"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.
Dun dun dun dun dun duh
[Chorus]
The only way that I can bring it to ya is to school ya
Lesson by lesson, (so many questions)
The only way that I can bring it to ya is to school ya
Lesson by lesson, (so many questions)
The only way that I can bring it to ya is to school ya
Lesson by lesson, (so many questions)
The only way that I can bring it to ya is to school ya
Lesson by lesson, (so many questions)
Way hate me, or should I say hate on me
Why do brothers bump they gums and debate on me
Why when I ride by and don't stop
You feel I disrespected your block
If you had a top-notch lezbo, straight from Peanuts
Sexin', tell me would you hit it without protection, uh uh
Let's make it harder, what if she had a friend
Both down for nut huggin, off the Hen, would you spend
Chips, what if I come off the hoe with six-six
Will I get back in the mix, drop some grip, or just quit
What if O.J. verdict was different thing
Would we swing, start lootin' and shootin' with Rodney King
If it was a fifth, would you share it with ya folks
So we could ride out and get smoked
I wonder if I dropped a hundred dollars would you give it back (no)
I wonder if we cool like that (hell no)
[Chorus]
You got three cute flees, one fine, one got a job, one with patience
What would you dick for a long term relation
Money is the thing, fine ones can start hatin
I'm broke so I need one with patience
If I was hella dirty, look like Mr. Furley,
With lint up in my curly hair
Would you groupie-ass girlies stare
What if I didn't have a car to skee-skirt in
Would you still be flirtin' or would it be curtains
If you got your teeth knocked out, would you re-freak the old ones
Or rush to the dentist for some gold ones
If you had forty dollars, and a hooker wanted thirty
Could we catch you out in Vegas doin' dirty
If you got one gritty and five niggas
Would you speak on the choo-choo shit to make the situation bigger
She'll do it, but now she on some new shit
You gotta go down town, enjoy the fluid
[Chorus]
How many blunts must I take to the face to be straight, forty
If I don't got five on the eighth would you fake or, smoke it
Get loaded or hold it like a buster to get cluster
Should I be rollin' with big hustlers
Would I take one and a heisteses
Want to bubble, but you can't keep up with the prices
And then I ask you, what if I sold a million plus
Should I renegotiate with that nigga Russ
[Chorus]
[Chorus]
The only way that I can bring it to ya is to school ya
Lesson by lesson, (so many questions)
The only way that I can bring it to ya is to school ya
Lesson by lesson, (so many questions)
The only way that I can bring it to ya is to school ya
Lesson by lesson, (so many questions)
The only way that I can bring it to ya is to school ya
Lesson by lesson, (so many questions)
Way hate me, or should I say hate on me
Why do brothers bump they gums and debate on me
Why when I ride by and don't stop
You feel I disrespected your block
If you had a top-notch lezbo, straight from Peanuts
Sexin', tell me would you hit it without protection, uh uh
Let's make it harder, what if she had a friend
Both down for nut huggin, off the Hen, would you spend
Chips, what if I come off the hoe with six-six
Will I get back in the mix, drop some grip, or just quit
What if O.J. verdict was different thing
Would we swing, start lootin' and shootin' with Rodney King
If it was a fifth, would you share it with ya folks
So we could ride out and get smoked
I wonder if I dropped a hundred dollars would you give it back (no)
I wonder if we cool like that (hell no)
[Chorus]
You got three cute flees, one fine, one got a job, one with patience
What would you dick for a long term relation
Money is the thing, fine ones can start hatin
I'm broke so I need one with patience
If I was hella dirty, look like Mr. Furley,
With lint up in my curly hair
Would you groupie-ass girlies stare
What if I didn't have a car to skee-skirt in
Would you still be flirtin' or would it be curtains
If you got your teeth knocked out, would you re-freak the old ones
Or rush to the dentist for some gold ones
If you had forty dollars, and a hooker wanted thirty
Could we catch you out in Vegas doin' dirty
If you got one gritty and five niggas
Would you speak on the choo-choo shit to make the situation bigger
She'll do it, but now she on some new shit
You gotta go down town, enjoy the fluid
[Chorus]
How many blunts must I take to the face to be straight, forty
If I don't got five on the eighth would you fake or, smoke it
Get loaded or hold it like a buster to get cluster
Should I be rollin' with big hustlers
Would I take one and a heisteses
Want to bubble, but you can't keep up with the prices
And then I ask you, what if I sold a million plus
Should I renegotiate with that nigga Russ
[Chorus]
Lyrics submitted by SongMeanings
Questions Lyrics as written by Jerold D. Jr. Ellis Douglas B. Rasheed
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Songtrust Ave, Missing Link Music, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
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More Featured Meanings
Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
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@[Diderik:33655] "Your a holiday!" Was a popular term used in the 50s/60s to compliment someone on their all around. For example, not only are they beautiful, but they are fun and kind too ... just an all around "holiday".
I think your first comment is closer to being accurate. The singer/song writers state "Millions of eyes can see, yet why am i so blind!? When the someone else is me, its unkind its unkind". I believe hes referring to the girl toying with him and using him. He wants something deeper with her, thats why he allows himself to be as a puppet (even though for her fun and games) as long as it makes her happy. But he knows deep down that she doesnt really want to be serious with him and thats what makes him.
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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,
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Plastic Bag
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“Plastic Bag” is a song about searching for an escape from personal problems and hoping to find it in the lively atmosphere of a Saturday night party. Ed Sheeran tells the story of his friend and the myriad of troubles he is going through. Unable to find any solutions, this friend seeks a last resort in a party and the vanity that comes with it.
“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.