"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.
when i saw you there in the shadow of the setting sun
when i saw you there in the shadow of the setting sun
you looked so beautiful
you looked so beautiful
when i saw you there i couldn't resist your tender kiss
when i saw you there i couldn't resist your warm caress
you had so much to give
you had your time to live
christfuck christfuck
i will bring us thru this
as always i will carry you kicking and screaming
and in the end you will thank me
you had your time to live
cry cry cry cry cry cry cry cry
cry cry cry cry cry cry cry cry
cry cry cry cry cry cry cry cry
christfuck
when i saw you there in the shadow of the setting sun
you looked so beautiful
you looked so beautiful
when i saw you there i couldn't resist your tender kiss
when i saw you there i couldn't resist your warm caress
you had so much to give
you had your time to live
christfuck christfuck
i will bring us thru this
as always i will carry you kicking and screaming
and in the end you will thank me
you had your time to live
cry cry cry cry cry cry cry cry
cry cry cry cry cry cry cry cry
cry cry cry cry cry cry cry cry
christfuck
Lyrics submitted by liquidmercurial
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More Featured Meanings
Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman
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.
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.
American Town
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran shares a short story of reconnecting with an old flame on “American Town.” The track is about a holiday Ed Sheeran spends with his countrywoman who resides in America. The two are back together after a long period apart, and get around to enjoying a bunch of fun activities while rekindling the flames of their romance.
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.
I think Sangie has a good idea, but here is what I think. I think its about rape. I believe that the women he is talking about is his former lover because the tender kiss and warm caress would be the little things she did when they were together that he remembers. He is looking at her in the shadows because his actions are dark and evil. I think he then begins saying "You had your time to live" meaning her life was with him and she left that life behind. "You had so much to give", meaning she was giving him so much happiness and he was in love and then she took it away. the "Christfuck" refers to the biblical characters like the virgin mary for example, or anyone in the bible that was still "virgin" after having sex with Christ. This might mean that she isn't asking for this to happen to her, and he is somewhat invisible, no one knows what he is doing to her, cept her. Then he begins saying "I will bring us through this" like I will continue what he had, the carrying part is when he kidnaps her and in the end, he says, she will thank him for giving back to her what they had before. In the whisper part he says "You had your time to live" again and then I think he says "You will love me" or "I will make you love me" and her moan is to show you further what is happening at this time, then he starts screaming "cry" at her because he wants her to feel the same pain that she caused him, he wants her to know that the only life she has is with him.
This is just a thought, I could be wrong.
You sound spot on.