"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 wanted to be like you
I wanted everything
So I tried to be like you
And I got swept away
I didn't know that it was so cold
And you needed someone to show you the way
So I took your hand and we figured out that
When the tide comes I'd take you away
If you want to I can save you
I can take you away from here
So lonely inside
So busy out there
And all you wanted was somebody who cares
I'm sinking slowly, so hurry hold me
Your hand is all I have to keep me hanging on
Please can you tell me
So I can finally see
Where you go when you're gone
If you want to I can save you
I can take you away from here
So lonely inside
So busy out there
And all you wanted was somebody who cares
All you wanted was somebody who cares
If you need me you know I'll be there
Oh, oh, whoa, yeah
If you want to I can save you
I can take you away from here (I can take you away)
So lonely inside
So busy out there
And all you wanted was somebody who cares
Oh oh (and all you wanted was somebody who cares)
Oh oh oh oh
If you want to I can save you (if you want to, oh)
I can take you away from here (I can take you away)
So lonely inside (from here)
So busy out there (oh oh)
And all you wanted was somebody who cares
Please can you tell me
So I can finally see
Where you go when you're gone
I wanted everything
So I tried to be like you
And I got swept away
I didn't know that it was so cold
And you needed someone to show you the way
So I took your hand and we figured out that
When the tide comes I'd take you away
If you want to I can save you
I can take you away from here
So lonely inside
So busy out there
And all you wanted was somebody who cares
I'm sinking slowly, so hurry hold me
Your hand is all I have to keep me hanging on
Please can you tell me
So I can finally see
Where you go when you're gone
If you want to I can save you
I can take you away from here
So lonely inside
So busy out there
And all you wanted was somebody who cares
All you wanted was somebody who cares
If you need me you know I'll be there
Oh, oh, whoa, yeah
If you want to I can save you
I can take you away from here (I can take you away)
So lonely inside
So busy out there
And all you wanted was somebody who cares
Oh oh (and all you wanted was somebody who cares)
Oh oh oh oh
If you want to I can save you (if you want to, oh)
I can take you away from here (I can take you away)
So lonely inside (from here)
So busy out there (oh oh)
And all you wanted was somebody who cares
Please can you tell me
So I can finally see
Where you go when you're gone
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More Featured Meanings
Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
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Holiday
Bee Gees
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@[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.
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This is a sequel to 2001's "Reckless Abandon", and features the band looking back on their clumsy youth fondly.
Punchline
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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.
Head > Heels
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“Head > Heels” is a track that aims to capture what it feels like to experience romance that exceeds expectations. Ed Sheeran dedicates his album outro to a lover who has blessed him with a unique experience that he seeks to describe through the song’s nuanced lyrics.
A young woman, untouched by heartbreak, becomes involved with a man who has become hardened against matters of love. So in self-preservation, she attempts to be like him, and remain emotionally unnattached, and becomes overwhelmed by how lonely and cold that makes her feel. So she begins to try and prove to him that not everyone is a player, intent on damaging him. And she wants him to trust her enough to let his guard down enough to see that she will do nothing but love him and adore him, his heart is safe from harm. She wants him to forger all his bitterness and skepticism where love is concerned. And determined than all get out, she vows to always be there for him no matter what.
this is so, so good
Best explanation so far. Kudos!