"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.
Let's listen to this dramatic show
Which was popular in the early days of radio
Ha ha, ha ha, uh, yeah yeah
Jazzy Jeff, Fresh Prince and uh
Jazzy Jeff, Fresh Prince and uh
Little taste of the old school, ih ih
Jazzy Jeff, yo, break it down one time
Say what? Uh
Uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh
One for the treble, two for the bass
Jazzy Jeff and Fresh Prince back up in your face
Me and Jeff again, "Oh my" you say
1985 to the Y2K
The new millenium, propehicies, I'm fulfillin' 'em
Everywhere I go, people be yelling "Yo, that's Will and them"
I check the rhyme like Quest
Sat and wrote some dope doo-doo rhymes at my rest
The B-I-G, W-I-L-L
King of swing, and I rock well
The nail in the coffin of your average rapper
Jeff do the ditto for your average scratcher
Stature of a rapper slash actor
Back to the future on wax
The future of rap
Tap like Gregory Hines, read the headlines
Hip-hop's number one son still shines
'Cause I'm (so fresh)
Big Will is (so fresh)
Jazzy Jeff is (so fresh)
West Philly is (so fresh), ha ha, ha ha
Ladies and Gentlemen
Biz Markie
Yes y'all and to the funky beat and
Every time you hear me rhyme, y'all be freakin'
The B-I-Z will wreck it, R-O-R-O-K it
You're guaranteed to like me, for what I am sayin'
To all the sucka emcees that be tryin' to get the info
Forget the rest 'cause I'm the best, and I'm a nympho-
Maniac, insaniac, I'll put you in a trance and
If you party with me I'll always keep you dancin'
Always keep you hyper no matter what type of jam
You know I'm fresh in viper
Yeah, that's right, I'm talkin' 'bout me
The ah-ah-oh in the place to be
I recognize and hypnotize, every time I tenderize
I specialize and open eyes, to make you realize
That you been rocked with Jeff's plain skills
By the diabolical, and my man Will
And we're (so fresh)
Ha ha, ha ha, Big Will is (so fresh)
Ha ha, Biz Mark is (so fresh)
Ha ha, Jazzy Jeff is (so fresh)
Uh, uh, Biz, do it
Woo, for the old school
Uh, uh, ha ha, ha ha
Uh, uh, uh, uh, uh
Ladies and gentlemen
Ricky D
Well once upon a time eccentric head shorty
Where people wore pajamas and went to bed early
There was a little boy, tight clout that might sprout
Who tried to help lead black folk the right route
Delayed, negative voices, many, hums in prison
For unwise choices that he once made
D vitamin, gospel sit inside of him
And seeing the good he had within him, let him out again
No longer for the big type ball event
Big willies like Will Smith now call the kid (yo Rick, yo Rick)
So check the gift, everything comes negative
What happens when you steer black folk away from negative
Not to mention check the charts, killin' 'em
Devil be a member, Biz-Mark, Will, and Rick
Divine sent, can't mess with the mindset
Come run with us, December 1999 said
It's all because of you (ha ha, ha ha)
I'm feelin' sad and blue (say what?)
You went away, now my life is rainy days
I love you so, how much, you'll never know
You took your love away from me
Oh oh oh oh
You took your love away from me (ha ha)
Oh oh oh oh
You took your love
You took your love
You took your love
Yes you took your love
Took your love away from me (ha ha)
Slick Rick (uh-huh)
Will Smith (what, what)
Biz Mark (true that, true that)
Jazzy Jeff y'all
Which was popular in the early days of radio
Ha ha, ha ha, uh, yeah yeah
Jazzy Jeff, Fresh Prince and uh
Jazzy Jeff, Fresh Prince and uh
Little taste of the old school, ih ih
Jazzy Jeff, yo, break it down one time
Say what? Uh
Uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh
One for the treble, two for the bass
Jazzy Jeff and Fresh Prince back up in your face
Me and Jeff again, "Oh my" you say
1985 to the Y2K
The new millenium, propehicies, I'm fulfillin' 'em
Everywhere I go, people be yelling "Yo, that's Will and them"
I check the rhyme like Quest
Sat and wrote some dope doo-doo rhymes at my rest
The B-I-G, W-I-L-L
King of swing, and I rock well
The nail in the coffin of your average rapper
Jeff do the ditto for your average scratcher
Stature of a rapper slash actor
Back to the future on wax
The future of rap
Tap like Gregory Hines, read the headlines
Hip-hop's number one son still shines
'Cause I'm (so fresh)
Big Will is (so fresh)
Jazzy Jeff is (so fresh)
West Philly is (so fresh), ha ha, ha ha
Ladies and Gentlemen
Biz Markie
Yes y'all and to the funky beat and
Every time you hear me rhyme, y'all be freakin'
The B-I-Z will wreck it, R-O-R-O-K it
You're guaranteed to like me, for what I am sayin'
To all the sucka emcees that be tryin' to get the info
Forget the rest 'cause I'm the best, and I'm a nympho-
Maniac, insaniac, I'll put you in a trance and
If you party with me I'll always keep you dancin'
Always keep you hyper no matter what type of jam
You know I'm fresh in viper
Yeah, that's right, I'm talkin' 'bout me
The ah-ah-oh in the place to be
I recognize and hypnotize, every time I tenderize
I specialize and open eyes, to make you realize
That you been rocked with Jeff's plain skills
By the diabolical, and my man Will
And we're (so fresh)
Ha ha, ha ha, Big Will is (so fresh)
Ha ha, Biz Mark is (so fresh)
Ha ha, Jazzy Jeff is (so fresh)
Uh, uh, Biz, do it
Woo, for the old school
Uh, uh, ha ha, ha ha
Uh, uh, uh, uh, uh
Ladies and gentlemen
Ricky D
Well once upon a time eccentric head shorty
Where people wore pajamas and went to bed early
There was a little boy, tight clout that might sprout
Who tried to help lead black folk the right route
Delayed, negative voices, many, hums in prison
For unwise choices that he once made
D vitamin, gospel sit inside of him
And seeing the good he had within him, let him out again
No longer for the big type ball event
Big willies like Will Smith now call the kid (yo Rick, yo Rick)
So check the gift, everything comes negative
What happens when you steer black folk away from negative
Not to mention check the charts, killin' 'em
Devil be a member, Biz-Mark, Will, and Rick
Divine sent, can't mess with the mindset
Come run with us, December 1999 said
It's all because of you (ha ha, ha ha)
I'm feelin' sad and blue (say what?)
You went away, now my life is rainy days
I love you so, how much, you'll never know
You took your love away from me
Oh oh oh oh
You took your love away from me (ha ha)
Oh oh oh oh
You took your love
You took your love
You took your love
Yes you took your love
Took your love away from me (ha ha)
Slick Rick (uh-huh)
Will Smith (what, what)
Biz Mark (true that, true that)
Jazzy Jeff y'all
Lyrics submitted by Demau Senae
So Fresh Lyrics as written by J. Carson Lonnie Rashid Lynn
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Reservoir Media Management, Inc.
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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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"
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."
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.
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.
Best Song on Willennium....Will Smith certainly does know how to take it back to the OLD SCHOOL!!!
Fantastic song, simply out of this world in its old skool melody and flow.