"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.
American woman, stay away from me
American woman, mama, let me be
Don't come hanging 'round my door
I don't wanna see your face no more
I got more important things to do
Than spend my time growing old with you
Now, woman, stay away
American woman, listen what I say
American woman, get away from me
American woman, mama, let me be
Don't come knocking 'round my door
I don't wanna see your shadow no more
Colored lights can hypnotize
Sparkle someone else's eyes
Now, woman, get away
American woman, listen what I say
American woman, I said get way
American woman, listen what I say
Don't come hanging 'round my door
Don't wanna see your face no more
I don't need your war machines
I don't need your ghetto scenes
Colored lights can hypnotize
Sparkle someone else's eyes
Now, woman, get away
American woman, listen what I say
American woman, stay away from me
American woman, mama, let me be
I gotta go
I gotta get away
Babe, I gotta go
I wanna fly away
I'm gonna leave you, woman
I'm gonna leave you, woman
I'm gonna leave you, woman
I'm gonna leave you, woman
A-bye-bye, a-bye bye
Bye-bye, bye-bye
(American woman)
You're no good for me
And I'm no good for you
(American woman)
I look you right straight in the eye
And tell you what I'm gonna do
(American woman)
I'm gonna leave you, woman
You know I gotta go
(American woman)
I'm gonna leave you, woman
I gotta go
(American woman)
I, I gotta go
I gotta go, American woman, yeah
American woman, mama, let me be
Don't come hanging 'round my door
I don't wanna see your face no more
I got more important things to do
Than spend my time growing old with you
Now, woman, stay away
American woman, listen what I say
American woman, get away from me
American woman, mama, let me be
Don't come knocking 'round my door
I don't wanna see your shadow no more
Colored lights can hypnotize
Sparkle someone else's eyes
Now, woman, get away
American woman, listen what I say
American woman, I said get way
American woman, listen what I say
Don't come hanging 'round my door
Don't wanna see your face no more
I don't need your war machines
I don't need your ghetto scenes
Colored lights can hypnotize
Sparkle someone else's eyes
Now, woman, get away
American woman, listen what I say
American woman, stay away from me
American woman, mama, let me be
I gotta go
I gotta get away
Babe, I gotta go
I wanna fly away
I'm gonna leave you, woman
I'm gonna leave you, woman
I'm gonna leave you, woman
I'm gonna leave you, woman
A-bye-bye, a-bye bye
Bye-bye, bye-bye
(American woman)
You're no good for me
And I'm no good for you
(American woman)
I look you right straight in the eye
And tell you what I'm gonna do
(American woman)
I'm gonna leave you, woman
You know I gotta go
(American woman)
I'm gonna leave you, woman
I gotta go
(American woman)
I, I gotta go
I gotta go, American woman, yeah
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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"
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."
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.
Plastic Bag
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
“Plastic Bag” is a song about searching for an escape from personal problems and hoping to find it in the lively atmosphere of a Saturday night party. Ed Sheeran tells the story of his friend and the myriad of troubles he is going through. Unable to find any solutions, this friend seeks a last resort in a party and the vanity that comes with it.
“I overthink and have trouble sleepin’ / All purpose gone and don’t have a reason / And there’s no doctor to stop this bleedin’ / So I left home and jumped in the deep end,” Ed Sheeran sings in verse one. He continues by adding that this person is feeling the weight of having disappointed his father and doesn’t have any friends to rely on in this difficult moment. In the second verse, Ed sings about the role of grief in his friend’s plight and his dwindling faith in prayer. “Saturday night is givin’ me a reason to rely on the strobe lights / The lifeline of a promise in a shot glass, and I’ll take that / If you’re givin’ out love from a plastic bag,” Ed sings on the chorus, as his friend turns to new vices in hopes of feeling better.
im a chick and i love this song this is my 8 ball-pool song,i dont know but if im about to take a shot in pool i put this song on and for some reason i play better pool sounds crazy but 3 times i have now won a pool game when i played this song in the last few shots so much so the boys request i no longer play pool when i play this song.