"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.
You hadn't seen your father in such a long time
He died in the arms of his lover, how dare he?
Your mother never left the house
She never married anyone else
You took it upon yourself to console her
You reminded her so much of your father
So you were banished and you
Wonder why you're so hypersensitive
And why you can't trust anyone but us
But then how can I begin to forgive her
So many years under bridges with dirty water
She was foolish and selfish
And cowardly if you ask me
I don't know where to begin
In all of my fifty odd years
I have been silently suffering
And adapting, perpetuating and enduring
Who are you, younger generation to tell me
That I have unresolved problems
Not many examples of fruits
Of this type of excruciating labor
How can you just throw words around
Like grieve and heal and mourn
I feel fine, we may not have been born
As awake as you were
It was much harder in those days
We had paper routes, uphill both ways
We went from school, to a job to a wife
To instant parenthood
I walked into his office
I felt so self-conscious on the couch
He was sitting down across from me
He was writing down his hypothesis, I don't know
I've got a loving supportive wife
Who doesn't know how involved she should get
You say his interjecting
Was him just calling me on my shit?
Just the other day, my sweet daughter
I was driving past 203
I walked up the stairs in my mind's eye
I remember how they would creak loudly
She was only responsive with a drink
He was only responsive by photo
I was only trying to be
The best big brother I could
I've walked sometimes confused
Sometimes ready to crack open wide
Sometimes indignant, sometimes raw
Can you imagine, I pay him seventy-five dollars an hour?
Sometimes it feels like highway robbery
And sometimes it's peanuts
I wish it could last a couple more hours
So here we both are battling similar demons
Not coincidentally
You seen getting beyond knowing it solely intellectually
You're not relinquishing your majesty
You are wise you are warm
You are courageous, you are big
And I love you more now
Than I ever have in my whole life
He died in the arms of his lover, how dare he?
Your mother never left the house
She never married anyone else
You took it upon yourself to console her
You reminded her so much of your father
So you were banished and you
Wonder why you're so hypersensitive
And why you can't trust anyone but us
But then how can I begin to forgive her
So many years under bridges with dirty water
She was foolish and selfish
And cowardly if you ask me
I don't know where to begin
In all of my fifty odd years
I have been silently suffering
And adapting, perpetuating and enduring
Who are you, younger generation to tell me
That I have unresolved problems
Not many examples of fruits
Of this type of excruciating labor
How can you just throw words around
Like grieve and heal and mourn
I feel fine, we may not have been born
As awake as you were
It was much harder in those days
We had paper routes, uphill both ways
We went from school, to a job to a wife
To instant parenthood
I walked into his office
I felt so self-conscious on the couch
He was sitting down across from me
He was writing down his hypothesis, I don't know
I've got a loving supportive wife
Who doesn't know how involved she should get
You say his interjecting
Was him just calling me on my shit?
Just the other day, my sweet daughter
I was driving past 203
I walked up the stairs in my mind's eye
I remember how they would creak loudly
She was only responsive with a drink
He was only responsive by photo
I was only trying to be
The best big brother I could
I've walked sometimes confused
Sometimes ready to crack open wide
Sometimes indignant, sometimes raw
Can you imagine, I pay him seventy-five dollars an hour?
Sometimes it feels like highway robbery
And sometimes it's peanuts
I wish it could last a couple more hours
So here we both are battling similar demons
Not coincidentally
You seen getting beyond knowing it solely intellectually
You're not relinquishing your majesty
You are wise you are warm
You are courageous, you are big
And I love you more now
Than I ever have in my whole life
Lyrics submitted by Lamia, edited by itakephotos
The Couch Lyrics as written by Alanis Nadine Morissette Glen Ballard
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, CONCORD MUSIC PUBLISHING LLC
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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More Featured Meanings
Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman
Cajun Girl
Little Feat
Little Feat
Overall about difficult moments of disappointment and vulnerability. Having hope and longing, while remaining optimistic for the future. Encourages the belief that with each new morning there is a chance for things to improve.
The chorus offers a glimmer of optimism and a chance at a resolution and redemption in the future.
Captures the rollercoaster of emotions of feeling lost while loving someone who is not there for you, feeling let down and abandoned while waiting for a lover. Lost with no direction, "Now I'm up in the air with the rain in my hair, Nowhere to go, I can go anywhere"
The bridge shows signs of longing and a plea for companionship. The Lyrics express a desire for authentic connection and the importance of Loving someone just as they are. "Just in passing, I'm not asking. That you be anyone but you”
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.
No Surprises
Radiohead
Radiohead
Same ideas expressed in Fitter, Happier are expressed in this song. We're told to strive for some sort of ideal life, which includes getting a good job, being kind to everyone, finding a partner, getting married, having a couple kids, living in a quiet neighborhood in a nice big house, etc. But in Fitter, Happier the narrator(?) realizes that it's incredibly robotic to live this life. People are being used by those in power "like a pig in a cage on antibiotics"--being pacified with things like new phones and cool gadgets and houses while being sucked dry. On No Surprises, the narrator is realizing how this life is killing him slowly. In the video, his helmet is slowly filling up with water, drowning him. But he's so complacent with it. This is a good summary of the song. This boring, "perfect" life foisted upon us by some higher powers (not spiritual, but political, economic, etc. politicians and businessmen, perhaps) is not the way to live. But there is seemingly no way out but death. He'd rather die peacefully right now than live in this cage. While our lives are often shielded, we're in our own protective bubbles, or protective helmets like the one Thom wears, if we look a little harder we can see all the corruption, lies, manipulation, etc. that is going on in the world, often run by huge yet nearly invisible organizations, corporations, and 'leaders'. It's a very hopeless song because it reflects real life.
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.
...train for example), I sing the words in my head (it is a hard work, trying to recall all the verses in the right order!!) and it helps me wait.