"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.
There's a light, certain kind of light
Never ever, never shone on me, no, no
Honey, I want, I want my whole life
To be lived with you, babe
That's what I want oh, was to be
Living and loving you
There's a way, oh everybody say
You can do anything, every thing yeah
But what good, what good
Honey, what good could it ever bring
Because I haven't got you with my love
And I can't find you babe, no I can't
You don't know, you don't know what it's like
No you don't, honey no you don't know
You don't know what it's like
To love anybody
Oh honey, I want to talk about love
And trying to hold somebody
The way I love you babe
And I've been loving you babe
In my brain, oh I can see your face again
I know my frame of mind, yeah
But nobody, nobody has to ever be so blind
Honey, like I did, I know I was blind
Honey, I tell you that I was, I was very, very blind
Oh but I'm just a girl
Can't you just take a look at me and tell
Tell that I live, honey I live and I breathe for you
Don't you know I do!
But what good, what good
Honey, what good could it ever bring
Because I haven't got you with my love
And I can't find you babe, no I can't
You don't know, you don't know what it's like
No you don't, honey no you don't know
You don't know what it's like
To love anybody
Oh honey, I want to talk about love
And trying to hold somebody
The way I love you babe
And I've been loving you babe
Oh, I know that there's a way
Because everybody came to me one time and said
"Honey, you can do anything
Every little thing, and I think I can
Oh, but what good, what good
Honey, what awfully good can it ever, ever bring
Because I can't find you with my love
And I can't find you babe, oh anywhere
You don't know, you don't know what it's like
No you don't, honey no you don't know
You don't know what it's like
To love anybody
Oh honey, I want to talk about love
And trying to hold somebody
The way I love you babe
And I've been loving you babe
You don't know, you don't know what it's like
No you don't, honey no you don't know
You don't know what it's like
To love anybody
Oh honey, I want to talk about love
And trying to hold somebody
The way I love you babe
And I've been loving you babe
Never ever, never shone on me, no, no
Honey, I want, I want my whole life
To be lived with you, babe
That's what I want oh, was to be
Living and loving you
There's a way, oh everybody say
You can do anything, every thing yeah
But what good, what good
Honey, what good could it ever bring
Because I haven't got you with my love
And I can't find you babe, no I can't
You don't know, you don't know what it's like
No you don't, honey no you don't know
You don't know what it's like
To love anybody
Oh honey, I want to talk about love
And trying to hold somebody
The way I love you babe
And I've been loving you babe
In my brain, oh I can see your face again
I know my frame of mind, yeah
But nobody, nobody has to ever be so blind
Honey, like I did, I know I was blind
Honey, I tell you that I was, I was very, very blind
Oh but I'm just a girl
Can't you just take a look at me and tell
Tell that I live, honey I live and I breathe for you
Don't you know I do!
But what good, what good
Honey, what good could it ever bring
Because I haven't got you with my love
And I can't find you babe, no I can't
You don't know, you don't know what it's like
No you don't, honey no you don't know
You don't know what it's like
To love anybody
Oh honey, I want to talk about love
And trying to hold somebody
The way I love you babe
And I've been loving you babe
Oh, I know that there's a way
Because everybody came to me one time and said
"Honey, you can do anything
Every little thing, and I think I can
Oh, but what good, what good
Honey, what awfully good can it ever, ever bring
Because I can't find you with my love
And I can't find you babe, oh anywhere
You don't know, you don't know what it's like
No you don't, honey no you don't know
You don't know what it's like
To love anybody
Oh honey, I want to talk about love
And trying to hold somebody
The way I love you babe
And I've been loving you babe
You don't know, you don't know what it's like
No you don't, honey no you don't know
You don't know what it's like
To love anybody
Oh honey, I want to talk about love
And trying to hold somebody
The way I love you babe
And I've been loving you babe
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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
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."
This song was written & recorded by the Bee Gees.
I really love Janis's rendition of it though. You can tell that she really feels what she's singing. It's wanting someone so bad, and feeling like it's a hopeless battle--being completely in love with someone who doesn't want you back. That was kinda the whole theme for "I Got Dem Ol Kozmic Blues Again, Mama!".
I sort of perceive this song as being towards someone who's never known heartbreak. To me, it seems like Janis/the singer went through a very poor relationship,
But nobody, nobody has to ever be so blind, Honey, like I did, I know I was blind, Honey, I tell you that I was, I was very, very blind.
but is now with someone who's never known the pain it put her through.
You don't know, you don't know what it's like, No you don't, honey no you don't know, You don't know what it's like To love anybody.
She's basically saying, "I love you more because I know what someone like you is worth!"
Love this song, love Janis -PEACE!