"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.
Hey now, I feel a new one comin' on so that you can sing along with it
Right now and I'm gonna dedicate this song to everyone of God's children
Hey now, one love, one God out of many his people
Right now it's been a long time comin' but I'm serving up the sequel
Back from the day, I'm the sleeper done slumbering
Pass me the mic and I might stop mumbling
Crumble like a cracker, I'll fall like a leaf
But the hole in my soul's been filled underneath
So whether you're a loser or a winner by the numbers
Everyone knows a tie goes to the runner
So lace up your shox, get yourself in this race
Cause this little thing here gonna set a new pace
Hey now, I feel a new one comin' on so that you can sing along with it
Right now and I'm gonna dedicate this song to everyone of God's children
Hey now, one love, one God out of many his people
Right now it's been a long time comin' but I'm serving up the sequel
(Get your back up off the wall)
Sometimes we do it like this, sometimes we do it like that
Sometimes we say it with words so you can see where we at
And on a different level I persist to reach a girl or any fella
I believe we receive a little then we all do better
Hey now, help is coming any day now
Hope it can reach me when I am way down
One love, one God and I'm OK now
Ten years, Toby Mac and Grits stay down
Hey now, I feel a new one comin' on so that you can sing along with it
Right now and I'm gonna dedicate this song to everyone of God's children
Hey now, one love, one God out of many his people
Right now it's been a long time comin' but I'm serving up the sequel
What you think of this here, gotta get with this here
Diverse City, are you gonna get it this year?
What you think of this here, gotta get with this here
Diverse City and we'll run it till He gets here
Get your back up off the wall
Live a little, come on (we gotta live a little)
Get your back up off the wall
Everybody come on (we gotta live a little)
Get your back up off the wall
Live a little, come on (we gotta live a little)
Get your back up off the wall
Everybody come on
Hey now, one love, one God out of many his people
Hey!
Hey!
It's been a long time coming but I'm servin' up the sequel
Hey now, I feel a new one comin' on so that you can sing along with it
Right now and I'm gonna dedicate this song to everyone of God's children
Hey now, one love, one God out of many his people
Right now it's been a long time comin' but I'm serving up the sequel
One love, one God, I feel a new one comin' on so that you can sing along with it
One love, one God, and I'm gonna dedicate this song to everyone of God's children
One love, one God, one love, one God out of many his people
One love, one God, it's been a long time comin' but I'm serving up the sequel
One love, one God
One love, one God
One love, one God
One love, one God
Right now and I'm gonna dedicate this song to everyone of God's children
Hey now, one love, one God out of many his people
Right now it's been a long time comin' but I'm serving up the sequel
Back from the day, I'm the sleeper done slumbering
Pass me the mic and I might stop mumbling
Crumble like a cracker, I'll fall like a leaf
But the hole in my soul's been filled underneath
So whether you're a loser or a winner by the numbers
Everyone knows a tie goes to the runner
So lace up your shox, get yourself in this race
Cause this little thing here gonna set a new pace
Hey now, I feel a new one comin' on so that you can sing along with it
Right now and I'm gonna dedicate this song to everyone of God's children
Hey now, one love, one God out of many his people
Right now it's been a long time comin' but I'm serving up the sequel
(Get your back up off the wall)
Sometimes we do it like this, sometimes we do it like that
Sometimes we say it with words so you can see where we at
And on a different level I persist to reach a girl or any fella
I believe we receive a little then we all do better
Hey now, help is coming any day now
Hope it can reach me when I am way down
One love, one God and I'm OK now
Ten years, Toby Mac and Grits stay down
Hey now, I feel a new one comin' on so that you can sing along with it
Right now and I'm gonna dedicate this song to everyone of God's children
Hey now, one love, one God out of many his people
Right now it's been a long time comin' but I'm serving up the sequel
What you think of this here, gotta get with this here
Diverse City, are you gonna get it this year?
What you think of this here, gotta get with this here
Diverse City and we'll run it till He gets here
Get your back up off the wall
Live a little, come on (we gotta live a little)
Get your back up off the wall
Everybody come on (we gotta live a little)
Get your back up off the wall
Live a little, come on (we gotta live a little)
Get your back up off the wall
Everybody come on
Hey now, one love, one God out of many his people
Hey!
Hey!
It's been a long time coming but I'm servin' up the sequel
Hey now, I feel a new one comin' on so that you can sing along with it
Right now and I'm gonna dedicate this song to everyone of God's children
Hey now, one love, one God out of many his people
Right now it's been a long time comin' but I'm serving up the sequel
One love, one God, I feel a new one comin' on so that you can sing along with it
One love, one God, and I'm gonna dedicate this song to everyone of God's children
One love, one God, one love, one God out of many his people
One love, one God, it's been a long time comin' but I'm serving up the sequel
One love, one God
One love, one God
One love, one God
One love, one God
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More Featured Meanings
Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman
Mountain Song
Jane's Addiction
Jane's Addiction
Jane's Addiction vocalist Perry Farrell gives Adam Reader some heartfelt insight into Jane’s Addiction's hard rock manifesto "Mountain Song", which was the second single from their revolutionary album Nothing's Shocking. Mountain song was first recorded in 1986 and appeared on the soundtrack to the film Dudes starring Jon Cryer. The version on Nothing's Shocking was re-recorded in 1988.
"'Mountain Song' was actually about... I hate to say it but... drugs. Climbing this mountain and getting as high as you can, and then coming down that mountain," reveals Farrell. "What it feels to descend from the mountain top... not easy at all. The ascension is tough but exhilarating. Getting down is... it's a real bummer. Drugs is not for everybody obviously. For me, I wanted to experience the heights, and the lows come along with it."
"There's a part - 'Cash in now honey, cash in Miss Smith.' Miss Smith is my Mother; our last name was Smith. Cashing in when she cashed in her life. So... she decided that, to her... at that time, she was desperate. Life wasn't worth it for her, that was her opinion. Some people think, never take your life, and some people find that their life isn't worth living. She was in love with my Dad, and my Dad was not faithful to her, and it broke her heart. She was very desperate and she did something that I know she regrets."
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,
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.