"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.
Try not to think so much about
The truly staggering amount of oil that it takes to make a record
All the shipping, the vinyl, the cellophane lining
The high gloss
The tape and the gear
Try not to become too consumed
With what's a criminal volume of oil that it takes to paint a portrait
The acrylic, the varnish
Aluminum tubes filled with latex
The solvents and dye
Lets just call this what it is
The jealous side of mankind's death wish
When it's my time to go
Gonna leave behind things that won't decompose
Try not to dwell so much upon
How it won't be so very long from now that they laugh at us for selling
A bunch of 15 year olds made from dinosaur bones singing "oh yeah"
Again and again
Right up to the end
Lets just call this what it is
The jealous side of mankind's death wish
When it's my time to go
Gonna leave behind things that won't decompose
I'll just call this what it is
My vanity gone wild with my crisis
One day this all will [Unknown]
Now sure hope they make something useful out of me
The truly staggering amount of oil that it takes to make a record
All the shipping, the vinyl, the cellophane lining
The high gloss
The tape and the gear
Try not to become too consumed
With what's a criminal volume of oil that it takes to paint a portrait
The acrylic, the varnish
Aluminum tubes filled with latex
The solvents and dye
Lets just call this what it is
The jealous side of mankind's death wish
When it's my time to go
Gonna leave behind things that won't decompose
Try not to dwell so much upon
How it won't be so very long from now that they laugh at us for selling
A bunch of 15 year olds made from dinosaur bones singing "oh yeah"
Again and again
Right up to the end
Lets just call this what it is
The jealous side of mankind's death wish
When it's my time to go
Gonna leave behind things that won't decompose
I'll just call this what it is
My vanity gone wild with my crisis
One day this all will [Unknown]
Now sure hope they make something useful out of me
Lyrics submitted by casiopt10, edited by tdurden, lyricsmatter
Now I'm Learning to Love the War Lyrics as written by Joshua Michael Tillman
Lyrics © Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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More Featured Meanings
Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman
Gentle Hour
Yo La Tengo
Yo La Tengo
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,
Magical
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
How would you describe the feeling of being in love? For Ed Sheeran, the word is “Magical.” in HIS three-minute album opener, he makes an attempt to capture the beauty and delicacy of true love with words. He describes the magic of it all over a bright Pop song produced by Aaron Dessner.
Blue
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
“Blue” is a song about a love that is persisting in the discomfort of the person experiencing the emotion. Ed Sheeran reflects on love lost, and although he wishes his former partner find happiness, he cannot but admit his feelings are still very much there. He expresses the realization that he might never find another on this stringed instrumental by Aaron Dessner.
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.
A spittoon or a port-o-poty
I believe potty has two p's, but it doesn't really matter. Both would be used for suitable crap.