"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.
Trop de fois, j'ai appris à toucher tout ce mal
Et parfois, j'essayais de trouver ça normal.
Je pouvais me renier et puis perdre le sens
Ce besoin de crier, qui me brûle en silence.
Encore ! Perdre ma voix, encore ! Me dire parfois
Encore ! Que tout est là, encore ! Que rien ne va
Ne plus penser à ça et me dire que j'y crois
Et regarder le ciel, y voir comme un appel.
Encore ! Perdre ma voix, encore !
J'ai appris à me battre et à trouver ma voie
Que la pierre qui éclate peut me blesser parfois
Que le vent qui me pousse peut m'emmener trop loin
Et son souffle, trop souvent, effaçait mon chemin.
Encore ! Perdre ma voix, encore ! Me dire parfois
Encore ! Que tout est là, encore ! Que rien ne va
Ne plus penser à ça et me dire que j'y crois
Et regarder le ciel, y voir comme un appel.
Encore ! Perdre ma voix, encore !
Je m'endors, quitter mon corps
Mais je sais que je dois
Me lever, essayer encore une fois.
Encore ! Perdre ma voix, encore ! Me dire parfois
Encore ! Que tout est là, encore ! Que rien ne va
Ne plus penser à ça et me dire que j'y crois
Et regarder le ciel, y voir comme un appel.
Encore ! Perdre ma voix, encore !
Encore ! Perdre ma voix, encore ! Me dire parfois
Encore ! Que tout est là, encore ! Que rien ne va
Ne plus penser à ça et me dire que j'y crois
Et regarder le ciel, y voir comme un appel.
Encore ! Perdre ma voix, encore !
Et parfois, j'essayais de trouver ça normal.
Je pouvais me renier et puis perdre le sens
Ce besoin de crier, qui me brûle en silence.
Encore ! Perdre ma voix, encore ! Me dire parfois
Encore ! Que tout est là, encore ! Que rien ne va
Ne plus penser à ça et me dire que j'y crois
Et regarder le ciel, y voir comme un appel.
Encore ! Perdre ma voix, encore !
J'ai appris à me battre et à trouver ma voie
Que la pierre qui éclate peut me blesser parfois
Que le vent qui me pousse peut m'emmener trop loin
Et son souffle, trop souvent, effaçait mon chemin.
Encore ! Perdre ma voix, encore ! Me dire parfois
Encore ! Que tout est là, encore ! Que rien ne va
Ne plus penser à ça et me dire que j'y crois
Et regarder le ciel, y voir comme un appel.
Encore ! Perdre ma voix, encore !
Je m'endors, quitter mon corps
Mais je sais que je dois
Me lever, essayer encore une fois.
Encore ! Perdre ma voix, encore ! Me dire parfois
Encore ! Que tout est là, encore ! Que rien ne va
Ne plus penser à ça et me dire que j'y crois
Et regarder le ciel, y voir comme un appel.
Encore ! Perdre ma voix, encore !
Encore ! Perdre ma voix, encore ! Me dire parfois
Encore ! Que tout est là, encore ! Que rien ne va
Ne plus penser à ça et me dire que j'y crois
Et regarder le ciel, y voir comme un appel.
Encore ! Perdre ma voix, encore !
Lyrics submitted by Oliviaka
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
The Night We Met
Lord Huron
Lord Huron
This is a hauntingly beautiful song about introspection, specifically about looking back at a relationship that started bad and ended so poorly, that the narrator wants to go back to the very beginning and tell himself to not even travel down that road. I believe that the relationship started poorly because of the lines:
"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:
"I had all and then most of you"
Like many relationships that turn sour, it was not a quick decline, but a gradual one where the narrator and their partner fall out of love and gradually grow apart
"Some and now none of you"
Losing someone who was once everything in your world, who you could confide in, tell your secrets to, share all the most intimate parts of your life, to being strangers with that person is probably one of the most painful experiences a person can go through. So Painful, the narrator wants to go back in time and tell himself to not even pursue the relationship.
This was the perfect song for "13 Reasons Why"
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,
Amazing
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran tells a story of unsuccessfully trying to feel “Amazing.” This track is about the being weighed down by emotional stress despite valiant attempts to find some positivity in the situation. This track was written by Ed Sheeran from the perspective of his friend. From the track, we see this person fall deeper into the negative thoughts and slide further down the path of mental torment with every lyric.
Page
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
There aren’t many things that’ll hurt more than giving love a chance against your better judgement only to have your heart crushed yet again. Ed Sheeran tells such a story on “Page.” On this track, he is devastated to have lost his lover and even more saddened by the feeling that he may never move on from this.