"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.
20 weeks ago i started stabbing syntax, shunning linguistic swordplay,
thesis foreplay for four days of metaphors that paid me to slay lyrical
content with big words and over-priced verbs and two-thirds of
incoherent blurbs, traveling in herds, quote unquote juxtaposed when
they step on eachother's toes, call eachother names, use put downs
/ quit horsing around, im trying to rap for my friends /
cus i have two cents on sorrow and a nickle on regret. i put a dollar on
tomorrow and assume all my debts. with a loan from self worth,
having paid off self pity, with a fistful of mic, and a mouthful of city
[flint of gruvis malt:]
i wrote this composition on a flight to LA
i may be locked in at home but right here i'm inspectin the neck section
of the stewardess who step fetchin
can't stop from guessin which direction i could take to get to undress
this soft lesson
smilin while she hands me a drink
i haven't written for four months and this woman pulled it out of me
leave it up to sexual curiosity to spark my creativity
i've always been an advocate for feminism
but American Airlines has some hella fine weaponry
this is flight five billion for me
and most of the time i feel most grounded when my head's in the clouds, literally
it's pitiful how i remember turbulence vividly
why good times visit; quickly steamin the bathroom mirror
with happiness out of the way, my career vision becomes clearer
can't kick it for more than two hours baby
i have to make sure these packages get sent out
you knew the rules when you got into this
you want attention undivided? no, i can't play that part
your design is quite distracting, but you can't compete with art
maintain a parallel, if you wanna share my time
cuz when i set my plans you'll find yourself buried in my rhymes
so once you see me posted on a curb, on the corner of Shattuck and Hearst
with a notepad and a pen - you'll see me again
backstage at a show, with a bloody nose and a lip just the same
with only a mic to blame - you'll see me again
at the laundromat, bobbin my head to the beat of a dryer
swooning over a girl putting up flyers for a punk rock show - you'll see me again
at the goodwill, out of money, askin for 10s 5s and 20s
risin the selection of the ugly sweater section - you'll see me again
asleep on the bus, or atop the bandstand
with a backpack to my side, or a mic in my hand
whether dreaming on mass transit, or manhandling the stage
it's all for the best, my mind's in the right place.
thesis foreplay for four days of metaphors that paid me to slay lyrical
content with big words and over-priced verbs and two-thirds of
incoherent blurbs, traveling in herds, quote unquote juxtaposed when
they step on eachother's toes, call eachother names, use put downs
/ quit horsing around, im trying to rap for my friends /
cus i have two cents on sorrow and a nickle on regret. i put a dollar on
tomorrow and assume all my debts. with a loan from self worth,
having paid off self pity, with a fistful of mic, and a mouthful of city
[flint of gruvis malt:]
i wrote this composition on a flight to LA
i may be locked in at home but right here i'm inspectin the neck section
of the stewardess who step fetchin
can't stop from guessin which direction i could take to get to undress
this soft lesson
smilin while she hands me a drink
i haven't written for four months and this woman pulled it out of me
leave it up to sexual curiosity to spark my creativity
i've always been an advocate for feminism
but American Airlines has some hella fine weaponry
this is flight five billion for me
and most of the time i feel most grounded when my head's in the clouds, literally
it's pitiful how i remember turbulence vividly
why good times visit; quickly steamin the bathroom mirror
with happiness out of the way, my career vision becomes clearer
can't kick it for more than two hours baby
i have to make sure these packages get sent out
you knew the rules when you got into this
you want attention undivided? no, i can't play that part
your design is quite distracting, but you can't compete with art
maintain a parallel, if you wanna share my time
cuz when i set my plans you'll find yourself buried in my rhymes
so once you see me posted on a curb, on the corner of Shattuck and Hearst
with a notepad and a pen - you'll see me again
backstage at a show, with a bloody nose and a lip just the same
with only a mic to blame - you'll see me again
at the laundromat, bobbin my head to the beat of a dryer
swooning over a girl putting up flyers for a punk rock show - you'll see me again
at the goodwill, out of money, askin for 10s 5s and 20s
risin the selection of the ugly sweater section - you'll see me again
asleep on the bus, or atop the bandstand
with a backpack to my side, or a mic in my hand
whether dreaming on mass transit, or manhandling the stage
it's all for the best, my mind's in the right place.
Lyrics submitted by logicandlove
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Fast Car
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"Take me back to the night we met:When the night was full of terrors: And your eyes were filled with tears: When you had not touched me yet"
So, the first night was not a great start, but the narrator pursued the relationship and eventually both overcame the rough start to fall in love with each other:
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"Some and now none of you"
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“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.
lyrics for the first verse of this one i got from eric directly, and the rest i transcribed. i admit i'm not too sure about this line though:
why good times visit; quickly steamin the bathroom mirror