"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.
Mary Anne, do you remember
The tree by the river
When we were seventeen?
Dark canyon wall, the call and the answer
And the mare in the pasture
Pitch black and baring its teeth.
I recall the sun in our faces,
Stuck and leaning on braces,
And being strangers to change.
Radio and the bones we found frozen,
And all the thorns and the roses
Beneath your window pane.
Now I'm asleep in a car, I mean the world?
To a potty-mouth girl,
A pretty pair of blue-eyed birds.
Time isn't kind or unkind, you liked to say.
But I wonder to who
What it is you're saying today.
Now I'm asleep in a car, I mean the world
To a potty-mouth girl,
A pretty pair of blue-eyed birds.
Time isn't kind or unkind, you liked to say.
But I wonder to who
What it is you're saying today.
Mary Anne, do you remember
The tree by the river
When we were seventeen?
Dark canyon road, I was coy in the half-moon
Happy just to be with you,
And you were happy for me.
The tree by the river
When we were seventeen?
Dark canyon wall, the call and the answer
And the mare in the pasture
Pitch black and baring its teeth.
I recall the sun in our faces,
Stuck and leaning on braces,
And being strangers to change.
Radio and the bones we found frozen,
And all the thorns and the roses
Beneath your window pane.
Now I'm asleep in a car, I mean the world?
To a potty-mouth girl,
A pretty pair of blue-eyed birds.
Time isn't kind or unkind, you liked to say.
But I wonder to who
What it is you're saying today.
Now I'm asleep in a car, I mean the world
To a potty-mouth girl,
A pretty pair of blue-eyed birds.
Time isn't kind or unkind, you liked to say.
But I wonder to who
What it is you're saying today.
Mary Anne, do you remember
The tree by the river
When we were seventeen?
Dark canyon road, I was coy in the half-moon
Happy just to be with you,
And you were happy for me.
Lyrics submitted by letssailaway, edited by ahcanhearu
Tree by the River Lyrics as written by Samuel Ervin Beam
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
Bron-Y-Aur Stomp
Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin
This is about bronies. They communicate by stomping.
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.
My favourite line is "Happy just to be with you, and you were happy for me." To me, it's just such a sad ending to the song, and really sets the tone. On the first listen, it's a glorious narrative of young love. With that one last line, it spins the notion on its head, telling of a tale that was so beautiful, yet ultimately a love unrequited. Why wouldn't Mary Anne be happy to be with "him" too? Why was she only happy "for" him?