"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.
Can anybody hear me
Or am I talking to myself
My mind is running empty
In the search for someone else
Who doesn't look right through me
It's all just static in my head
Can anybody tell me why
I'm lonely like a satellite?
'Cause tonight I'm feeling like an astronaut
Sending SOS from this tiny box
And I lost all signal when I lifted off
Now I'm stuck out here and the world forgot
Can I please come down, come down
'Cause I'm tired of drifting round and round
Can I please come down?
I'm deafened by the silence
Is it something that I've done
I know that there are millions
I can't be the only one who's so disconnected
It's so different in my head
Can anybody tell me why
I'm lonely like a satellite?
'Cause tonight I'm feeling like an astronaut
Sending SOS from this tiny box
And I lost all signal when I lifted off
Now I'm stuck out here and the world forgot
Can I please come down, come down
'Cause I'm tired of drifting round and round
Can I please come down?
Now I lie awake and scream in a zero gravity
And it's starting to weigh down on me, whoa
Let's abort this mission now
Can I please come down?
So tonight I'm calling all astronauts
All the lonely people that the world forgot
If you hear my voice, come pick me up
Are you out there?
'Cause you're all I've got
And tonight I'm feeling like an astronaut
Sending SOS from this tiny box
And I lost all signal when I lifted up
Now I'm stuck out here and the world forgot
'Cause tonight I'm feeling like an astronaut
Sending SOS from this tiny box
To the lonely people that the world forgot
Are you out there?
'Cause you're all I've got
Can I please come down?
'Cause I'm tired of drifting round and round
(Can I please come down?)
Or am I talking to myself
My mind is running empty
In the search for someone else
Who doesn't look right through me
It's all just static in my head
Can anybody tell me why
I'm lonely like a satellite?
'Cause tonight I'm feeling like an astronaut
Sending SOS from this tiny box
And I lost all signal when I lifted off
Now I'm stuck out here and the world forgot
Can I please come down, come down
'Cause I'm tired of drifting round and round
Can I please come down?
I'm deafened by the silence
Is it something that I've done
I know that there are millions
I can't be the only one who's so disconnected
It's so different in my head
Can anybody tell me why
I'm lonely like a satellite?
'Cause tonight I'm feeling like an astronaut
Sending SOS from this tiny box
And I lost all signal when I lifted off
Now I'm stuck out here and the world forgot
Can I please come down, come down
'Cause I'm tired of drifting round and round
Can I please come down?
Now I lie awake and scream in a zero gravity
And it's starting to weigh down on me, whoa
Let's abort this mission now
Can I please come down?
So tonight I'm calling all astronauts
All the lonely people that the world forgot
If you hear my voice, come pick me up
Are you out there?
'Cause you're all I've got
And tonight I'm feeling like an astronaut
Sending SOS from this tiny box
And I lost all signal when I lifted up
Now I'm stuck out here and the world forgot
'Cause tonight I'm feeling like an astronaut
Sending SOS from this tiny box
To the lonely people that the world forgot
Are you out there?
'Cause you're all I've got
Can I please come down?
'Cause I'm tired of drifting round and round
(Can I please come down?)
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More Featured Meanings
Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman
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.
Blue
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
“Blue” is a song about a love that is persisting in the discomfort of the person experiencing the emotion. Ed Sheeran reflects on love lost, and although he wishes his former partner find happiness, he cannot but admit his feelings are still very much there. He expresses the realization that he might never find another on this stringed instrumental by Aaron Dessner.
Definitely one of their best songs