"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'm a cloud drifting by
Dripping tears from the sky
I'm a snail without a shell
A leper with a golden bell
I've got nowhere to do
I'm a stray cat on the roam
Choking on a chicken bone
For a home sweet, no sweet home
For a root, for a leaf, for a branch, for a tree
But there's somebody that reminded them of me
Running with my roots pulled up
Caught me cold so they could cut
What there was left of love
I'm rootless
I'm rootless
Work your fingers to the bone
Building castles out of snow
I'm a nomad walking on
Humming to the same old song
Lower case society
In touch with no community
A kingdom without a king
With no sense of belonging
For a root, for a leaf, for a branch, for a tree
But there's somebody that reminded them of me
Running with my roots pulled up
Caught me cold so they could cut
What there was left of love
I'm rootless
I'm rootless
Running with my roots pulled up
So they could cut me free of love
Running with my roots pulled up
Caught me cold so they could cut
What there was left of love
I'm rootless
I'm rootless
Jagged roots through the snow
For a home sweet and no sweet home
I've got nowhere to go
I'm rootless
I'm rootless
Dripping tears from the sky
I'm a snail without a shell
A leper with a golden bell
I've got nowhere to do
I'm a stray cat on the roam
Choking on a chicken bone
For a home sweet, no sweet home
For a root, for a leaf, for a branch, for a tree
But there's somebody that reminded them of me
Running with my roots pulled up
Caught me cold so they could cut
What there was left of love
I'm rootless
I'm rootless
Work your fingers to the bone
Building castles out of snow
I'm a nomad walking on
Humming to the same old song
Lower case society
In touch with no community
A kingdom without a king
With no sense of belonging
For a root, for a leaf, for a branch, for a tree
But there's somebody that reminded them of me
Running with my roots pulled up
Caught me cold so they could cut
What there was left of love
I'm rootless
I'm rootless
Running with my roots pulled up
So they could cut me free of love
Running with my roots pulled up
Caught me cold so they could cut
What there was left of love
I'm rootless
I'm rootless
Jagged roots through the snow
For a home sweet and no sweet home
I've got nowhere to go
I'm rootless
I'm rootless
Lyrics submitted by laymon, edited by SmoothGardener
Rootless Lyrics as written by Pascal Gabriel Liam Howe
Lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
Add your thoughts
Log in now to tell us what you think this song means.
Don’t have an account? Create an account with SongMeanings to post comments, submit lyrics, and more. It’s super easy, we promise!
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"
Mental Istid
Ebba Grön
Ebba Grön
This is one of my favorite songs. https://fnfgo.io
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.
I think Marina just relates the feeling of being entirely on her own away from anything that makes her feel comfort. it is really a powerful song she has.
it's called rootless which implies she has nowhere to run from as she is not rooted to the ground so she is just a person roaming around space and she can never find a home because she doesn't know where she's come from so she's doesn't know where she can go to. I think she wishes she had something to hold onto some origin, but she's just in species mode