"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're everything that's why I cling to you
When I emerge my thoughts converge to you
To you
The world is so small compared to you
And everybody's wrong compared to you
To you
I begin to see through your eyes
All the former mysteries are no surprise
So now, you listen
'Cause I'm omniscient
Hey look at me lady
I'm just a little baby
You're lucky to have me
I'm cute and sweet as candy
As charming as a fable
I'm innocent and disabled
So hug me and kiss me
Then wipe my butt and piss me
I hope you never leave
'Cause who would hear me scream
Nobody understands
Except the toys in my hands
So now you listen
'Cause I'm omniscient
Hey look at me lady
I'm just a little baby
If I smile, then you smile
Then I'll get mad for awhile
I melt in your mouth
And in your hands whenever I can
But I really do nothing
Except kickin' and fussin'
I like to make a mess
I laugh at your distress
I sit all day in my crib
Absorbing all you give
I'm helpless
I'm flawless
I'm a machine
Give me, I need my toys
Keep me hot keep me strong keep me everlong
Keep me hot keep me strong keep me everlong
Keep me hot keep me strong keep me everlong
Keep me hot keep me strong keep me everlong
So now you listen
'Cause I'm omniscient
When I emerge my thoughts converge to you
To you
The world is so small compared to you
And everybody's wrong compared to you
To you
I begin to see through your eyes
All the former mysteries are no surprise
So now, you listen
'Cause I'm omniscient
Hey look at me lady
I'm just a little baby
You're lucky to have me
I'm cute and sweet as candy
As charming as a fable
I'm innocent and disabled
So hug me and kiss me
Then wipe my butt and piss me
I hope you never leave
'Cause who would hear me scream
Nobody understands
Except the toys in my hands
So now you listen
'Cause I'm omniscient
Hey look at me lady
I'm just a little baby
If I smile, then you smile
Then I'll get mad for awhile
I melt in your mouth
And in your hands whenever I can
But I really do nothing
Except kickin' and fussin'
I like to make a mess
I laugh at your distress
I sit all day in my crib
Absorbing all you give
I'm helpless
I'm flawless
I'm a machine
Give me, I need my toys
Keep me hot keep me strong keep me everlong
Keep me hot keep me strong keep me everlong
Keep me hot keep me strong keep me everlong
Keep me hot keep me strong keep me everlong
So now you listen
'Cause I'm omniscient
Add your thoughts
Log in now to tell us what you think this song means.
Don’t have an account? Create an account with SongMeanings to post comments, submit lyrics, and more. It’s super easy, we promise!
More Featured Meanings
Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman
Mental Istid
Ebba Grön
Ebba Grön
This is one of my favorite songs. https://fnfgo.io
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”
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.
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.
While the metaphorical interpretations are interesting, I from the start always thought this song to be about babies, and I still do. If you dislike children like myself, it's all very straightforward, and makes perfect sense. No need for further digging, so to speak.
A baby's world is tremendously egocentric (So now, you listen/'Cause I'm omniscient) - at that stage the world revolves around them and what they know. At the beginning their universe consists only of themselves and the parents, which is the opening of the song. Parents are relied upon for everything and only mommy or daddy will do (And everybody's wrong/Compared to you). As they grow, parents teach them (I begin to see through your eyes/All the former mysteries are no surprise), but still the baby is the focus of the parents' attention and a baby only cares about its own immediate needs (So hug me and kiss me/Then wipe my butt and piss me, etc)
It is written basically from the viewpoint of a baby, but in this case one that is conscious of what it is doing, and doing it intentionally. Even the behaviours (If I smile, then you smile/Then I'll get mad for awhile/But I really do nothing/Except kickin' and fussin'/I like to make a mess/I laugh at your distress/I sit all day in my crib etc) are pretty straightforward if you have been around babies a lot.
And while the parents of the world may dislike this, the title makes perfect sense as well. Zombies are brainless (I'm a machine) and do nothing but eat. Well, hate to say it, but newborn babies ...
@Kollapse77 Great point! To add more to your point, it's as if he's targeting women who have children as a social thing and not considering the responsibilities that come with having a child. Every time I listen to this song, I envision a woman buried in responsibilities of taking care of this child. <br /> <br /> With the line: "Hey, look at me, lady", I see a woman stressed the fuck out by this screaming, crying, pooping, pissing little creature that needs your undivided attention.<br /> <br /> In the end, he's blaming women for having illegitimate children without a father figure in it's life. It's a cautionary tale for these women who want to entrap men by having babies the man doesn't want.
@Kollapse77 I agree with this meaning. I disagree on the title though. I think Patton equated "Zombies" with being dead inside, the Zombie Eaters are the babies, which the song is about, because this song is a dark look at neglect from a depressed parent to an innocent child.
@Kollapse77 This is absolutely the correct interpretation and the only one possible. Except only for the fact that the zombies are the moms and the zombie eaters (devouring the mothers and "absorbing all you give") are the children. Mike Patton said that he wrote this song taking as inspiration some of his former schoolmates who became young mothers. Mike saw this young women very stressed and fully deprived of their vitality, sleep, appetite... walking around like zombies, indeed. Devoured by those little cute and screaming zombie eaters...soul devourers.<br /> <br /> PS: I'm a father of a little baby and of course I don't hate children, but some moments are very ...hard. I listen to this song with a constant smile painted on my face, well knowing that Mike is right ...and I'm not an hypocrite to deny it. It's the natural order of life and this song always give me a smile to play down the hard times..