenly I'm floating over her bed and I feel everything
Suddenly I know exactly what I did, but I cannot move a thing
Suddenly I know exactly what I'd done and what it's gonna mean to me, mean to me
I'm gone
I was a killer, was the best they'd ever seen
I'd steal your heart before you ever heard a thing
I'm an assassin and I had a job to do
Little did I know that girl was an assassin too
She's an assassin
She's an assassin
She's an assassin
She's an assassin and she had a job to do
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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"
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.
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.
I think the song is about how he can never really commit himself to any relationship, because he's just so guarded and he's emotionally removed from any relationship or fling(i.e. the same way an assassin has to be emotionally removed from their job) But then in this case he did get sucked in and let his guard down (Suddenly I'm in over my head and I could hardly breathe/Suddenly I'm floating over her bed and I feel everything)...only to realize she's not actually attached either and was essentially just taking HIM for the ride.
That's my take anyways. I lovvvve this song. Probably wouldn't make it as a single, but it might be my favorite on the album (Edge of Desire is great too)
Heyho, <br /> I think he means it in another way. <br /> He sais, that he was an assasin meaning stealing hearts on o-n-stands, <br /> you get in, get done, get gone (his own rules) <br /> <br /> One day he made a mistake by staying overnight. <br /> Next morning, he wakes up and has her "head heavy on him, sleeping like a child" looking cute probably. <br /> <br /> then SUDDELY he realizes he broke his rules, maybe he has them because he doesn´t want relation or sth, typical for J M lyrics. But he fell in love as consequence of breaking his rules. <br /> <br /> Not being confident enough to try with her, he gets gone then. but he knows what it means to him : she was an assasin, too stole his heart before he EVER HEARD A THING.<br /> as he used to do. <br /> now he´s the "assasined" person<br /> expressing how as far as I know things went in JMs own life ?! <br /> <br /> my version, <br /> tell me why you (if you) don´t think it works like this. <br /> Floed
I agree, the hook on this song is sick.
I think this song is about a fling/one-night stand. He's just in it for the fun, but girls fall in love with him while he's just having fun. But then he meets a girl that he starts feeling, but what she's doing to him is what he has been doing to all these other girls.
Hi stilldirrtyja, Do you mean that now that john has fell in love with Aniston she's playing john just the way he has played Jennifer Love & Jessica simpson?<br /> Do you mean that John has played Jennifer Love & Jessica simpson?<br /> did i get it right or did you mean something else?!<br /> nice interpretation, <br /> Thanks a lot.<br />
i don't think Zoheir knows what they are talking about at all. Just a John Mayer hater that reads something in a magazine and assumes its true and so they have to take time to go onto a song lyrics site just so they can feel important by leaving their false opinions.
It's like karma
Absolutely..
Nailed it!
i'm listening to assassin right now and the music alone has given me goosebumps, then u add in john's voice and the lyrics...magic. i think its my fave on battle studies.
i think its about a girl he had no intention of getting serious about, he thought he was playing her to get what he wanted and then be done with her, but things didnt work out that way. he either fell for her or she played him. mr mayer has a lovely way with words, cuz i figure a guy like that should be utterly repulsive but he has the opposite effect.
I can't stop listening to this song, it's driving me crazy!
I agree with the Karma thing, but also to add that once he disovers the girl is also an assassin,he totally falls for the girl. I took this as a case of wanting what you can't have. He couldn't get the girl as she's using him as he's used others.
I think its about being afraid to be vulnerable, to put yourself out there. Not every player plays for the physical aspect, they play to fill an emotional need temporarily without committing themelves, hence they eliminate the chance of being hurt. But every now and then they slip up and fall for someone who's doing the same thing.... they want to "get gone" so bad but they "can't move." Commitment issues suck!
JJ brings up a good point that I think most have missed.
I also think it's important to the song to note that it's only when he breaks his rules of operation(or engagement, if we stick with the assassin thread). His rule is to "You get in, You get done, And then you get gone." But when he finds himself still in her room whenever the sun is up (Enter the morning light, to find the day is burning the curtains) he knows that he's in trouble. He feels her still with him, thinks back to what has happened and what he's feeling and what that'll do to him later... and he has the urge to bolt. He doesn't want to stick around for that aftermath.
He had always been the one to do the killing (of feelings, of attachment) but he knew that if he stuck around she would be the one doing the killing this time.
Awesome. Well put!
plain an simple (the player got played)**love his music.
I think the meaning is simple...
He steals hearts... However he comes across a girl thats stolen his. Leaving him lost for words and in over his head.
sickest hook on the album