"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.
[Conscience]
Goodbye
Your pocket full of dreams
Your mind in a daze
Keep on chasing rainbows
Fly high
Leave the past behind
The dark road you take bears no escape
[Mephistopheles]
In a world of grand illusions
Where love is just a dream
You gotta make your sacrifices
Time to pick your poison
The fool is he who is noble-minded
And bellies up to poverty
He's not a king in the world of diamonds
Paling into oblivion
[Scarecrow]
I lay down my soul for glory
I've given a life away
Don't know if I am sorry
Blind me, blind me
Don't know where I'll be going
I gotta get away
From the pain of recollection
Drawn into the faint
[All]
Hang on to a runaway train
No turning back
Tethered to a runaway train
Take me away
Torpid in the wind and rain
No turning back
Hang on to a runaway train
Take me away
[Scarecrow]
If I'm a stranger to myself
Then I better gotta stay away
Even better gotta get away, get away
Time to pick my poison
Feel the devil sitting in my neck
Straight ahead into the unknown
Oh father I forgive you for I
Don't know what I'm doing
[Mephistopheles]
It's only human nature
To keep away from pain
Take a train to ecstasy oh
Ride on, ride on
Inhale the scent of heaven
Respire the smell of fame
You've been to hell and back
You can't change things anyway, no
[Scarecrow]
I hang on to a runaway train
No turning back
Tethered to a runaway train
Take me away
Torpid in the wind and rain
No turning back
I hang on to a runaway train
Take me away
[Mentor]
Reaching out to rule the world
you'll watch the mirror shatter
As you'll be dazzled by the sight
Once only diamonds mattered
How can you justify the way
When you wake up screaming
Will you pretend that you were blind
When you were really seeing
Your image everywhere
The looking glass: a sheet of ice
It's thick enough to dance on
In a frozen realm of lies
But the ice will break
And you will scream repenting
Oh boy, the ice will break
You'll just feel your heart rending
[Scarecrow]
Riding on to a world of funny flowers
Riding on to the white wide world
If coming back would hurt my pride
I'd rather take another ride
Riding on, winter on the mirror
Riding on into the unknown
If I'll awake in pain one day
I've gotta catch just one more train
[Conscience]
Days gone by
Who'd wanna live forever
On our knees up your road
Paved with good intentions
Fly high
Where angels can't breathe no more
Some dare to go blind
Some stay behind
[Scarecrow]
I hang on to a runaway train
No turning back
Tethered to a runaway train
Take me away
Torpid in the wind and rain
No turning back
I hang on to a runaway train
Take me away
Hang on to a runaway train
No turning back
Tethered to a runaway train
Take me away
Torpid in the wind and rain
in the wind and rain
I hang on to that runaway train
Goodbye
Your pocket full of dreams
Your mind in a daze
Keep on chasing rainbows
Fly high
Leave the past behind
The dark road you take bears no escape
[Mephistopheles]
In a world of grand illusions
Where love is just a dream
You gotta make your sacrifices
Time to pick your poison
The fool is he who is noble-minded
And bellies up to poverty
He's not a king in the world of diamonds
Paling into oblivion
[Scarecrow]
I lay down my soul for glory
I've given a life away
Don't know if I am sorry
Blind me, blind me
Don't know where I'll be going
I gotta get away
From the pain of recollection
Drawn into the faint
[All]
Hang on to a runaway train
No turning back
Tethered to a runaway train
Take me away
Torpid in the wind and rain
No turning back
Hang on to a runaway train
Take me away
[Scarecrow]
If I'm a stranger to myself
Then I better gotta stay away
Even better gotta get away, get away
Time to pick my poison
Feel the devil sitting in my neck
Straight ahead into the unknown
Oh father I forgive you for I
Don't know what I'm doing
[Mephistopheles]
It's only human nature
To keep away from pain
Take a train to ecstasy oh
Ride on, ride on
Inhale the scent of heaven
Respire the smell of fame
You've been to hell and back
You can't change things anyway, no
[Scarecrow]
I hang on to a runaway train
No turning back
Tethered to a runaway train
Take me away
Torpid in the wind and rain
No turning back
I hang on to a runaway train
Take me away
[Mentor]
Reaching out to rule the world
you'll watch the mirror shatter
As you'll be dazzled by the sight
Once only diamonds mattered
How can you justify the way
When you wake up screaming
Will you pretend that you were blind
When you were really seeing
Your image everywhere
The looking glass: a sheet of ice
It's thick enough to dance on
In a frozen realm of lies
But the ice will break
And you will scream repenting
Oh boy, the ice will break
You'll just feel your heart rending
[Scarecrow]
Riding on to a world of funny flowers
Riding on to the white wide world
If coming back would hurt my pride
I'd rather take another ride
Riding on, winter on the mirror
Riding on into the unknown
If I'll awake in pain one day
I've gotta catch just one more train
[Conscience]
Days gone by
Who'd wanna live forever
On our knees up your road
Paved with good intentions
Fly high
Where angels can't breathe no more
Some dare to go blind
Some stay behind
[Scarecrow]
I hang on to a runaway train
No turning back
Tethered to a runaway train
Take me away
Torpid in the wind and rain
No turning back
I hang on to a runaway train
Take me away
Hang on to a runaway train
No turning back
Tethered to a runaway train
Take me away
Torpid in the wind and rain
in the wind and rain
I hang on to that runaway train
Lyrics submitted by 2006200720082009, edited by Zamochy
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
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”
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.
