"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.
“Dear God, what have you done?” Those words ring loud in the back of your head. That bottle lies in a thick, blood red. “I ain’t no forgiver, forgetter.” Our mother waits in vain for a God that never loved us. As much as she prayed, he never showed up. “Dear God, where have you gone?” Your brother is gone in the blink of an eye. That January night, our father lays cold. “Where are you going to go? You’re only seventeen years old. I ain’t no forgiver, forgetter.” Those cold steel tracks beneath your feet, those same rail ties where you dodged those trains. When we were just two kids, it still feels the same; that warm blood rush when the train comes. “I ain’t no forgiver, forgetter. I will find you, and put that vice to your head. Again, and again, and again.”
Lyrics submitted by Druvisyo
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
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,
When We Were Young
Blink-182
Blink-182
This is a sequel to 2001's "Reckless Abandon", and features the band looking back on their clumsy youth fondly.
Magical
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
How would you describe the feeling of being in love? For Ed Sheeran, the word is “Magical.” in HIS three-minute album opener, he makes an attempt to capture the beauty and delicacy of true love with words. He describes the magic of it all over a bright Pop song produced by Aaron Dessner.
Not sure all of this is right but it seems like.... his 17 year old brother committed suicide by standing on the train tracks. And he can't forgive God for letting this happen and he can't forget about it. His mother believes in God and begs for him to help, but God never helps. His and his brother used to go on the train tracks and play chicken for the "warm blood rush" or 'thrill' you get from doing something so risky. When the son left the house before doing this like he was running away, the father was just like "where are you going to go? You’re only seventeen years old." knowing his son will just come right back. But when he found out what happened he was shocked and "layed cold".
A solid try but a fair way off the mark.<br /> <br /> All of Defeater's main albums (The LPs) follow different people in a family living in post WW2 New Jersey. The first album, Travels, focused on the life and events of the younger brother of the family. One of these events, detailed in the fourth song "Forgiver Forgetter" is the Younger Brother stepping inbetween a fight between his drug addicted Mother and alcoholic Father. The Younger brother kills the Father in this song and runs away from home.<br /> <br /> Empty Days & Sleepless Nights details the events in the life of the Older Brother from the moment the Younger Brother runs away in "Forgiver Forgetter" to when he returns in "Debts", giving us perspective on what life was like for the family while he was away. "Warm Blood Rush" takes place for the most part during and immediately after "Forgiver Forgetter". having several lines in common with it like 'dear god, what have you done' and 'I ain't no forgiver forgetter', instantly drawing links between the two songs.<br /> <br /> The line "That bottle lies in a thick, blood red." is referring to the fact that the Younger Brother killed the Father with an empty bottle of whiskey, the bottle now having been left in a pool of blood. <br /> <br /> Regarding the Older Brother's lines "Our mother waits in vain for a God that never loved us. As much as she prayed, he never showed up.", this tells us that his Mother is a religious woman, but he does not share her faith and you could go as far to say that perhaps the Older Brother did believe at one point, but he no longer thinks that God cares about them, or simply doesn't exist.<br /> <br /> The following lines, "Your brother is gone in the blink of an eye.", shows us that from the Older Brother's perspective, his younger sibling left extremely fast considering he just murdered his father. "That January night, our father lays cold." tells us this took place in January, the Father now dead.<br /> <br /> While originally I believed it was the Mother that said, "where are you going to go? You’re only seventeen years old." it would appear that it being in the same quotation marks as the next line means it was spoken by the Older Brother, indicating that he knows the Younger Brother has nowhere to turn to, as their home is all they've ever had, also taking into account his age, as this takes place in the early 60's, (The Younger Brother is known to be born March 1945), support for a runaway like him wouldn't exist, living outside a family environment would be extremely difficult.<br /> <br /> The following line is extremely important, as it is one of the core traits of the Older Brother. "I ain’t no forgiver, forgetter." This is the one thing that the Older Brother clings onto during the absence of the Younger, his burning need for revenge, to the point where he declares, in the last lines, that he will kill his brother in exactly the same fashion that the Younger Brother killed their Father.<br /> <br /> The following lines, "Those cold steel tracks beneath your feet, those same rail ties where you dodged those trains. When we were just two kids, it still feels the same; that warm blood rush when the train comes.", are most likely directly referencing events that took place in 'Everything Went Quiet' from the first album, which details the two brothers, earlier in their lives as they play 'Chicken' with trains on the railway some distance from their home and town. It would appear that the Older Brother believes the Younger Brother will attempt to leave town by the railways and remembers the times where they would have many near misses, and he thinks back on the 'warm blood rush' he felt as the trains would go past them. This is important as that railway and those trains are a key linking factor between the two brothers.<br /> <br /> Well at the end of this wall of text that I wasn't really expecting, I'd say go listen to the first and second albums with the lyrics infront of you, and see the story unfold. Because it is a beautifully tragic story, one that I do hope will evolve into something beyond the original music that showcases it now.<br /> <br /> A third album exists that follows the Father, and covers a period of time before the first two albums, detailing the backstory of the Father and provides some much welcome context as to why the Father behaved the way he did, but that is another story, for another time.<br /> <br /> I do hope this helped, and holy damn do I apparently love this band...<br />
I'm pretty sure this is from the older brothers perspective on the entire story, where on the travels lp it's about the younger brothers. This song would take place, right after the younger brother has murdered their father and left town. The older brother is in shock and becomes determined to find his brother and make him pay for what he's done to their family.