"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 wanna go back to the island
Where the shrimp boats tie up to the pilin'
Give me oysters and beer for dinner every day of the year
And I'll feel fine, I'll feel fine
'Cause I wanna be there
Wanna go back down and lie beside the sea there
With a tin cup for a chalice
Fill it up with good red wine
And I'm a-chewin' on a honeysuckle vine
Yeah, now the sun goes slidin' 'cross the water
Sailboats, they go searchin' for the breeze
Salt air, it ain't thin
It can stick right to your skin
And make you feel fine
It makes you feel fine
I wanna be there
Wanna go back down and get high by the sea there
With a tin cup for a chalice
Fill it up with good red wine
And I'm a-chewin' on a honeysuckle vine
Yes, and now you heard my strange proposal
Get that Packard up and let's move
I wanna be there before the day
Tries to steal away and leave us behind
I've made up my mind
And I wanna be there
I wanna go back down and lie beside the sea there
With a tin cup for a chalice
Fill it up with good red wine
And I'm a-chewin' on a honeysuckle vine
Yeah, with a tin cup for a chalice
Fill it up with good red wine
And I'm a-chewin' on a honeysuckle vine
Where the shrimp boats tie up to the pilin'
Give me oysters and beer for dinner every day of the year
And I'll feel fine, I'll feel fine
'Cause I wanna be there
Wanna go back down and lie beside the sea there
With a tin cup for a chalice
Fill it up with good red wine
And I'm a-chewin' on a honeysuckle vine
Yeah, now the sun goes slidin' 'cross the water
Sailboats, they go searchin' for the breeze
Salt air, it ain't thin
It can stick right to your skin
And make you feel fine
It makes you feel fine
I wanna be there
Wanna go back down and get high by the sea there
With a tin cup for a chalice
Fill it up with good red wine
And I'm a-chewin' on a honeysuckle vine
Yes, and now you heard my strange proposal
Get that Packard up and let's move
I wanna be there before the day
Tries to steal away and leave us behind
I've made up my mind
And I wanna be there
I wanna go back down and lie beside the sea there
With a tin cup for a chalice
Fill it up with good red wine
And I'm a-chewin' on a honeysuckle vine
Yeah, with a tin cup for a chalice
Fill it up with good red wine
And I'm a-chewin' on a honeysuckle vine
Lyrics submitted by EnjOy IncUbus, edited by gulfcoaster
Tin Cup Chalice Lyrics as written by Jimmy Buffet
Lyrics © Hipgnosis Songs Group
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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
Bron-Y-Aur Stomp
Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin
This is about bronies. They communicate by stomping.
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.
Blue
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
“Blue” is a song about a love that is persisting in the discomfort of the person experiencing the emotion. Ed Sheeran reflects on love lost, and although he wishes his former partner find happiness, he cannot but admit his feelings are still very much there. He expresses the realization that he might never find another on this stringed instrumental by Aaron Dessner.
It's not
"Get that Packard up and let's move"
It's
"pack gear"
@Aristocracker This is clearly not what the song says. The mention of Packard is typical of Buffet who loves for the early-Baby-Boomer age, 1950s TV and so on. In the early 1950s a Packard was on par with a Cadillac. In the early 1970s it was totally passe, which is why Buffett mentions it here. The whole song is about a backward look at a place whose charm is mainly because of how backward the place is. If it's one thing Buffett loves, it's timelessness.