"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.
(Everybody walks around wearing... they're walking advertisements. They've got advertisements on their clothes, ya know? The whole culture is one unified field of bought - sold - market researched, everything. People that don't have any concept if there ever was a, a culture outside of this thing that's created to make money. What's behind all this jive bullshit?')
Everybody's sexually active (Bullshit)
Somebody out there's objectively attractive (Bullshit)
Act correctly you can match the simulacra (Bullshit)
(Bullshit, bullshit-bullshit, bullshit)
Jonny 5:
I went to a love hotel, I pulled a fire alarm
Beat up my brother with a tennis ball container, I had my tired arm
Pulling, fantasizing 'bout a blow up doll
I didn't get off, it didn't go off, I didn't feel satisfied at all
I wanted to run away but I didn't have a reason
Got so mad one time I started cryin' and seizin'
Paper after paper lookin' for something I didn't need
Found one, just as I ripped it my fit was already done
This is how I begun
Seein' how I'm different from
TV and I keep re-seein' it tellin' me how to be and it's bullshit
I yelled "fuck the police" while they drove past
Used to think I had to learn to freestyle in order to rap (Bullshit)
Everybody's sexually active (Bullshit)
Somebody out there's objectively attractive (Bullshit)
Act correctly you can match the simulacra (Bullshit)
(Bullshit, bullshit-bullshit, bullshit)
Everybody's sexually active (Bullshit)
Somebody out there's objectively attractive (Bullshit)
Act correctly you can match the simulacra (Bullshit)
(Bullshit, bullshit-bullshit, bullshit)
Faith:
I tried X but I didn't know why
'Cause then I had sex but I didn't get high
Supermodels are XXY
It's all just a lie
Kids fall for fads, see ads and wanna try it
I spent twenty on a diet, so what?
I still have cellulite and no butt
No, but, but-but until you laugh and just grow up
Learn to live with the bullshit
You're only gonna throw up
Turnin' sick at the pulpit
Preaching sermons
Concernin' myth
Schemin', burnin' demons that don't exist
Thank God media and reality don't match
I need my own private quiet zone that's
My own patch of life
Detached from the hype
I don't wanna be imitated exactly right
'Cause truth is stranger than fiction
You should change your addiction
Before Disneylandlords arrange your eviction
(Bullshit)
Everybody's sexually active (Bullshit)
Somebody out there's objectively attractive (Bullshit)
Act correctly you can match the simulacra (Bullshit)
(Bullshit, bullshit-bullshit, bullshit)
Jonny 5:
See I wanna write a song for the missing persons
The nerds and the sixty-six year old virgins
Burnt out surgeons
Mental patients
Persians, Haitians
Urban gay Asians
Nymphos, blimp-nose wimps
Uncorrupt cops, hermaphrodites
Fat kids, black kids
Anorexics tryin' to muster up an appetite
Phoneless, homeless, owners of disease
Anyone who slept through New Year's Eve
Clumsy thieves
Uneven sleeved impotent men
Napalm babies with scarred skin
Vietnam vets, Tourette's Syndrome girls with hairy arms
Balding boys in the club with their mom
In love with their mom
Diabetics, anybody who just doesn't get it
Stutterers, bread-butterers, suburb gutter-punks
Wanna-be monks, CEOs who wet the bed
The snails, and the angry white males
And the Siamese twins who connect at the head
I expect that you said
"I don't want to be compared to them, I'm not weak, not a freak, I'm American"
But if you stood next to 'em you'd embarrass them
So let me say my prayer again
I said I wanna write a song for the missing persons
The nerds and the sixty-six year old virgins
Burnt out surgeons
Mental patients
Persians, Haitians
Urban gay Asians
Nymphos, blimp-nose wimps
Uncorrupt cops, hermaphrodites
Fat kids, black kids
Anorexics tryin' to muster up an appetite
Phoneless, homeless, owners of disease
Anyone who slept through New Year's Eve
Clumsy thieves
Uneven sleeved impotent men
Napalm babies with scarred skin
Vietnam vets, Tourette's Syndrome girls with hairy arms
Balding boys in the club with their mom
In love with their mom
Diabetics, anybody who just doesn't get it
Stutterers, bread-butterers, suburb gutter-punks
Wanna-be monks, CEOs who wet the bed
The snails, and the angry white males
And the Siamese twins who connect at the head
I said the snails and the angry white males and the leeches
Dogs without tails and the star-bellied Sneetches
Sneetches without stars
And women behind bars
And men who design cars
Intending to find Mars
And anyone I'm far from anyone in my region
Buppies, guppies, scrubs, pigeons, and Norwegians
Finns, and the angry white men
And the Siamese twins who connect at the head
Everybody's sexually active (Bullshit)
Somebody out there's objectively attractive (Bullshit)
Act correctly you can match the simulacra (Bullshit)
(Bullshit, bullshit-bullshit, bullshit)
Jonny 5:
I went to a love hotel, I pulled a fire alarm
Beat up my brother with a tennis ball container, I had my tired arm
Pulling, fantasizing 'bout a blow up doll
I didn't get off, it didn't go off, I didn't feel satisfied at all
I wanted to run away but I didn't have a reason
Got so mad one time I started cryin' and seizin'
Paper after paper lookin' for something I didn't need
Found one, just as I ripped it my fit was already done
This is how I begun
Seein' how I'm different from
TV and I keep re-seein' it tellin' me how to be and it's bullshit
I yelled "fuck the police" while they drove past
Used to think I had to learn to freestyle in order to rap (Bullshit)
Everybody's sexually active (Bullshit)
Somebody out there's objectively attractive (Bullshit)
Act correctly you can match the simulacra (Bullshit)
(Bullshit, bullshit-bullshit, bullshit)
Everybody's sexually active (Bullshit)
Somebody out there's objectively attractive (Bullshit)
Act correctly you can match the simulacra (Bullshit)
(Bullshit, bullshit-bullshit, bullshit)
Faith:
I tried X but I didn't know why
'Cause then I had sex but I didn't get high
Supermodels are XXY
It's all just a lie
Kids fall for fads, see ads and wanna try it
I spent twenty on a diet, so what?
