"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.
[Verse 1]
Die already
None defy the one-man walled city
Stone made flesh, veins etched in his hands
88 stance draped in invasive plants
And rain dance unsafely, brace for the supercell
Mutiny or footage for your blooper reel, who can tell
Pours hot tar from the top of the barn
Necktie on his head, condor on his arm
Dog Star in a jar, bordering unsustainable
Mea culpa, mea culpa, maybe I should pray occult
Systematic Catholic or sigil of the Baphomet unraveling
Either way his ID show a snake and skull
Always been a private dude who couldn't keep a tally
Of which lies he told who
Dye his hair, shave, change names and his lazy drawl
Soon enough I will estrange you all
I get ghost
[Ghossssst]
[Now the beat goes!]
[Verse 2]
On Dasher
Half-dead carolers deck a hall, wreck a whole advent calendar
Brother on speakerphone lurking at the Burgerville
Bathrobe hammer toes murdering the curb appeal
Would I be returning or forsaken with the craven and
Carnivourous vegetation that take him for his Steak-umms
I dunno I gotta think about it
Truthfully I don't know which makes me a bigger coward
Either stomach all the hubris, cash in his two cents
Loose lips locked up over a chewed Eucharist
Or, maybe re-appropriate the energy
Holed up, passing the poultry to Hecate
Bullheaded burn out fled his own pedigree
And never better, never would've met your Heaven anyway
Anyway, merry merry go make soup out of bones
Just know when the room go cold
I'm a ghost
[Ghossssst]
G-H-O-S-T
Ghost ghost ghost
He's ghost
[Verse 3]
Flea comb, exorcism and de-worming
Fitted for a curse and a crown of birds circling
Search party falling forward unthwarted
Meet him at the crossroads drawn and quartered
For a master of puppets, how sad are his cupboards
Non-dairy creamers, can of last supper
And a runneth over cup full of black tap water
Its a marvel of privacy over pack hunter
Raspberry jelly on his Jesus toast
And turn heather gray sweats into Easter clothes
With no immediately measurable crimewave ice-age
Christ children still skin a cat sideways
I don't pick teams or administer bans
I'm in the creek with a pick and a pan, it go
Forcibly ejected or a voluntary death scene
Tell 'em what the out-of-order blinking EMF mean
Ghost
[Ghossssst]
Die already
None defy the one-man walled city
Stone made flesh, veins etched in his hands
88 stance draped in invasive plants
And rain dance unsafely, brace for the supercell
Mutiny or footage for your blooper reel, who can tell
Pours hot tar from the top of the barn
Necktie on his head, condor on his arm
Dog Star in a jar, bordering unsustainable
Mea culpa, mea culpa, maybe I should pray occult
Systematic Catholic or sigil of the Baphomet unraveling
Either way his ID show a snake and skull
Always been a private dude who couldn't keep a tally
Of which lies he told who
Dye his hair, shave, change names and his lazy drawl
Soon enough I will estrange you all
I get ghost
[Ghossssst]
[Now the beat goes!]
[Verse 2]
On Dasher
Half-dead carolers deck a hall, wreck a whole advent calendar
Brother on speakerphone lurking at the Burgerville
Bathrobe hammer toes murdering the curb appeal
Would I be returning or forsaken with the craven and
Carnivourous vegetation that take him for his Steak-umms
I dunno I gotta think about it
Truthfully I don't know which makes me a bigger coward
Either stomach all the hubris, cash in his two cents
Loose lips locked up over a chewed Eucharist
Or, maybe re-appropriate the energy
Holed up, passing the poultry to Hecate
Bullheaded burn out fled his own pedigree
And never better, never would've met your Heaven anyway
Anyway, merry merry go make soup out of bones
Just know when the room go cold
I'm a ghost
[Ghossssst]
G-H-O-S-T
Ghost ghost ghost
He's ghost
[Verse 3]
Flea comb, exorcism and de-worming
Fitted for a curse and a crown of birds circling
Search party falling forward unthwarted
Meet him at the crossroads drawn and quartered
For a master of puppets, how sad are his cupboards
Non-dairy creamers, can of last supper
And a runneth over cup full of black tap water
Its a marvel of privacy over pack hunter
Raspberry jelly on his Jesus toast
And turn heather gray sweats into Easter clothes
With no immediately measurable crimewave ice-age
Christ children still skin a cat sideways
I don't pick teams or administer bans
I'm in the creek with a pick and a pan, it go
Forcibly ejected or a voluntary death scene
Tell 'em what the out-of-order blinking EMF mean
Ghost
[Ghossssst]
Lyrics submitted by Mellow_Harsher
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."
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.