"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 was walking down a one way street
Just a-lookin' for someone to meet
One woman, who was looking for a man
Now I'm hopin' (hopin') that the feeling is right
And I'm wonderin' (wonderin') if you'll stay for the night
So I'm coming (I don't wanna be lonely, baby, please tell me)
I wanna love you all over
Do you believe in love?
Do you believe it's true?
Do you believe in love?
Oh, you're making me believe it too
Now the feeling is beginning to grow
And the meaning is something you only know
If you believe it, take my hand and I'll take your heart
Come on
Now I wonder (wonder) where does true love begin?
I'm going under (under), so I'm lettin' you in
My woman (I don't wanna be lonely, baby, please tell me)
I wanna love you all over
(Do you believe in love?)
Do you believe in love?
(Do you believe it's true?)
You believe that it's true?
(Do you believe in love?)
Oh, you're making me believe it too
Yeah
(I used to have you in a photograph)
I'm so glad it's changed
(But now I've got you and it's gonna last)
Do you believe in love?
(Do you believe in love?)
(Do you believe it's true?)
I'm so glad, I'm so glad
(Do you believe in love?)
Oh, you're making me believe it too, yeah
(Wee-ooh, ooh-oh, ooh-ooh)
Do you believe in love?
(Wee-ooh, ooh-oh, wee-ooh)
Do you believe it's true?
(Wee-ooh, ooh-oh, ooh-ooh)
Do you believe in the love?
(Wee-ooh, ooh-oh, wee-ooh)
I believe in love too
(Wee-ooh, ooh-oh, ooh-ooh)
Just a-lookin' for someone to meet
One woman, who was looking for a man
Now I'm hopin' (hopin') that the feeling is right
And I'm wonderin' (wonderin') if you'll stay for the night
So I'm coming (I don't wanna be lonely, baby, please tell me)
I wanna love you all over
Do you believe in love?
Do you believe it's true?
Do you believe in love?
Oh, you're making me believe it too
Now the feeling is beginning to grow
And the meaning is something you only know
If you believe it, take my hand and I'll take your heart
Come on
Now I wonder (wonder) where does true love begin?
I'm going under (under), so I'm lettin' you in
My woman (I don't wanna be lonely, baby, please tell me)
I wanna love you all over
(Do you believe in love?)
Do you believe in love?
(Do you believe it's true?)
You believe that it's true?
(Do you believe in love?)
Oh, you're making me believe it too
Yeah
(I used to have you in a photograph)
I'm so glad it's changed
(But now I've got you and it's gonna last)
Do you believe in love?
(Do you believe in love?)
(Do you believe it's true?)
I'm so glad, I'm so glad
(Do you believe in love?)
Oh, you're making me believe it too, yeah
(Wee-ooh, ooh-oh, ooh-ooh)
Do you believe in love?
(Wee-ooh, ooh-oh, wee-ooh)
Do you believe it's true?
(Wee-ooh, ooh-oh, ooh-ooh)
Do you believe in the love?
(Wee-ooh, ooh-oh, wee-ooh)
I believe in love too
(Wee-ooh, ooh-oh, ooh-ooh)
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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"
Mental Istid
Ebba Grön
Ebba Grön
This is one of my favorite songs. https://fnfgo.io
I Can't Go To Sleep
Wu-Tang Clan
Wu-Tang Clan
This song is written as the perspective of the boys in the street, as a whole, and what path they are going to choose as they get older and grow into men. (This is why the music video takes place in an orphanage.) The seen, and unseen collective suffering is imbedded in the boys’ mind, consciously or subconsciously, and is haunting them. Which path will the boys choose? Issac Hayes is the voice of reason, maybe God, the angel on his shoulder, or the voice of his forefathers from beyond the grave who can see the big picture and are pleading with the boys not to continue the violence and pattern of killing their brothers, but to rise above. The most beautiful song and has so many levels. Racism towards African Americans in America would not exist if everyone sat down and listened to this song and understood the history behind the words. The power, fear, pleading in RZA and Ghostface voices are genuine and powerful. Issac Hayes’ strong voice makes the perfect strong father figure, who is possibly from beyond the grave.
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.
This is a classic, timeless song about meeting someone and falling in love. It combines a straightforward message with an absolutely irresistible hook -- that harmony in the chorus kills me every time. The lyric is not deep or complicated, but I actually prefer it that way -- its very simplicity captures the naiveness and excitement of first love.
RE: "I'm so glad it's changed" The singer is "so glad" because now he has a real woman ("now I've got you") and not just a photograph of one (see the preceding line). I guess the next logical question is how the singer acquired a photograph of this woman. Perhaps she's a model or a beauty queen. Or maybe she's a former schoolmate, so it was a yearbook picture. Perhaps a mutual friend passed along the photo. Or (shudder) did the singer stalk the woman with a camera and snap her photo surreptitiously? Ah, I guess it doesn't really matter.