"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.
He's a dog
But he's dressed up like a sheep
Got bones all through the backyard
But he likes to drink tea
We play scrabble on the weekend
And he talks about the weather most of the time
I thought my sacred body with him
It would be fine
And I walked into the doorway
He slid across the room
My heart, it started racing
I just didn't know what to do
And he laid me on the floor
And my screams they go unheard
The lady living next door
Well, she's 6 feet under the dirt
Daddy, why don't you protect me?
Someone's gonna hurt me, there's nothing I can do
Daddy, why don't you protect me?
Someone's gonna hurt me, there's nothing I can do
He's a dog
But he's dressed up like a sheep
He's got bones all through the backyard
But he likes to fool me
And I travel through the doorway
I thought I'd be fine
But it's not the way it's gonna go
This time
Daddy, why don't you protect me?
Someone's gonna hurt me, there's nothing I can do
Daddy, why don't you protect me?
Somebody is going to hurt me, there's nothing I can do
And all this time I needed you
And all this time I wanted you
You can't hear me now, can't hear me now
Like you do
Daddy, why don't you protect me?
Someone's gonna hurt me, there's nothing I can do
Daddy, why don't you protect me?
Somebody is going to hurt me, there's nothing I, I can do
But he's dressed up like a sheep
Got bones all through the backyard
But he likes to drink tea
We play scrabble on the weekend
And he talks about the weather most of the time
I thought my sacred body with him
It would be fine
And I walked into the doorway
He slid across the room
My heart, it started racing
I just didn't know what to do
And he laid me on the floor
And my screams they go unheard
The lady living next door
Well, she's 6 feet under the dirt
Daddy, why don't you protect me?
Someone's gonna hurt me, there's nothing I can do
Daddy, why don't you protect me?
Someone's gonna hurt me, there's nothing I can do
He's a dog
But he's dressed up like a sheep
He's got bones all through the backyard
But he likes to fool me
And I travel through the doorway
I thought I'd be fine
But it's not the way it's gonna go
This time
Daddy, why don't you protect me?
Someone's gonna hurt me, there's nothing I can do
Daddy, why don't you protect me?
Somebody is going to hurt me, there's nothing I can do
And all this time I needed you
And all this time I wanted you
You can't hear me now, can't hear me now
Like you do
Daddy, why don't you protect me?
Someone's gonna hurt me, there's nothing I can do
Daddy, why don't you protect me?
Somebody is going to hurt me, there's nothing I, I can do
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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”
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,
American Town
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran shares a short story of reconnecting with an old flame on “American Town.” The track is about a holiday Ed Sheeran spends with his countrywoman who resides in America. The two are back together after a long period apart, and get around to enjoying a bunch of fun activities while rekindling the flames of their romance.
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 definitely think this song is about rape. Not only about rape, but murder as well. I feel like it's about a girl who places her trust in a man who comes across as someone harmless (he's a dog but he's dressed up like a sheep). He has had other victims (bones all through the back yard) literally in his back yard, and figuratively as secrets or deceiving. "And I walked into the doorway, He slid across the room. My heart, it started racing,I just didn't know what to do. And he laid me on the floor,And my screams they go unheard.The lady living next door,Well she's 6 feet under the dirt"--I think this entire section speaks for itself; about the rape.
This song reminds me so much of the book/movie "the lovely bones". Which is about a young girl who gets raped and murdered by a man who she thought was harmless. Once she has passed, she revisits her father whom desperately wishes he could have protected her, and reflects upon her murder/rape.