"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'm so cool, too bad I'm a loser
I'm so smart, too bad I can't get anything figured out
I'm so brave, too bad I'm a baby
I'm so fly, that's probably why it feels just like I'm falling for the first time
I'm so green, it's really amazing
I'm so clean, too bad I can't get all the dirt off me (all the dirt off me)
I'm so sane, it's drivin' me crazy
It's so strange I can't believe it feels just like I'm falling for the first time
Anyone perfect must be lying
Anything easy has it's cost
Anyone plain can be lovely
Anyone loved can be lost
What if I lost my direction?
What if I lost a sense of time?
What if I nursed this infection?
Maybe the worst is behind
It feels just like I'm falling for the first time
It feels just like I'm falling for the first time
I'm so chill no wonder it's freezing
I'm so still I just can't keep my fingers out of anything (fingers out of anything)
I'm so thrilled to finally be failing
I'm so done, turn me over cause it feels just like I'm falling for the first time
Anything plain can be lovely
Anything loved can be lost
Maybe I lost my direction
What if our love is the cost
Anyone perfect must be lying
Anything easy has it's cost
Anyone plain can be lovely
Anyone loved can be lost
What if I lost my direction?
What if I lost a sense of time?
What if I nursed this infection?
Maybe the worst is behind
Maybe the worst is behind
I'm so smart, too bad I can't get anything figured out
I'm so brave, too bad I'm a baby
I'm so fly, that's probably why it feels just like I'm falling for the first time
I'm so green, it's really amazing
I'm so clean, too bad I can't get all the dirt off me (all the dirt off me)
I'm so sane, it's drivin' me crazy
It's so strange I can't believe it feels just like I'm falling for the first time
Anyone perfect must be lying
Anything easy has it's cost
Anyone plain can be lovely
Anyone loved can be lost
What if I lost my direction?
What if I lost a sense of time?
What if I nursed this infection?
Maybe the worst is behind
It feels just like I'm falling for the first time
It feels just like I'm falling for the first time
I'm so chill no wonder it's freezing
I'm so still I just can't keep my fingers out of anything (fingers out of anything)
I'm so thrilled to finally be failing
I'm so done, turn me over cause it feels just like I'm falling for the first time
Anything plain can be lovely
Anything loved can be lost
Maybe I lost my direction
What if our love is the cost
Anyone perfect must be lying
Anything easy has it's cost
Anyone plain can be lovely
Anyone loved can be lost
What if I lost my direction?
What if I lost a sense of time?
What if I nursed this infection?
Maybe the worst is behind
Maybe the worst is behind
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Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
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Magical
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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.
Couldn't have put that better myself