"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.
Arm on hip in Boerum Hill
The summer storm cracks against the sill
Your jaw clicks when you bite the bread
I despise all the things I've said
Who can bear the things in my head?
I'm only good in small bright doses
But you stay near, you stay the closest
For the longest, and the truest
The gentian flower they say's the bluest,
Though its flowers are the fewest
I promise you we'll be allowed to live
I promise you we'll be allowed to live
I promise you we'll be allowed to live
One day we will go out to dinner
We'll drink booze and laugh like we're common sinners
Tell boring stories as if they matter
Our voices loud and bold and battered.
People staring
War-torn
Shattered
I promise you we'll be allowed to live
I promise you we'll be allowed to live
I follow you I follow you
I follow you I follow you
I follow you I follow you
I follow you I follow you
I follow you I follow you
I follow you I follow you
The summer storm cracks against the sill
Your jaw clicks when you bite the bread
I despise all the things I've said
Who can bear the things in my head?
I'm only good in small bright doses
But you stay near, you stay the closest
For the longest, and the truest
The gentian flower they say's the bluest,
Though its flowers are the fewest
I promise you we'll be allowed to live
I promise you we'll be allowed to live
I promise you we'll be allowed to live
One day we will go out to dinner
We'll drink booze and laugh like we're common sinners
Tell boring stories as if they matter
Our voices loud and bold and battered.
People staring
War-torn
Shattered
I promise you we'll be allowed to live
I promise you we'll be allowed to live
I follow you I follow you
I follow you I follow you
I follow you I follow you
I follow you I follow you
I follow you I follow you
I follow you I follow you
Lyrics submitted by musicgenie
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
When We Were Young
Blink-182
Blink-182
This is a sequel to 2001's "Reckless Abandon", and features the band looking back on their clumsy youth fondly.
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.
Punchline
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
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.