"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.
I could be like a snowflake
fallen all the way from heaven into a magpie's nest,
only to place my powdered cheek gently upon his hairy chest.
I could be his Maiden Marianne gift-wrapped in cloak and silken hood,
oh, a robin-redbreast sitting high up in the tree-tops ...-
of his mo(u)rning wood.
I need, I need a silver-furred
a sugar sugar-daddy-bear,
someone who loves the front of me,
who likes to pay and loves to care.
A frizzly ursus, strong but cute,
adorable in leather, denim or tweed-suit.
I'd polish silver, 'cause I long to be spooned
on the dark, dark side of the palest moon ...
Mandrake grows beneath the gallows
in the shape of the one thing
that you should never swallow.
I know, he may look like the cutest thing you've ever seen
but, Honey, we just don't know
where this old thing of his had been ...
I almost had a secret love affair
with a dead boy's underwear.
I nicked it from the mortuary,
but the damn thing was far too small for me.
That's why each time I hear the postman ring,
I can't help wondering what he might bring.
Oh, will he have something for me,
and, if so, I wonder ... how large will his package be?
The chimney-sweep, the chimney-sweep,
he came at two o'clock,
I showed him where the furnace was,
and he showed me his cock.
He wore a bomber-jacket, black, but his hair-cut was crap,
it took him rather long to finish his annual check ...
A sylvan stronghold for the golden child,
built and looked after by heart beguiled.
A guard, a servant and a loyal king,
a winter-garden and a thermal-spring ...
fallen all the way from heaven into a magpie's nest,
only to place my powdered cheek gently upon his hairy chest.
I could be his Maiden Marianne gift-wrapped in cloak and silken hood,
oh, a robin-redbreast sitting high up in the tree-tops ...-
of his mo(u)rning wood.
I need, I need a silver-furred
a sugar sugar-daddy-bear,
someone who loves the front of me,
who likes to pay and loves to care.
A frizzly ursus, strong but cute,
adorable in leather, denim or tweed-suit.
I'd polish silver, 'cause I long to be spooned
on the dark, dark side of the palest moon ...
Mandrake grows beneath the gallows
in the shape of the one thing
that you should never swallow.
I know, he may look like the cutest thing you've ever seen
but, Honey, we just don't know
where this old thing of his had been ...
I almost had a secret love affair
with a dead boy's underwear.
I nicked it from the mortuary,
but the damn thing was far too small for me.
That's why each time I hear the postman ring,
I can't help wondering what he might bring.
Oh, will he have something for me,
and, if so, I wonder ... how large will his package be?
The chimney-sweep, the chimney-sweep,
he came at two o'clock,
I showed him where the furnace was,
and he showed me his cock.
He wore a bomber-jacket, black, but his hair-cut was crap,
it took him rather long to finish his annual check ...
A sylvan stronghold for the golden child,
built and looked after by heart beguiled.
A guard, a servant and a loyal king,
a winter-garden and a thermal-spring ...
Lyrics submitted by sheela_l
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
Dreamwalker
Silent Planet
Silent Planet
I think much like another song “Anti-Matter” (that's also on the same album as this song), this one is also is inspired by a horrifying van crash the band experienced on Nov 3, 2022. This, much like the other track, sounds like it's an extension what they shared while huddled in the wreckage, as they helped frontman Garrett Russell stem the bleeding from his head wound while he was under the temporary effects of a concussion. The track speaks of where the mind goes at the most desperate & desolate of times, when it just about slips away to all but disconnect itself, and the aftermath.
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,
Punchline
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran sings about missing his former partner and learning important life lessons in the process on “Punchline.” This track tells a story of battling to get rid of emotions for a former lover, whom he now realized might not have loved him the same way. He’s now caught between accepting that fact and learning life lessons from it and going back to beg her for another chance.
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.