"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.
Homicide or suicide
Heads or tails
Some think life is a living hell
Some live life just living well
I live life tryna tip the scale
My way, my way
My way, my way
Yo, I'm always early
I never take off 'cause I got a job
Rob Peter to pay Paul
Now I realize it's the winner that takes all
Do what I gotta do because I can't take loss
Picture me living life as if I'm some animal
That consumes its own dreams like I'm a cannibal
I won't accept failure unless it's mechanical
But still the alcohol mixed with the botanical
I guess I be referred to the owners manual full of loaners
Full of all the homeless throwaways and the stoners
Soldiers of the streets with 8th grade diplomas
And the world awaiting their shoulders as a bonus
Look, let he without sin live without sin
Until then, I'll be doing dirty jobs like swamp men
Counting the faces of those that might have been
It's like living that life but I won't live that life again
Homicide or suicide
Heads or tails
Some think life is a living hell
Some live life just living well
I live life tryna tip the scale
My way, my way
My way, my way
Lot of niggas go to prison
How many come out Malcolm X?
I know I'm not
Shit, can't even talk about the rest
Famous last words: "You under arrest"
Will I get popped tonight? It's anybody's guess
I guess, a nigga need to stay cunning
I guess when the cops comin' need to start runnin'
I won't make the same mistakes from my last run in
You either done doing crime now or you done in
I got a brother on the run and one in
Wrote me a letter, he said when you comin'
Shit man, I thought the goal's to stay out
Back against the wall, then shoot your way out
Gettin' money's a style that never plays out
'Til you end up boxin' your stash, money's paid out
The scales of justice ain't equally weighed out
Only two ways out, digging tunnels or digging graves out
Homicide or suicide
Heads or tails
Some think life is a living hell
Some live life just living well
I live life tryna tip the scale
My way, my way
My way, my way
Homicide or suicide
Heads or Tails
Some think life is a living hell
Some live life just living well
I live life tryna tip the scale
My way, my way
My way
Heads or tails
Some think life is a living hell
Some live life just living well
I live life tryna tip the scale
My way, my way
My way, my way
Yo, I'm always early
I never take off 'cause I got a job
Rob Peter to pay Paul
Now I realize it's the winner that takes all
Do what I gotta do because I can't take loss
Picture me living life as if I'm some animal
That consumes its own dreams like I'm a cannibal
I won't accept failure unless it's mechanical
But still the alcohol mixed with the botanical
I guess I be referred to the owners manual full of loaners
Full of all the homeless throwaways and the stoners
Soldiers of the streets with 8th grade diplomas
And the world awaiting their shoulders as a bonus
Look, let he without sin live without sin
Until then, I'll be doing dirty jobs like swamp men
Counting the faces of those that might have been
It's like living that life but I won't live that life again
Homicide or suicide
Heads or tails
Some think life is a living hell
Some live life just living well
I live life tryna tip the scale
My way, my way
My way, my way
Lot of niggas go to prison
How many come out Malcolm X?
I know I'm not
Shit, can't even talk about the rest
Famous last words: "You under arrest"
Will I get popped tonight? It's anybody's guess
I guess, a nigga need to stay cunning
I guess when the cops comin' need to start runnin'
I won't make the same mistakes from my last run in
You either done doing crime now or you done in
I got a brother on the run and one in
Wrote me a letter, he said when you comin'
Shit man, I thought the goal's to stay out
Back against the wall, then shoot your way out
Gettin' money's a style that never plays out
'Til you end up boxin' your stash, money's paid out
The scales of justice ain't equally weighed out
Only two ways out, digging tunnels or digging graves out
Homicide or suicide
Heads or tails
Some think life is a living hell
Some live life just living well
I live life tryna tip the scale
My way, my way
My way, my way
Homicide or suicide
Heads or Tails
Some think life is a living hell
Some live life just living well
I live life tryna tip the scale
My way, my way
My way
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Plastic Bag
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“I overthink and have trouble sleepin’ / All purpose gone and don’t have a reason / And there’s no doctor to stop this bleedin’ / So I left home and jumped in the deep end,” Ed Sheeran sings in verse one. He continues by adding that this person is feeling the weight of having disappointed his father and doesn’t have any friends to rely on in this difficult moment. In the second verse, Ed sings about the role of grief in his friend’s plight and his dwindling faith in prayer. “Saturday night is givin’ me a reason to rely on the strobe lights / The lifeline of a promise in a shot glass, and I’ll take that / If you’re givin’ out love from a plastic bag,” Ed sings on the chorus, as his friend turns to new vices in hopes of feeling better.
What I really appreciate about this lyric is the repetitive rhyme.
in:
I won't make the same mistakes from my last run in You either done doing crime now or you done in I got a brother on the run and one in Wrote me a letter, he said when you comin'
transitions to out:
Shit man, I thought the goal's to stay out Back against the wall, then shoot your way out Gettin' money's a style that never plays out 'Til you end up boxin' your stash, money's paid out The scales of justice ain't equally weighed out Only two ways out, digging tunnels or digging graves out
Seriously who thinks of rhyming a word with the same word! 7 times in a row. Brilliant!
Another perfectly constructed lyric Tarik.