"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.
I'll keep on trying
Might as well
If you decide
All is well
I'll keep on trying
Might as well
If you decide
All is well (all is well)
Though I am bruised
Face of contusions
Know I'll keep moving
Though I am bruised
Face of contusions
Know I'll keep moving
Know I'll keep moving
Rust around the rim
Drink it anyway
I cut my lip
Isn't what I want
Blood is on my tongue
I cut my lip
I keep on going back
Even though it's me I abuse
I'll keep on going back
Even
Though I am bruised
Face of contusions
Know I'll keep moving
Though I am bruised
Face of contusions
Know I'll keep moving
Know I'll keep moving
Rust around the rim
Drink it anyway
I cut my lip
Isn't what I want
Blood is on my tongue
I cut my lip
Oh, oh, yeah
I cut my lip
Oh, oh, yeah
I don't mind at all
Lean on my pride
Lean on my pride
I'm a lion
I don't mind at all
Lean on my pride
Lean on my pride
I'm a lion
I don't mind at all
Lean on my pride
Lean on my pride
I'm a lion
I don't mind at all
Lean on my pride
Lean on my pride
I'm a lion
Though I am bruised
Face of contusions
Know I'll keep moving
Know I'll keep moving
Rust around the rim
Drink it anyway
I cut my lip
Isn't what I want
Blood is on my tongue
I cut my lip
I cut my lip
I don't mind at all
Lean on my pride
Lean on my pride
I'm a lion
I don't mind at all
Lean on my pride
Lean on my pride
I'm a lion
Might as well
If you decide
All is well
I'll keep on trying
Might as well
If you decide
All is well (all is well)
Though I am bruised
Face of contusions
Know I'll keep moving
Though I am bruised
Face of contusions
Know I'll keep moving
Know I'll keep moving
Rust around the rim
Drink it anyway
I cut my lip
Isn't what I want
Blood is on my tongue
I cut my lip
I keep on going back
Even though it's me I abuse
I'll keep on going back
Even
Though I am bruised
Face of contusions
Know I'll keep moving
Though I am bruised
Face of contusions
Know I'll keep moving
Know I'll keep moving
Rust around the rim
Drink it anyway
I cut my lip
Isn't what I want
Blood is on my tongue
I cut my lip
Oh, oh, yeah
I cut my lip
Oh, oh, yeah
I don't mind at all
Lean on my pride
Lean on my pride
I'm a lion
I don't mind at all
Lean on my pride
Lean on my pride
I'm a lion
I don't mind at all
Lean on my pride
Lean on my pride
I'm a lion
I don't mind at all
Lean on my pride
Lean on my pride
I'm a lion
Though I am bruised
Face of contusions
Know I'll keep moving
Know I'll keep moving
Rust around the rim
Drink it anyway
I cut my lip
Isn't what I want
Blood is on my tongue
I cut my lip
I cut my lip
I don't mind at all
Lean on my pride
Lean on my pride
I'm a lion
I don't mind at all
Lean on my pride
Lean on my pride
I'm a lion
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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"
Mental Istid
Ebba Grön
Ebba Grön
This is one of my favorite songs. https://fnfgo.io
American Town
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran shares a short story of reconnecting with an old flame on “American Town.” The track is about a holiday Ed Sheeran spends with his countrywoman who resides in America. The two are back together after a long period apart, and get around to enjoying a bunch of fun activities while rekindling the flames of their romance.
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.
I interpret this song as being about going through struggles in your mind and in the real world, and that would be the cut lip, but you keep moving. And you try to be like a lion; like maybe that means being courageous through these struggles and maybe helping other people.