"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.
Oh they danced on the ceiling
And they danced on the wall
At the Gandy Dancer's ball
Hey! swing around, swing around,
Swing around the Jimmy John
Swing around, swing around
The Jimmy, Jimmy John
Swing around, swing around
Swing around the Jimmy John
Swing the pretty girl round
The Jimmy, Jimmy John
The Gandy Dancer is a railroad man
And his work is never done
With his pick and his shovel and his willing hands
He makes the railroad run
There's Macanaw Mack and Toledo Jack
And the boys from Idaho
And the Frisco kid and Saginaw Sid
And good old Cotton-eyed Joe
Oh they danced on the ceiling
And they danced on the wall
At the Gandy Dancer's ball
Hey! swing around, swing around,
Swing around the Jimmy John
Swing around, swing around
The Jimmy, Jimmy John
Swing around, swing around
Swing around the Jimmy John
Swing the pretty girl round
The Jimmy, Jimmy John
The boys will gather at the great affair
The Gandy Dancer's ball
A-kissin' their ladies with perfumed hair
And prancin' round the hall
They got the biggest band in all the land
And the rhythm rocks the room
And they holler out with a mighty shout
When the big bass drum goes boom
Oh they danced on the ceiling
And they danced on the wall
At the Gandy Dancer's ball
Hey! swing around, swing around,
Swing around the Jimmy John
Swing around, swing around
The Jimmy, Jimmy John
Swing around, swing around
Swing around the Jimmy John
Swing the pretty girl round
The Jimmy, Jimmy John
The railroads bring 'em to the great affair
The Gandy Dancer's ball
An' every line is represented there
The big ones and the small
There's the M-K-T and the old SP
And the Lehigh Valley too
The C-N-J and the Santa Fe
The Southern and the Soo.
Oh they danced on the ceiling
And they danced on the wall
At the Gandy Dancer's ball
Hey! swing around, swing around,
Swing around the Jimmy John
Swing around, swing around
The Jimmy, Jimmy John
Swing around, swing around
Swing around the Jimmy John
Swing the pretty girl round
The Jimmy, Jimmy John
They danced all day
And they danced all night
They all danced till the broad daylight
At the Gandy Dancer's ball
(swing around, swing around
Swing around, swing around
The Jimmy John)
And they danced on the wall
At the Gandy Dancer's ball
Hey! swing around, swing around,
Swing around the Jimmy John
Swing around, swing around
The Jimmy, Jimmy John
Swing around, swing around
Swing around the Jimmy John
Swing the pretty girl round
The Jimmy, Jimmy John
The Gandy Dancer is a railroad man
And his work is never done
With his pick and his shovel and his willing hands
He makes the railroad run
There's Macanaw Mack and Toledo Jack
And the boys from Idaho
And the Frisco kid and Saginaw Sid
And good old Cotton-eyed Joe
Oh they danced on the ceiling
And they danced on the wall
At the Gandy Dancer's ball
Hey! swing around, swing around,
Swing around the Jimmy John
Swing around, swing around
The Jimmy, Jimmy John
Swing around, swing around
Swing around the Jimmy John
Swing the pretty girl round
The Jimmy, Jimmy John
The boys will gather at the great affair
The Gandy Dancer's ball
A-kissin' their ladies with perfumed hair
And prancin' round the hall
They got the biggest band in all the land
And the rhythm rocks the room
And they holler out with a mighty shout
When the big bass drum goes boom
Oh they danced on the ceiling
And they danced on the wall
At the Gandy Dancer's ball
Hey! swing around, swing around,
Swing around the Jimmy John
Swing around, swing around
The Jimmy, Jimmy John
Swing around, swing around
Swing around the Jimmy John
Swing the pretty girl round
The Jimmy, Jimmy John
The railroads bring 'em to the great affair
The Gandy Dancer's ball
An' every line is represented there
The big ones and the small
There's the M-K-T and the old SP
And the Lehigh Valley too
The C-N-J and the Santa Fe
The Southern and the Soo.
Oh they danced on the ceiling
And they danced on the wall
At the Gandy Dancer's ball
Hey! swing around, swing around,
Swing around the Jimmy John
Swing around, swing around
The Jimmy, Jimmy John
Swing around, swing around
Swing around the Jimmy John
Swing the pretty girl round
The Jimmy, Jimmy John
They danced all day
And they danced all night
They all danced till the broad daylight
At the Gandy Dancer's ball
(swing around, swing around
Swing around, swing around
The Jimmy John)
Lyrics submitted by SongMeanings
The Gandy Dancer's Ball Lyrics as written by Paul Mason Howard Paul Weston
Lyrics © HANOVER MUSIC CORPORATION
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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More Featured Meanings
Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman
Holiday
Bee Gees
Bee Gees
@[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.
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.
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.
Plastic Bag
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
“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.