I Can't Go To Sleep
Wu-Tang Clan
Wu-Tang Clan
This song is written as the perspective of the boys in the street, as a whole, and what path they are going to choose as they get older and grow into men. (This is why the music video takes place in an orphanage.) The seen, and unseen collective suffering is imbedded in the boys’ mind, consciously or subconsciously, and is haunting them. Which path will the boys choose? Issac Hayes is the voice of reason, maybe God, the angel on his shoulder, or the voice of his forefathers from beyond the grave who can see the big picture and are pleading with the boys not to continue the violence and pattern of killing their brothers, but to rise above. The most beautiful song and has so many levels. Racism towards African Americans in America would not exist if everyone sat down and listened to this song and understood the history behind the words. The power, fear, pleading in RZA and Ghostface voices are genuine and powerful. Issac Hayes’ strong voice makes the perfect strong father figure, who is possibly from beyond the grave.
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.
The basis of the Wicked Trilogy album is about music composer dubbed The Scarecrow (Tobias Sammet) slowly going insane. His insanity births Mephistopheles (Jorn Lande) in his mind, and he falls into depression after being rejected by his unrequited love (Amanda Somerville). Tobi wrote this trilogy so The Scarecrows teeters between reality and illusions; that line being clearer in some songs more than others.
This song is about The Scarecrow listening to Mephistopheles and deciding to fall into addiction to escape his pain. This is explained in lines like:
The "runaway train" is meant to represent how The Scarecrow is ready to give up his self-control and spiral out of control in order to drown everything out. Lines such as:
"Take a train to ecstasy"
"If coming back would hurt my pride, I'd rather take another ride"
"If I'll awake in pain one day, I've gotta catch just one more train"
As well as the chorus, further reinforce this analogy.
While it's unclear if the Mentor is real or a hallucination, his lines talk about how one day The Scarecrow will sober up and realize all the horrible things he's done, and once that happens he'll "scream repenting".
I personally reckon this song is about dreams. How you can not control what happens in the realm of dreams.
One nice girl told me once that to her this seems to be about heroin, or drug addiction in general. I think she was quite right. If you read the lyrics, it seems to be pretty clear.
No disrespect, but I can't relate to that at all. I'll admit that a couple of lines could be used to reference heroine easily (use of words like white and snow generally) but thats just a small part of the song as a whole.<br /> <br /> I see the song more of as someone who has to make a choice and wondering which one to take, the paths being living in a world of illusions or accepting that reality isn't just sweet but also a bitter fact of life.
Unlike Avantasia's first set of Albums ( The Metal Opera and The Metal Opera II) The Wicked Trilogy (The Scarecrow, The Wicked Symphony and Angel of Babylon) are not a direct story. They are intentionally left open and vague. The booklet from Wicked Symphony states:
"It's a tragedy about getting caught between two worlds. Here are the good intentions, visions, the dream of creating something divine and pure that is meant to result in love. And there you've got the demons that go along with the acclaim and approval that all of us vain and proud creatures mistakenly might call love sometimes...The scarecrow is you, the scarecrow is me..."
I think this song is part of that- If you look at the albums together with "Scarecrow" telling the actual story, while the second two tell the characters emotional journey I think Runaway train is about what is dubbed "the scarecrow" deciding to turn away from the woman who he loved and who ultimately rejected him in search of other forms of fulfillment beyond the love of a single woman.