I still have cellulite and no butt
No, but, but-but until you laugh and just grow up
Learn to live with the bullshit
You're only gonna throw up
Turnin' sick at the pulpit
Preaching sermons
Concernin' myth
Schemin', burnin' demons that don't exist
Thank God media and reality don't match
I need my own private quiet zone that's
My own patch of life
Detached from the hype
I don't wanna be imitated exactly right
'Cause truth is stranger than fiction
You should change your addiction
Before Disneylandlords arrange your eviction
(Bullshit)
Everybody's sexually active (Bullshit)
Somebody out there's objectively attractive (Bullshit)
Act correctly you can match the simulacra (Bullshit)
(Bullshit, bullshit-bullshit, bullshit)
Jonny 5:
See I wanna write a song for the missing persons
The nerds and the sixty-six year old virgins
Burnt out surgeons
Mental patients
Persians, Haitians
Urban gay Asians
Nymphos, blimp-nose wimps
Uncorrupt cops, hermaphrodites
Fat kids, black kids
Anorexics tryin' to muster up an appetite
Phoneless, homeless, owners of disease
Anyone who slept through New Year's Eve
Clumsy thieves
Uneven sleeved impotent men
Napalm babies with scarred skin
Vietnam vets, Tourette's Syndrome girls with hairy arms
Balding boys in the club with their mom
In love with their mom
Diabetics, anybody who just doesn't get it
Stutterers, bread-butterers, suburb gutter-punks
Wanna-be monks, CEOs who wet the bed
The snails, and the angry white males
And the Siamese twins who connect at the head
I expect that you said
"I don't want to be compared to them, I'm not weak, not a freak, I'm American"
But if you stood next to 'em you'd embarrass them
So let me say my prayer again
I said I wanna write a song for the missing persons
The nerds and the sixty-six year old virgins
Burnt out surgeons
Mental patients
Persians, Haitians
Urban gay Asians
Nymphos, blimp-nose wimps
Uncorrupt cops, hermaphrodites
Fat kids, black kids
Anorexics tryin' to muster up an appetite
Phoneless, homeless, owners of disease
Anyone who slept through New Year's Eve
Clumsy thieves
Uneven sleeved impotent men
Napalm babies with scarred skin
Vietnam vets, Tourette's Syndrome girls with hairy arms
Balding boys in the club with their mom
In love with their mom
Diabetics, anybody who just doesn't get it
Stutterers, bread-butterers, suburb gutter-punks
Wanna-be monks, CEOs who wet the bed
The snails, and the angry white males
And the Siamese twins who connect at the head
I said the snails and the angry white males and the leeches
Dogs without tails and the star-bellied Sneetches
Sneetches without stars
And women behind bars
And men who design cars
Intending to find Mars
And anyone I'm far from anyone in my region
Buppies, guppies, scrubs, pigeons, and Norwegians
Finns, and the angry white men
And the Siamese twins who connect at the head
Lyrics submitted by Mellow_Harsher
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More Featured Meanings
Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman
Holiday
Bee Gees
Bee Gees
@[Diderik:33655] "Your a holiday!" Was a popular term used in the 50s/60s to compliment someone on their all around. For example, not only are they beautiful, but they are fun and kind too ... just an all around "holiday".
I think your first comment is closer to being accurate. The singer/song writers state "Millions of eyes can see, yet why am i so blind!? When the someone else is me, its unkind its unkind". I believe hes referring to the girl toying with him and using him. He wants something deeper with her, thats why he allows himself to be as a puppet (even though for her fun and games) as long as it makes her happy. But he knows deep down that she doesnt really want to be serious with him and thats what makes him.
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.
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.