"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.
You walked all the way from the Griffen to the Moon & Bell
Threw up outside the Curzon & that's where you fell
And that's how you ripped your tights
But you made it back on your feet all right
With the girl from Baker's Oven holding back your hair
The girl from Baker's Oven holding back your hair
The Garton had a 3 for 1 on beer and I was gone
I picked a fight I couldn't finish with a Marine from the village
He won
And sometime later, on his birthday
He made the pages of the Leicester Mercury
"Get it out for the lads
Get it up for the British
Get it off for the town
Let it down for the village"
LA LA LA LA LA LA LA (LA LA LA LA LA LA LA)
LA LA LA LA LA LA LA (LA LA LA LA LA LA LA)
LA LA LA LA LA LA, LA LA LA LA LA LA LA
Well, we ended up in Echoes, making lips at the floor
We'd run out of conversation 2 Friday nights before
The room was spinning, I wasn't dancing
The beat was much too old for dancing
My feet followed my neck and found the door
Oh, I wish I didn't have to hang out here anymore
LA LA LA LA LA LA LA (LA LA LA LA LA LA LA)
LA LA LA LA LA LA LA (LA LA LA LA LA LA LA)
LA LA LA LA LA LA, LA LA LA LA LA LA LA
Well, you got a lift back home to Walton on the Wolds
With a head like the Waltzers, bruises and ashtray clothes
And in the evening when you wake up
You will slap make up on the make up
That you slapped on the skin the night before
That you slapped on the skin the night before
LA LA LA LA LA LA LA (LA LA LA LA LA LA LA)
LA LA LA LA LA LA LA (LA LA LA LA LA LA LA)
LA LA LA LA LA LA, LA LA LA LA LA LA LA
Threw up outside the Curzon & that's where you fell
And that's how you ripped your tights
But you made it back on your feet all right
With the girl from Baker's Oven holding back your hair
The girl from Baker's Oven holding back your hair
The Garton had a 3 for 1 on beer and I was gone
I picked a fight I couldn't finish with a Marine from the village
He won
And sometime later, on his birthday
He made the pages of the Leicester Mercury
"Get it out for the lads
Get it up for the British
Get it off for the town
Let it down for the village"
LA LA LA LA LA LA LA (LA LA LA LA LA LA LA)
LA LA LA LA LA LA LA (LA LA LA LA LA LA LA)
LA LA LA LA LA LA, LA LA LA LA LA LA LA
Well, we ended up in Echoes, making lips at the floor
We'd run out of conversation 2 Friday nights before
The room was spinning, I wasn't dancing
The beat was much too old for dancing
My feet followed my neck and found the door
Oh, I wish I didn't have to hang out here anymore
LA LA LA LA LA LA LA (LA LA LA LA LA LA LA)
LA LA LA LA LA LA LA (LA LA LA LA LA LA LA)
LA LA LA LA LA LA, LA LA LA LA LA LA LA
Well, you got a lift back home to Walton on the Wolds
With a head like the Waltzers, bruises and ashtray clothes
And in the evening when you wake up
You will slap make up on the make up
That you slapped on the skin the night before
That you slapped on the skin the night before
LA LA LA LA LA LA LA (LA LA LA LA LA LA LA)
LA LA LA LA LA LA LA (LA LA LA LA LA LA LA)
LA LA LA LA LA LA, LA LA LA LA LA LA LA
Lyrics submitted by middledistancerunner
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
Mental Istid
Ebba Grön
Ebba Grön
This is one of my favorite songs. https://fnfgo.io
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,
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.
No song comes as close to capturing the experience of late teenage alienation (in Loughborough or anywhere else).