"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.
Sunset, expect
This to be your last with Our vast return
As Death is set
At three sixes where hill-beacons burn
Darkness, undress
Your descending skirts yield a thirsting altar
Blood-red, yet still unfed
Lips distend ending, time to falter
Welcome arms wide and crucified
The slaughter
Lightening freezes seven
Outtakes from the rape of the world
Sins expelled from Heaven
Now befoul from the bowels of Hell
Where the tragic in theory and practice fell
Last prayers, hang in the air
Each unto their own rag and bone meal saviors
Strung where crippled vultures dare
Golgotha
Coughs another cross to grave God's failure
Once the forests spired
Nurtured in Nature'heart
Now dreat cedars feed the pyres
Need-fires lit for greater harm
As Her children toy with razors
Sightless and deeply scarred
And the moon arose to phase Her
Cracks a grin so wide it hides the stars
And lights Our path
Back through the shattered glass
(We come like drumming thunder
Tides enwreathed in scum and plunder
Kraken-teethed to tear asunder
All those too blind to see)
Where the tragic in theory and practice meet
Deranged, uncaged
We rage like a plague through this age of greed
Sowers of discord, growing wars to reap
A terrible crop to beat a vicious retreat
Scorched Earth, rebirth
Disinterred in the writhe of the lone survivor
Whose worth is worse than the curse
Of Sardonicus choking on his own saliva
Who shares the last laugh now
Dead wedded fates fulfill their vows?
Foot in mouth of sacred cows
Face down in dust and poisoned ground
This to be your last with Our vast return
As Death is set
At three sixes where hill-beacons burn
Darkness, undress
Your descending skirts yield a thirsting altar
Blood-red, yet still unfed
Lips distend ending, time to falter
Welcome arms wide and crucified
The slaughter
Lightening freezes seven
Outtakes from the rape of the world
Sins expelled from Heaven
Now befoul from the bowels of Hell
Where the tragic in theory and practice fell
Last prayers, hang in the air
Each unto their own rag and bone meal saviors
Strung where crippled vultures dare
Golgotha
Coughs another cross to grave God's failure
Once the forests spired
Nurtured in Nature'heart
Now dreat cedars feed the pyres
Need-fires lit for greater harm
As Her children toy with razors
Sightless and deeply scarred
And the moon arose to phase Her
Cracks a grin so wide it hides the stars
And lights Our path
Back through the shattered glass
(We come like drumming thunder
Tides enwreathed in scum and plunder
Kraken-teethed to tear asunder
All those too blind to see)
Where the tragic in theory and practice meet
Deranged, uncaged
We rage like a plague through this age of greed
Sowers of discord, growing wars to reap
A terrible crop to beat a vicious retreat
Scorched Earth, rebirth
Disinterred in the writhe of the lone survivor
Whose worth is worse than the curse
Of Sardonicus choking on his own saliva
Who shares the last laugh now
Dead wedded fates fulfill their vows?
Foot in mouth of sacred cows
Face down in dust and poisoned ground
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More Featured Meanings
Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman
No Surprises
Radiohead
Radiohead
Same ideas expressed in Fitter, Happier are expressed in this song. We're told to strive for some sort of ideal life, which includes getting a good job, being kind to everyone, finding a partner, getting married, having a couple kids, living in a quiet neighborhood in a nice big house, etc. But in Fitter, Happier the narrator(?) realizes that it's incredibly robotic to live this life. People are being used by those in power "like a pig in a cage on antibiotics"--being pacified with things like new phones and cool gadgets and houses while being sucked dry. On No Surprises, the narrator is realizing how this life is killing him slowly. In the video, his helmet is slowly filling up with water, drowning him. But he's so complacent with it. This is a good summary of the song. This boring, "perfect" life foisted upon us by some higher powers (not spiritual, but political, economic, etc. politicians and businessmen, perhaps) is not the way to live. But there is seemingly no way out but death. He'd rather die peacefully right now than live in this cage. While our lives are often shielded, we're in our own protective bubbles, or protective helmets like the one Thom wears, if we look a little harder we can see all the corruption, lies, manipulation, etc. that is going on in the world, often run by huge yet nearly invisible organizations, corporations, and 'leaders'. It's a very hopeless song because it reflects real life.
Magical
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
How would you describe the feeling of being in love? For Ed Sheeran, the word is “Magical.” in HIS three-minute album opener, he makes an attempt to capture the beauty and delicacy of true love with words. He describes the magic of it all over a bright Pop song produced by Aaron Dessner.
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.
Amazing
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran tells a story of unsuccessfully trying to feel “Amazing.” This track is about the being weighed down by emotional stress despite valiant attempts to find some positivity in the situation. This track was written by Ed Sheeran from the perspective of his friend. From the track, we see this person fall deeper into the negative thoughts and slide further down the path of mental torment with every lyric.
Very cool song. On a lighter note, a friend thought he said, "Fruity milk from sacred cows." so now, that's what i think of everytime i hear it.