"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.
While he was schemin'
I was beamin' in the Beamer, just beamin'
Can't believe that I caught my man cheatin'
So I found another way to make him pay for it all
So I went
To Neiman-Marcus on a shopping spree-ah
And on the way I grabbed Sole and Mia
And as the cash box rang, I thought everything away
(Oops) there goes the dreams we used to say
(Oops) there goes the time we spent away
(Oops) there goes the love I had
But you cheated on me and that's for that now
(Oops) there goes the house we made a home
(Oops) there goes "You'll never leave me alone"
(Oops) for all the lies you told
This is what you're owed
Hey ladies
When your man wanna get buck-wild
Just go back and hit 'em up style
Get your hands on his cash and
Spend it to the last dime
For all the hard times
Oh, when you go then everything goes
From the crib to the ride and the clothes
So you better let him know that
If he mess up, you gotta hit 'em up
While he was braggin'
I was comin' down the hill just draggin'
All his pictures and his clothes in a bag and
Sold everything else 'til there was just nothin' left
And I paid
All the bills about a month too late
It's a shame we have to play these games
The love we had just fades away, away
(Oops) there goes the dreams we used to say
(Oops) there goes the time we spent away
(Oops) there goes the love I had
But you cheated on me and that's for that now
(Oops) there goes the house we made a home
(Oops) there goes "You'll never leave me alone"
(Oops) for all the lies you told
This is what you're owed
Hey ladies (hey ladies)
When your man wanna get buck-wild
Just go back and hit 'em up style
Get your hands on his cash and
Spend it to the last dime
For all the hard times
Oh (oh), when you go then everything goes
From the crib to the ride and the clothes
So you better let him know that
If he mess up, you gotta hit 'em up
Hey ladies (ladies)
When your man wanna get buck-wild (oh)
Just go back and hit 'em up style
Get your hands on his cash and
Spend it to the last dime
For all the hard times
Oh (oh), when you go then everything goes
From the crib to the ride and the clothes
So you better let him know that
If he mess up, you gotta hit 'em up
All of the dreams you sold
Left me out in the cold
What happened to the days
When we used to trust each other?
And all of the things I sold
Will take you until you get old
To get 'em back without me
'Cause revenge is just better than money, you'll see
Hey ladies
When your man wanna get buck-wild
Just go back and hit 'em up style (hit 'em up style)
Get your hands on his cash and (oh, yeah)
Oh, when you go then everything goes
From the crib to the ride and the clothes (crib to the ride and the clothes, yeah)
So you better let him know that
If he mess up, you gotta hit 'em up
(Hey ladies)
Hey ladies
Hey ladies
Hey ladies, yeah
Woah
(Oh)
Oh, oh
Oh no, yeah
Oh
If he messed up you gotta hit 'em up (hit 'em up)
Hey ladies (yeah)
When your man wanna get buck-wild
Just go back and hit 'em up style (oh)
Put your hands on his cash and (da-da-duh-dum, da-duh-dum)
Oh, when you go then everything goes (everything goes)
From the crib to the ride and the clothes (everything goes)
So you better let him know that
If he mess up, you gotta hit 'em up
I was beamin' in the Beamer, just beamin'
Can't believe that I caught my man cheatin'
So I found another way to make him pay for it all
So I went
To Neiman-Marcus on a shopping spree-ah
And on the way I grabbed Sole and Mia
And as the cash box rang, I thought everything away
(Oops) there goes the dreams we used to say
(Oops) there goes the time we spent away
(Oops) there goes the love I had
But you cheated on me and that's for that now
(Oops) there goes the house we made a home
(Oops) there goes "You'll never leave me alone"
(Oops) for all the lies you told
This is what you're owed
Hey ladies
When your man wanna get buck-wild
Just go back and hit 'em up style
Get your hands on his cash and
Spend it to the last dime
For all the hard times
Oh, when you go then everything goes
From the crib to the ride and the clothes
So you better let him know that
If he mess up, you gotta hit 'em up
While he was braggin'
I was comin' down the hill just draggin'
All his pictures and his clothes in a bag and
Sold everything else 'til there was just nothin' left
And I paid
All the bills about a month too late
It's a shame we have to play these games
The love we had just fades away, away
(Oops) there goes the dreams we used to say
(Oops) there goes the time we spent away
(Oops) there goes the love I had
But you cheated on me and that's for that now
(Oops) there goes the house we made a home
(Oops) there goes "You'll never leave me alone"
(Oops) for all the lies you told
This is what you're owed
Hey ladies (hey ladies)
When your man wanna get buck-wild
Just go back and hit 'em up style
Get your hands on his cash and
Spend it to the last dime
For all the hard times
Oh (oh), when you go then everything goes
From the crib to the ride and the clothes
So you better let him know that
If he mess up, you gotta hit 'em up
Hey ladies (ladies)
When your man wanna get buck-wild (oh)
Just go back and hit 'em up style
Get your hands on his cash and
Spend it to the last dime
For all the hard times
Oh (oh), when you go then everything goes
From the crib to the ride and the clothes
So you better let him know that
If he mess up, you gotta hit 'em up
All of the dreams you sold
Left me out in the cold
What happened to the days
When we used to trust each other?
