"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.
You got the lights on in the afternoon
And the nights are drawn out long
And you're kissin' to cut through the gloom
With a cough-drop colored tongue
And you were sittin' in the corner with the coats all piled high
When I thought you might be mine
In a small world on an exceptionally rainy Tuesday night
In the right place and time
When the zeros line up on the 24-hour clock
When you know who's callin' even though the number is blocked
When you walked around your house wearin' my sky blue Lacoste
And your knee socks
Well, you cured my January blues
Yeah, you made it all alright
I got a feelin' I might have lit the very fuse
That you were tryin' not to light
You were a stranger in my phonebook I was actin' like I knew
'Cause I had nothin' to lose
When the winter's in full swing and your dreams just aren't coming true
Ain't it funny what you'll do?
When the zeros line up on the 24-hour clock
When you know who's callin' even though the number is blocked
When you walked around your house wearin' my sky blue Lacoste
And your knee socks
The late afternoon, he ghost in your room
That you always thought didn't approve of you knockin' boots
Never stopped you letting me get hold of the sweet spot
By the scruff of your knee socks
You and me could've been a team
Each had a half of a king and queen seat
Like the beginnin' of Mean Streets
You could be my baby (be my baby)
You and me could've been a team
Each had a half of a king and queen seat
Like the beginnin' of Mean Streets
You could be my baby (be my baby)
You and me could've been a team (all the zeros lined up)
Each had a half of a king and queen seat
Like the beginnin' of Mean Streets
You could be my baby (be my baby) (but the number's blocked)
You and me could've been a team
Each had a half of a king and queen seat (when you've come undone)
Like the beginnin' of Mean Streets
You could be my baby (be my baby)
When the zeros line up on the 24-hour clock (all the zeros lined up)
When you know who's callin' even though the number is blocked (but the number's blocked)
When you walked around your house wearin' my sky blue Lacoste
And your knee socks (when you've come undone)
When the zeros line up on the 24-hour clock (all the zeros lined up)
When you know who's callin' even though the number is blocked
When you walked around your house wearin' my sky blue Lacoste
And your knee socks
Knee socks
Knee socks
And the nights are drawn out long
And you're kissin' to cut through the gloom
With a cough-drop colored tongue
And you were sittin' in the corner with the coats all piled high
When I thought you might be mine
In a small world on an exceptionally rainy Tuesday night
In the right place and time
When the zeros line up on the 24-hour clock
When you know who's callin' even though the number is blocked
When you walked around your house wearin' my sky blue Lacoste
And your knee socks
Well, you cured my January blues
Yeah, you made it all alright
I got a feelin' I might have lit the very fuse
That you were tryin' not to light
You were a stranger in my phonebook I was actin' like I knew
'Cause I had nothin' to lose
When the winter's in full swing and your dreams just aren't coming true
Ain't it funny what you'll do?
When the zeros line up on the 24-hour clock
When you know who's callin' even though the number is blocked
When you walked around your house wearin' my sky blue Lacoste
And your knee socks
The late afternoon, he ghost in your room
That you always thought didn't approve of you knockin' boots
Never stopped you letting me get hold of the sweet spot
By the scruff of your knee socks
You and me could've been a team
Each had a half of a king and queen seat
Like the beginnin' of Mean Streets
You could be my baby (be my baby)
You and me could've been a team
Each had a half of a king and queen seat
Like the beginnin' of Mean Streets
You could be my baby (be my baby)
You and me could've been a team (all the zeros lined up)
Each had a half of a king and queen seat
Like the beginnin' of Mean Streets
You could be my baby (be my baby) (but the number's blocked)
You and me could've been a team
Each had a half of a king and queen seat (when you've come undone)
Like the beginnin' of Mean Streets
You could be my baby (be my baby)
When the zeros line up on the 24-hour clock (all the zeros lined up)
When you know who's callin' even though the number is blocked (but the number's blocked)
When you walked around your house wearin' my sky blue Lacoste
And your knee socks (when you've come undone)
When the zeros line up on the 24-hour clock (all the zeros lined up)
When you know who's callin' even though the number is blocked
When you walked around your house wearin' my sky blue Lacoste
And your knee socks
Knee socks
Knee socks
Lyrics submitted by SongMeanings, edited by ti3gib, angelika, marttanja1735456898
Knee Socks Lyrics as written by Alex Turner
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
Bron-Y-Aur Stomp
Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin
This is about bronies. They communicate by stomping.
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.
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,
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.
"No one’s bothered if she’s wearing them. That’s what it is about, a girl who walks through your house while wearing knee socks. It’s about a winter love. There’s always songs about summer love, but this one is about winter love."