"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.
Please fall asleep so I can take pictures of you and hang them in my room
so when I wake up feel like yeah everything's alright
You are still here, you are still happy, you are still smiling and laughing
you are still the only thing and everything I need in my life
And it goes in in out through the mouth - breathing exercises
I will never figure out til I am running in circles
or (I am) walking in circles or (I am) crawling in circles or lying on the ground
And I can hear your dog whistle from my bedroom
Yeah yeah
And I can see a flashlight cutting up the trees behind my house
Yeah yeah
Yeah yeah yeah
She's says a lot of the kids we graduated with are now homeless
which puts them in mad shady situations with mad shady people
if not everyday then on an every other day basis
And she's probably with a few of them right now
and they are probably just drinking and talking about
how she misses getting fucked up and hanging around
And he says "Hey you're good at that" and she says "Thanks, it's kind of all I got,"
and then she looks away and says "It's also all I need."
And I can smell plastic burning I can smell chemicals breaking down.
I got your last three e-mails the ones where you said, "I was sorting some things out"
And he will be able to hear her dog whistle from his bedroom
Yeah yeah
And I can see a flashlight cutting up the trees behind my house
Yeah yeah
And I will read the flashing like a morse code explanation
that will mean nothing but take all night to figure out, out, out...
(Please fall asleep so I can take pictures of you and hang them in my room
so when I wake up feel like yeah everything's alright)
when I am sad, I am sad - but when I'm happy, oh god I'm happy
there's just no place in-between for us to meet
(You are still here, you are still happy, you are still smiling and laughing
you are still the only thing and everything I need in my life)
when I am sad, I am sad - but when I'm happy, oh god I am happy
there's just no place in-between for us to meet
(Please fall asleep so I can take pictures of you and hang them in my room
so when I wake up feel like yeah everything is alright)
when I am sad, oh god I'm sad - but when I'm happy, I am happy
there's just no place in-between for us to meet
(You are still here, you are still happy, you are still smiling and laughing
you are still the only thing and everything I need in my life)
when I am sad, oh god I am sad - but when I'm happy, I am happy
and there's just no place in-between for us to meet
so when I wake up feel like yeah everything's alright
You are still here, you are still happy, you are still smiling and laughing
you are still the only thing and everything I need in my life
And it goes in in out through the mouth - breathing exercises
I will never figure out til I am running in circles
or (I am) walking in circles or (I am) crawling in circles or lying on the ground
And I can hear your dog whistle from my bedroom
Yeah yeah
And I can see a flashlight cutting up the trees behind my house
Yeah yeah
Yeah yeah yeah
She's says a lot of the kids we graduated with are now homeless
which puts them in mad shady situations with mad shady people
if not everyday then on an every other day basis
And she's probably with a few of them right now
and they are probably just drinking and talking about
how she misses getting fucked up and hanging around
And he says "Hey you're good at that" and she says "Thanks, it's kind of all I got,"
and then she looks away and says "It's also all I need."
And I can smell plastic burning I can smell chemicals breaking down.
I got your last three e-mails the ones where you said, "I was sorting some things out"
And he will be able to hear her dog whistle from his bedroom
Yeah yeah
And I can see a flashlight cutting up the trees behind my house
Yeah yeah
And I will read the flashing like a morse code explanation
that will mean nothing but take all night to figure out, out, out...
(Please fall asleep so I can take pictures of you and hang them in my room
so when I wake up feel like yeah everything's alright)
when I am sad, I am sad - but when I'm happy, oh god I'm happy
there's just no place in-between for us to meet
(You are still here, you are still happy, you are still smiling and laughing
you are still the only thing and everything I need in my life)
when I am sad, I am sad - but when I'm happy, oh god I am happy
there's just no place in-between for us to meet
(Please fall asleep so I can take pictures of you and hang them in my room
so when I wake up feel like yeah everything is alright)
when I am sad, oh god I'm sad - but when I'm happy, I am happy
there's just no place in-between for us to meet
(You are still here, you are still happy, you are still smiling and laughing
you are still the only thing and everything I need in my life)
when I am sad, oh god I am sad - but when I'm happy, I am happy
and there's just no place in-between for us to meet
Lyrics submitted by joshmurphee, edited by AbuDun
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Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
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Punchline
Ed Sheeran
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He is in duality about wanting to continue the relationship. When he wants to contact her again he is too depressed to do anything about it and when he is happy visa-versa. He wants to call her back but he keeps avoiding this. The homeless is her bad choices in guys and why he doesn't want to follow through on pursuing her. But everything is imagination and over-thinking. It's ASSuming that she is drinking with the losers from school whom are at home with their parents and unemployed and not doing anything productive. A way to convince himself not to contact her and start the relationship over. He must come up with excuses not to see her again. Like a flashlight blinking and he thinks it's a code he needs to decipher when it is not anything special at all. When he knows that he is being pathetic to her and should try to see if things can work out between them (or not) but at least try to see.... Not look for an ideal and accept her warts and all and if it works out so bet and if not so bit. But he is pathetic and will probably stay this way...