"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.
No matter what the weather, we be getting our cheddar
So we can have a better tomorrow
Oh, money, cars, superstars, getting ours, working hard
For a better tomorrow
Coach, put me in the game
I'm for real, other peoples tryna to put me in them chains
Whatever the topic, let's put it in the frame
We can even load it and cock it and put it in they brains
I'm saying, some rappers do it for a chain
Kill yourself, I know killers that'll do it for some change
These veterans is slipping, they ain't doing it the same
I don't slip, set a pick and put a shooter in your lane
Precise, 'bout shoot them at the range
But I ain't tryna shoot it with you rappers, I'll just shoot it at your dame
Y'all never should have threw me in the game
Found a new word for weed, that was so mean
I threw it in my name
My soul laid out on the block like arms spraying
The law hating, warring like Blacks and Caucasians
God versus Satan, I'm laying in the dark
With the Mossberg, waiting, letting off first basing
Slim from the cotton club washing a scrub
Deuce high when he cruise by, spotting his love
Hold the mic like a .38 muzzle to snub
This flow, call it OJ blood on the glove
Above rap, capital G's speak on the facts
Please believe that, meaning that I keep it a stack
He's back, he a beast on the track
The only time that I go soft is probably with your freak in the sack
Feel the bass make sure he shake
Murder verse, first forty-eight
Manslaughter, nearly caught a case
I crack heads more than base
Stack bread when I orchestrate, that said y'all the base
No matter what the weather, we be getting that cheddar
So we can have a better tomorrow
Oh, money, cars, superstars, getting ours, working hard
For a better tomorrow
I seen niggas sniff coke through a crazy straw
Come out they shirts sweating bullets with the Bobby Brown jaw
Dry mouth, grinding back and forth plus he's steaming a Newport
We all holdin' the torch
A few staircase murders, some burners don't blam right
Guns that kicked around the wall you better stand tight
Full of X, AK's, whilin' in lobbys, bulletproof PJ's
Fuck around and get spunned like the DJ
Csi traumatized by viewing the instant replay
Spongebob niggas get scars nigga
I'm off style in any section of the hood I'll pull your car nigga
No matter what the weather, we be getting that cheddar
So we can have a better tomorrow
Oh, money, cars, superstars, getting ours, working hard
For a better tomorrow
See ignorance wouldn't allow retreat
So you rather pursue death than admit defeat
See ignorance wouldn't allow retreat
So you rather pursue death than admit defeat (ay yo, ay yo, ay yo, yo)
I used to be so narcissistic, park the whip and spark the biscuits
Spit hollow tipped shells at the Narcs with quickness
Live to tell the tale, 'cause only God's my witness
Been a long time, change gonna come son, I'm optimistic
I hold the steel like Ron O'Neal
Super fly, do or die, killer hill, Brownsville
Never win, never will, yes I can, yes I will
Put a dot upon your knot then I drill through your grill
Like a dentist, my apprentice speaks with a vengeance
Demented scientists counting bodies in the trenches
That's judges off the benches, got inches for y'all wenches
We plant those hot seeds then drove in cold winters
No matter what the weather, we be getting that cheddar
So we can have a better tomorrow
Oh, money, cars, superstars, getting ours, working hard
For a better tomorrow
See ignorance wouldn't allow retreat
So you rather pursue death than admit defeat
See ignorance wouldn't allow retreat
So you rather pursue death than admit defeat
No matter what the weather, we be getting that cheddar
So we can have a better tomorrow
Oh, money, cars, superstars, getting ours, working hard
For a better tomorrow
So we can have a better tomorrow
Oh, money, cars, superstars, getting ours, working hard
For a better tomorrow
Coach, put me in the game
I'm for real, other peoples tryna to put me in them chains
Whatever the topic, let's put it in the frame
We can even load it and cock it and put it in they brains
I'm saying, some rappers do it for a chain
Kill yourself, I know killers that'll do it for some change
These veterans is slipping, they ain't doing it the same
I don't slip, set a pick and put a shooter in your lane
Precise, 'bout shoot them at the range
But I ain't tryna shoot it with you rappers, I'll just shoot it at your dame
Y'all never should have threw me in the game
Found a new word for weed, that was so mean
I threw it in my name
My soul laid out on the block like arms spraying
The law hating, warring like Blacks and Caucasians
God versus Satan, I'm laying in the dark
With the Mossberg, waiting, letting off first basing
