"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.
That original lifeline
Original lifeline
That original lifeline
Hey, look up
Don't make a shadow of yourself
Always shutting out the light
Caught in your own creation
Look up, look up
It tore you open
And oh, how much?
'Cause there's a hole where your heart lies
And I can see it with my third eye
And though my touch, it magnifies
You pull away, you don't know why
That original lifeline
Original lifeline
That original lifeline
Hey, look up
You don't have to be a ghost
Here amongst the living
You are flesh and blood
And you deserve to be loved
And you deserve what you are given
And oh, how much?
'Cause there's a hole where your heart lies
And I can see it with my third eye
And though my touch, it magnifies
You pull away, you don't know why
That original lifeline
Original lifeline
That original lifeline
Original lifeline
'Cause there's a hole where your heart lies
And I can see it with my third eye
And though my touch, it magnifies
You pull away, you don't know why
That original lifeline
Original lifeline
That original lifeline
That original lifeline
'Cause your pain is a tribute
The only thing you let hold you
Wear it now like a mantle
Always there to remind you
That your pain is a tribute
The only thing you let hold you
Wear it now like a mantle
Always there to remind you
I'm the same, I'm the same
I'm trying to change
I am the same, I'm the same
I'm trying to change
I am the same, I'm the same
I'm trying to change
I am the same, I'm the same
I'm trying to change
'Cause there's a hole where your heart lies
And I can see it with my third eye
And though my touch, it magnifies
You pull away, you don't know why
(I'm the same, I'm the same, I'm trying to change)
That original lifeline
(I am the same, I'm the same, I'm trying to change)
Original lifeline
(I'm the same, I'm the same, I'm trying to change)
That original lifeline
(I am the same, I'm the same, I'm trying to change)
Original lifeline
(I'm the same, I'm the same, I'm trying to change)
That original lifeline
(I am the same, I'm the same, I'm trying to change)
That original lifeline
(I am the same, I'm the same, I'm trying to change)
That original lifeline
(I am the same, I'm the same, I'm trying to change)
That original lifeline
Original lifeline
That original lifeline
Hey, look up
Don't make a shadow of yourself
Always shutting out the light
Caught in your own creation
Look up, look up
It tore you open
And oh, how much?
'Cause there's a hole where your heart lies
And I can see it with my third eye
And though my touch, it magnifies
You pull away, you don't know why
That original lifeline
Original lifeline
That original lifeline
Hey, look up
You don't have to be a ghost
Here amongst the living
You are flesh and blood
And you deserve to be loved
And you deserve what you are given
And oh, how much?
'Cause there's a hole where your heart lies
And I can see it with my third eye
And though my touch, it magnifies
You pull away, you don't know why
That original lifeline
Original lifeline
That original lifeline
Original lifeline
'Cause there's a hole where your heart lies
And I can see it with my third eye
And though my touch, it magnifies
You pull away, you don't know why
That original lifeline
Original lifeline
That original lifeline
That original lifeline
'Cause your pain is a tribute
The only thing you let hold you
Wear it now like a mantle
Always there to remind you
That your pain is a tribute
The only thing you let hold you
Wear it now like a mantle
Always there to remind you
I'm the same, I'm the same
I'm trying to change
I am the same, I'm the same
I'm trying to change
I am the same, I'm the same
I'm trying to change
I am the same, I'm the same
I'm trying to change
'Cause there's a hole where your heart lies
And I can see it with my third eye
And though my touch, it magnifies
You pull away, you don't know why
(I'm the same, I'm the same, I'm trying to change)
That original lifeline
(I am the same, I'm the same, I'm trying to change)
Original lifeline
(I'm the same, I'm the same, I'm trying to change)
That original lifeline
(I am the same, I'm the same, I'm trying to change)
Original lifeline
(I'm the same, I'm the same, I'm trying to change)
That original lifeline
(I am the same, I'm the same, I'm trying to change)
That original lifeline
(I am the same, I'm the same, I'm trying to change)
That original lifeline
(I am the same, I'm the same, I'm trying to change)
That original lifeline
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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,
No Surprises
Radiohead
Radiohead
Same ideas expressed in Fitter, Happier are expressed in this song. We're told to strive for some sort of ideal life, which includes getting a good job, being kind to everyone, finding a partner, getting married, having a couple kids, living in a quiet neighborhood in a nice big house, etc. But in Fitter, Happier the narrator(?) realizes that it's incredibly robotic to live this life. People are being used by those in power "like a pig in a cage on antibiotics"--being pacified with things like new phones and cool gadgets and houses while being sucked dry. On No Surprises, the narrator is realizing how this life is killing him slowly. In the video, his helmet is slowly filling up with water, drowning him. But he's so complacent with it. This is a good summary of the song. This boring, "perfect" life foisted upon us by some higher powers (not spiritual, but political, economic, etc. politicians and businessmen, perhaps) is not the way to live. But there is seemingly no way out but death. He'd rather die peacefully right now than live in this cage. While our lives are often shielded, we're in our own protective bubbles, or protective helmets like the one Thom wears, if we look a little harder we can see all the corruption, lies, manipulation, etc. that is going on in the world, often run by huge yet nearly invisible organizations, corporations, and 'leaders'. It's a very hopeless song because it reflects real life.
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.
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.
In my opinion, that's a very spiritualist song right there, condensing important thoughts and advises regarding our life on this body. I'll go slowly:
1) Original life line refers to the Line that bring us a vital supply, the original one. It can be interpreted as god, basic energy, but a vital and original one.
2) Hey Look up brings directly connections to the divine, always interpreted as something from above.
3) Then she advise not to make shadow of ourselves, being caught in our own creation, blocking the light. That's our resistance to be open to a spiritual view of our life, where were are educated to be thinking only in money, spending and material things. Ok, Florence may be rich, but that's not the meaning of our life
4) And if you look up, it tears you up, and Oh How Much! (in fact, that's not a question mark, but an exclamation ) and again, if you look to the divine, or spiritual world, it opens you to a different points of view
5) If you have a hole where your heart should be, that means you have no feelings, and she can see that by using her third eye, which is a kind of intuition that is connected to spiritualist thoughts. She can see that and the person she wants to advise pull her touch away, not knowing why.
6) Then she invites us to reflect that we are humans, we are alive, we deserve love and whatever you are given you deserve it. Basically, she invites you to be happy. You are born for that.
7) Cause your pain is a tribute, she reminds that we need to fight, and things do not come out so easy in our lives. In some lyrics I have found: Wear it now like a Mantle, But anyway, pain reminds us that it's the only thing that hold us. Life is not paradise.
8) And finally, a vague but powerful sentence: I'm the same / I'm the same / I'm trying to change. Basically, our spirit remains the same. We can live multiple lives, but all the time, we need to try to change. To evolve. That's the whole concept behind spiritualistic view of life: throughout suffering some bad moments and life, feeling "the pain", we need trying to change, preferably to a better person, and your spirit goes on and on and on...
That's my interpretation of her message