"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.
Heavy humid night, corner of Park and Main
Cast that first glance: your smile, my veins
At maximum capacity, blood pumping so fast
My girl, if looks gave heart attacks
The dangerous men in the shadows
Were like an audience
And even the meanest among them
Had a special little shine
In their eyes when they saw us walk by
Walked about twenty blocks talking
About good bars
And better towns than this one
Kissed that first night
And then the rain opened up the sky to get
One last kiss, I love you like an alcoholic
One last kiss, I love you like a statuette
One last kiss
I need you like I need a broken leg
I was getting off the late shift
Attempting to recover
Crumpled up the bus pass
Tossed it into the gutter
Some handsome dark stranger
You were standing there on the corner
You had those compelling magnetized
Eyes you must have lost when you got older
Seven blocks in, my fingers brushed your hand
I blushed and you laughed
But you seemed a little sad
I ain't one to jump a ship
But I absolutely knew
I was six steps in when I fell into you
One last kiss, I love you like a broken pot
One last kiss, I love you like a pack of dogs
One last kiss
I need you like I need a gaping head wound
One last kiss, I love you like an alcoholic
One last kiss, I love you like a négligée
One last kiss
I need you like I need a broken leg
Cast that first glance: your smile, my veins
At maximum capacity, blood pumping so fast
My girl, if looks gave heart attacks
The dangerous men in the shadows
Were like an audience
And even the meanest among them
Had a special little shine
In their eyes when they saw us walk by
Walked about twenty blocks talking
About good bars
And better towns than this one
Kissed that first night
And then the rain opened up the sky to get
One last kiss, I love you like an alcoholic
One last kiss, I love you like a statuette
One last kiss
I need you like I need a broken leg
I was getting off the late shift
Attempting to recover
Crumpled up the bus pass
Tossed it into the gutter
Some handsome dark stranger
You were standing there on the corner
You had those compelling magnetized
Eyes you must have lost when you got older
Seven blocks in, my fingers brushed your hand
I blushed and you laughed
But you seemed a little sad
I ain't one to jump a ship
But I absolutely knew
I was six steps in when I fell into you
One last kiss, I love you like a broken pot
One last kiss, I love you like a pack of dogs
One last kiss
I need you like I need a gaping head wound
One last kiss, I love you like an alcoholic
One last kiss, I love you like a négligée
One last kiss
I need you like I need a broken leg
Lyrics submitted by erinthesails, edited by Zwazowski
I Love You Like an Alcoholic Lyrics as written by Andrew Link Alexander Bekuhrs
Lyrics © Songtrust Ave
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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Ed Sheeran sings about missing his former partner and learning important life lessons in the process on “Punchline.” This track tells a story of battling to get rid of emotions for a former lover, whom he now realized might not have loved him the same way. He’s now caught between accepting that fact and learning life lessons from it and going back to beg her for another chance.
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"Cast that first glance... if looks gave heart attacks"
He immediately fell in love with her, albeit based on her looks
"The dangerous men in the shadows were like an audience, and even the meanest among them had a special little shine in their eyes when they saw us"
Even with their own cruelty 'the dangerous men in the shadows' felt pity for the man knowing she was the type of woman to chew men up and spit them out.
"One last kiss, I love you like an alcoholic"
He knows he's already addicted to her
"One last kiss, I love you like a statuette"
She views him as being beautiful and breakable
"One last kiss, I need you like I need a broken leg"
Even he knows she's not good for him
"Crumpled up the bus pass and tossed it in the gutter"
A physical representation of how little she cares about things
"You had those compelling magnetized eyes that you must have lost when you got older"
She recognized he had been broken before by a woman and was likely no longer 'magnetized', or drawn near, others easily because of it.
"I ain't one to jump a ship, but I absolutely knew I was six steps in when I fell into you"
She wouldn't stay because she found herself having feelings for him and felt guilt at breaking him further.
"One last kiss, I love you like a negligee"
She does not find actual relief in sex, therefore loving him like a negligee means she would find no pleasure in hurting him emotionally.
Basically, a song about love at first sight with a woman who toys with men's heart to relieve the stressors of her life. Upon meeting this man, though, she felt something different for him and the guilt of breaking him further than he already was made her decide to stay away - after one last kiss. They both know they're bad for the other; on the man's side because he could tell what type of woman she usually was, and on the woman's because she knew what heartache she would bring to him if she stayed.
@ShhMollyKnows holy shit, this take is almost hilarious in how sexist and dumb it is!