Slim from the cotton club washing a scrub
Deuce high when he cruise by, spotting his love
Hold the mic like a .38 muzzle to snub
This flow, call it OJ blood on the glove
Above rap, capital G's speak on the facts
Please believe that, meaning that I keep it a stack
He's back, he a beast on the track
The only time that I go soft is probably with your freak in the sack
Feel the bass make sure he shake
Murder verse, first forty-eight
Manslaughter, nearly caught a case
I crack heads more than base
Stack bread when I orchestrate, that said y'all the base
No matter what the weather, we be getting that cheddar
So we can have a better tomorrow
Oh, money, cars, superstars, getting ours, working hard
For a better tomorrow
I seen niggas sniff coke through a crazy straw
Come out they shirts sweating bullets with the Bobby Brown jaw
Dry mouth, grinding back and forth plus he's steaming a Newport
We all holdin' the torch
A few staircase murders, some burners don't blam right
Guns that kicked around the wall you better stand tight
Full of X, AK's, whilin' in lobbys, bulletproof PJ's
Fuck around and get spunned like the DJ
Csi traumatized by viewing the instant replay
Spongebob niggas get scars nigga
I'm off style in any section of the hood I'll pull your car nigga
No matter what the weather, we be getting that cheddar
So we can have a better tomorrow
Oh, money, cars, superstars, getting ours, working hard
For a better tomorrow
See ignorance wouldn't allow retreat
So you rather pursue death than admit defeat
See ignorance wouldn't allow retreat
So you rather pursue death than admit defeat (ay yo, ay yo, ay yo, yo)
I used to be so narcissistic, park the whip and spark the biscuits
Spit hollow tipped shells at the Narcs with quickness
Live to tell the tale, 'cause only God's my witness
Been a long time, change gonna come son, I'm optimistic
I hold the steel like Ron O'Neal
Super fly, do or die, killer hill, Brownsville
Never win, never will, yes I can, yes I will
Put a dot upon your knot then I drill through your grill
Like a dentist, my apprentice speaks with a vengeance
Demented scientists counting bodies in the trenches
That's judges off the benches, got inches for y'all wenches
We plant those hot seeds then drove in cold winters
No matter what the weather, we be getting that cheddar
So we can have a better tomorrow
Oh, money, cars, superstars, getting ours, working hard
For a better tomorrow
See ignorance wouldn't allow retreat
So you rather pursue death than admit defeat
See ignorance wouldn't allow retreat
So you rather pursue death than admit defeat
No matter what the weather, we be getting that cheddar
So we can have a better tomorrow
Oh, money, cars, superstars, getting ours, working hard
For a better tomorrow
Lyrics submitted by Mellow_Harsher
Ron O'Neal Lyrics as written by Dennis David Coles Clifford Smith
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Downtown Music Publishing
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.
Mountain Song
Jane's Addiction
Jane's Addiction
Jane's Addiction vocalist Perry Farrell gives Adam Reader some heartfelt insight into Jane’s Addiction's hard rock manifesto "Mountain Song", which was the second single from their revolutionary album Nothing's Shocking. Mountain song was first recorded in 1986 and appeared on the soundtrack to the film Dudes starring Jon Cryer. The version on Nothing's Shocking was re-recorded in 1988.
"'Mountain Song' was actually about... I hate to say it but... drugs. Climbing this mountain and getting as high as you can, and then coming down that mountain," reveals Farrell. "What it feels to descend from the mountain top... not easy at all. The ascension is tough but exhilarating. Getting down is... it's a real bummer. Drugs is not for everybody obviously. For me, I wanted to experience the heights, and the lows come along with it."
"There's a part - 'Cash in now honey, cash in Miss Smith.' Miss Smith is my Mother; our last name was Smith. Cashing in when she cashed in her life. So... she decided that, to her... at that time, she was desperate. Life wasn't worth it for her, that was her opinion. Some people think, never take your life, and some people find that their life isn't worth living. She was in love with my Dad, and my Dad was not faithful to her, and it broke her heart. She was very desperate and she did something that I know she regrets."
Head > Heels
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
“Head > Heels” is a track that aims to capture what it feels like to experience romance that exceeds expectations. Ed Sheeran dedicates his album outro to a lover who has blessed him with a unique experience that he seeks to describe through the song’s nuanced lyrics.