"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.
Does it hurt to remember
Does it help to forget
Do you know what you started
When you lit the fuse of regret
There's not a reason why you've come undone
There's nothing left to justify, this can't go on
There's nothing left inside as I walk this broken land
Cause you're living on a paper sun
Blind to all the damage done
Living on a paper sun
Waiting for the tide to turn
Living on a paper sun
You can't hide and you can't run
All your dreams have come and gone
Living on a paper sun
Do you still hear 'em screamin'
And does the fear make you run
Is the anger inside of you
A gift from father to son
I don't believe in you, you've come undone
I don't believe in what you do, this can't go on
I don't believe in you as I walk this broken land
Cause you're living on a paper sun
Blind to all the damage done
Living on a paper sun
Waiting for the tide to turn
Living on a paper sun
You can't hide and you can't run
All your dreams have come and gone
Living on a paper
You will discover the way to suffer
And like no other you feed the fire
There's not a reason why you've come undone
There's nothing left to justify, this can't go on
There's nothing left inside as I walk this broken land
Cause you're living on a paper sun
Blind to all the damage done
Living on a paper sun
Waiting for the tide to turn
Living on a paper sun
Waiting for the night
All your dreams have come and gone
Does it help to forget
Do you know what you started
When you lit the fuse of regret
There's not a reason why you've come undone
There's nothing left to justify, this can't go on
There's nothing left inside as I walk this broken land
Cause you're living on a paper sun
Blind to all the damage done
Living on a paper sun
Waiting for the tide to turn
Living on a paper sun
You can't hide and you can't run
All your dreams have come and gone
Living on a paper sun
Do you still hear 'em screamin'
And does the fear make you run
Is the anger inside of you
A gift from father to son
I don't believe in you, you've come undone
I don't believe in what you do, this can't go on
I don't believe in you as I walk this broken land
Cause you're living on a paper sun
Blind to all the damage done
Living on a paper sun
Waiting for the tide to turn
Living on a paper sun
You can't hide and you can't run
All your dreams have come and gone
Living on a paper
You will discover the way to suffer
And like no other you feed the fire
There's not a reason why you've come undone
There's nothing left to justify, this can't go on
There's nothing left inside as I walk this broken land
Cause you're living on a paper sun
Blind to all the damage done
Living on a paper sun
Waiting for the tide to turn
Living on a paper sun
Waiting for the night
All your dreams have come and gone
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More Featured Meanings
Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman
The Night We Met
Lord Huron
Lord Huron
This is a hauntingly beautiful song about introspection, specifically about looking back at a relationship that started bad and ended so poorly, that the narrator wants to go back to the very beginning and tell himself to not even travel down that road. I believe that the relationship started poorly because of the lines:
"Take me back to the night we met:When the night was full of terrors: And your eyes were filled with tears: When you had not touched me yet"
So, the first night was not a great start, but the narrator pursued the relationship and eventually both overcame the rough start to fall in love with each other:
"I had all and then most of you"
Like many relationships that turn sour, it was not a quick decline, but a gradual one where the narrator and their partner fall out of love and gradually grow apart
"Some and now none of you"
Losing someone who was once everything in your world, who you could confide in, tell your secrets to, share all the most intimate parts of your life, to being strangers with that person is probably one of the most painful experiences a person can go through. So Painful, the narrator wants to go back in time and tell himself to not even pursue the relationship.
This was the perfect song for "13 Reasons Why"
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.
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.
Page
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
There aren’t many things that’ll hurt more than giving love a chance against your better judgement only to have your heart crushed yet again. Ed Sheeran tells such a story on “Page.” On this track, he is devastated to have lost his lover and even more saddened by the feeling that he may never move on from this.
When I first heard this I kept thinking what on earth a "Paper Sun" could mean. A "Paper tiger" is something we think is powerful but has no strength and is a chimera. So what on earth is a false sun? Def Leppard has always disliked organized religion. Could several lines be a cryptic play on words with Sun meaning "Son" or "Savior"...The Son of God? Could it be a statement that Christianity is a joke and that people who rely on Christ are living on a "paper son" or "dream", putting their faith in something false. "I don't believe in you" (No belief in God or the Savior) you've come undone (people get carried away in religion) Blind to all the damage done (how organized religion hasn't been helpful.
I know this is a stretch, but I'm convinced some of the lines are a sly jab at religion.
Of course Cheesemaesto's take is probably the best straightforward meaning.