"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.
That old dog has chained you up alright
Give you everything you need to live inside a twisted cage
Sleep beside an empty rage
I had a dream I was your hero
Damn, I wish I was your lover
I'd rock you 'til the daylight comes
Make sure you are smiling and warm
I am everything
Tonight I'll be your mother
I'll do such things to ease your pain
Free your mind and you won't feel ashamed
Oh, oh
Open up, I'm gonna get inside
I'm gonna fill you up, gonna make you cry
This monkey can't stand to see you black and blue
I give you something sweet each time you
Come inside my jungle book
What is it just too good?
Don't say you'll stay
'Cause then you'll go away
Damn, I wish I was your lover
I'd rock you 'til the daylight comes
Make sure you are smiling and warm
I am everything
Tonight I'll be your mother
I'll do such things to ease your pain
Free your mind and you won't feel ashamed
Shucks, for me there is no other
You're the only shoe that fits
I can't imagine I'll grow out of it
Damn, I wish I was your lover
(Yeah)
If I was your girl, believe me
I'd turn on the Rolling Stones
We could groove along and feel much better
Let me in
I could do it forever and ever and ever and ever
Give me an hour to kiss you
Walk through heaven's door I'm sure
We don't need no doctor to feel much better
Let me in, oh
Forever and ever and ever and ever
I sat on the mountainside with peace of mind
And I lay by the ocean making love to her with visions clear
Walked for days with no one near
And I return as chained and bound to you
Damn, I wish I was your lover
I'd rock you 'til the daylight comes
Make sure you are smiling and warm
I am everything
Tonight I'll be your mother
I'll do such things to ease your pain
Free your mind and you won't feel ashamed
Shucks, for me there is no other
You're the only shoe that fits
I can't imagine I'll grow out of it
Damn, I wish I was your lover
I wanna open up, I wanna come inside
I wanna fill you up, I wanna make you cry
Damn, I wish I was your lover
Getting on a subway
And I'm coming uptown
Damn, I wish I was your lover
Standing on the street corner
Waiting for my luck to change
Damn, I wish I was your lover
Feeling like a schoolboy
Too shy and too young, oh
Damn, I wish I was your lover
Tryna open up, I wanna come inside
I wanna fill you up, I wanna make you cry
Damn, I wish I was your lover
Getting on my camel
Gonna ride it uptown, ooh
Damn, I wish I was your lover
Give you everything you need to live inside a twisted cage
Sleep beside an empty rage
I had a dream I was your hero
Damn, I wish I was your lover
I'd rock you 'til the daylight comes
Make sure you are smiling and warm
I am everything
Tonight I'll be your mother
I'll do such things to ease your pain
Free your mind and you won't feel ashamed
Oh, oh
Open up, I'm gonna get inside
I'm gonna fill you up, gonna make you cry
This monkey can't stand to see you black and blue
I give you something sweet each time you
Come inside my jungle book
What is it just too good?
Don't say you'll stay
'Cause then you'll go away
Damn, I wish I was your lover
I'd rock you 'til the daylight comes
Make sure you are smiling and warm
I am everything
Tonight I'll be your mother
I'll do such things to ease your pain
Free your mind and you won't feel ashamed
Shucks, for me there is no other
You're the only shoe that fits
I can't imagine I'll grow out of it
Damn, I wish I was your lover
(Yeah)
If I was your girl, believe me
I'd turn on the Rolling Stones
We could groove along and feel much better
Let me in
I could do it forever and ever and ever and ever
Give me an hour to kiss you
Walk through heaven's door I'm sure
We don't need no doctor to feel much better
Let me in, oh
Forever and ever and ever and ever
I sat on the mountainside with peace of mind
And I lay by the ocean making love to her with visions clear
Walked for days with no one near
And I return as chained and bound to you
Damn, I wish I was your lover
I'd rock you 'til the daylight comes
Make sure you are smiling and warm
I am everything
Tonight I'll be your mother
I'll do such things to ease your pain
Free your mind and you won't feel ashamed
Shucks, for me there is no other
You're the only shoe that fits
I can't imagine I'll grow out of it
Damn, I wish I was your lover
I wanna open up, I wanna come inside
I wanna fill you up, I wanna make you cry
Damn, I wish I was your lover
Getting on a subway
And I'm coming uptown
Damn, I wish I was your lover
Standing on the street corner
Waiting for my luck to change
Damn, I wish I was your lover
Feeling like a schoolboy
Too shy and too young, oh
Damn, I wish I was your lover
Tryna open up, I wanna come inside
I wanna fill you up, I wanna make you cry
Damn, I wish I was your lover
Getting on my camel
Gonna ride it uptown, ooh
Damn, I wish I was your lover
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More Featured Meanings
Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman
Holiday
Bee Gees
Bee Gees
@[Diderik:33655] "Your a holiday!" Was a popular term used in the 50s/60s to compliment someone on their all around. For example, not only are they beautiful, but they are fun and kind too ... just an all around "holiday".
I think your first comment is closer to being accurate. The singer/song writers state "Millions of eyes can see, yet why am i so blind!? When the someone else is me, its unkind its unkind". I believe hes referring to the girl toying with him and using him. He wants something deeper with her, thats why he allows himself to be as a puppet (even though for her fun and games) as long as it makes her happy. But he knows deep down that she doesnt really want to be serious with him and thats what makes him.
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."
Gentle Hour
Yo La Tengo
Yo La Tengo
This song was originally written by a guy called Peter Gutteridge. He was one of the founders of the "Dunedin Sound" a musical scene in the south of New Zealand in the early 80s. From there it was covered by "The Clean" one of the early bands of that scene (he had originally been a member of in it's early days, writing a couple of their best early songs). The Dunedin sound, and the Clean became popular on american college radio in the mid to late 80s. I guess Yo La Tengo heard that version.
Great version of a great song,
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.
A definite frustration song on missing your ex-lover!!!