And all of the things I sold
Will take you until you get old
To get 'em back without me
'Cause revenge is just better than money, you'll see
Hey ladies
When your man wanna get buck-wild
Just go back and hit 'em up style (hit 'em up style)
Get your hands on his cash and (oh, yeah)
Oh, when you go then everything goes
From the crib to the ride and the clothes (crib to the ride and the clothes, yeah)
So you better let him know that
If he mess up, you gotta hit 'em up
(Hey ladies)
Hey ladies
Hey ladies
Hey ladies, yeah
Woah
(Oh)
Oh, oh
Oh no, yeah
Oh
If he messed up you gotta hit 'em up (hit 'em up)
Hey ladies (yeah)
When your man wanna get buck-wild
Just go back and hit 'em up style (oh)
Put your hands on his cash and (da-da-duh-dum, da-duh-dum)
Oh, when you go then everything goes (everything goes)
From the crib to the ride and the clothes (everything goes)
So you better let him know that
If he mess up, you gotta hit 'em up
Lyrics submitted by SongMeanings
Hit 'Em Up Style Lyrics as written by Dallas Austin
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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
Mental Istid
Ebba Grön
Ebba Grön
This is one of my favorite songs. https://fnfgo.io
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.
Mountain Song
Jane's Addiction
Jane's Addiction
Jane's Addiction vocalist Perry Farrell gives Adam Reader some heartfelt insight into Jane’s Addiction's hard rock manifesto "Mountain Song", which was the second single from their revolutionary album Nothing's Shocking. Mountain song was first recorded in 1986 and appeared on the soundtrack to the film Dudes starring Jon Cryer. The version on Nothing's Shocking was re-recorded in 1988.
"'Mountain Song' was actually about... I hate to say it but... drugs. Climbing this mountain and getting as high as you can, and then coming down that mountain," reveals Farrell. "What it feels to descend from the mountain top... not easy at all. The ascension is tough but exhilarating. Getting down is... it's a real bummer. Drugs is not for everybody obviously. For me, I wanted to experience the heights, and the lows come along with it."
"There's a part - 'Cash in now honey, cash in Miss Smith.' Miss Smith is my Mother; our last name was Smith. Cashing in when she cashed in her life. So... she decided that, to her... at that time, she was desperate. Life wasn't worth it for her, that was her opinion. Some people think, never take your life, and some people find that their life isn't worth living. She was in love with my Dad, and my Dad was not faithful to her, and it broke her heart. She was very desperate and she did something that I know she regrets."
No Surprises
Radiohead
Radiohead
Same ideas expressed in Fitter, Happier are expressed in this song. We're told to strive for some sort of ideal life, which includes getting a good job, being kind to everyone, finding a partner, getting married, having a couple kids, living in a quiet neighborhood in a nice big house, etc. But in Fitter, Happier the narrator(?) realizes that it's incredibly robotic to live this life. People are being used by those in power "like a pig in a cage on antibiotics"--being pacified with things like new phones and cool gadgets and houses while being sucked dry. On No Surprises, the narrator is realizing how this life is killing him slowly. In the video, his helmet is slowly filling up with water, drowning him. But he's so complacent with it. This is a good summary of the song. This boring, "perfect" life foisted upon us by some higher powers (not spiritual, but political, economic, etc. politicians and businessmen, perhaps) is not the way to live. But there is seemingly no way out but death. He'd rather die peacefully right now than live in this cage. While our lives are often shielded, we're in our own protective bubbles, or protective helmets like the one Thom wears, if we look a little harder we can see all the corruption, lies, manipulation, etc. that is going on in the world, often run by huge yet nearly invisible organizations, corporations, and 'leaders'. It's a very hopeless song because it reflects real life.