We'll take it line by line. He's from a small, wealthy city where the cars "don't run" until the engine "breaks" (by this he means until the engine is altered for the better or upgraded like some wealthy people have done to their cars). He didn't spend extravagantly like the rest of his town but he was influenced by them. He noticed the conformity of everyone else and the facade his town put up. Throughout life, he's haunted by the words of everyone who everyone who tried to influence him, begging him to "remember" what they said. He might have been told that his dreams of becoming a musician in such a prestige-obsessed town were ridiculous, and a "figment." At the end, however, he raises himself from everything that has haunted him and reveals that he was never listening. The song itself is ironic because its popularity proves the writer WAS successful, contrary to what all of those people were telling him.
We'll take it line by line. He's from a small, wealthy city where the cars "don't run" until the engine "breaks" (by this he means until the engine is altered for the better or upgraded like some wealthy people have done to their cars). He didn't spend extravagantly like the rest of his town but he was influenced by them. He noticed the conformity of everyone else and the facade his town put up. Throughout life, he's haunted by the words of everyone who everyone who tried to influence him, begging him to "remember" what they said. He might have been told that his dreams of becoming a musician in such a prestige-obsessed town were ridiculous, and a "figment." At the end, however, he raises himself from everything that has haunted him and reveals that he was never listening. The song itself is ironic because its popularity proves the writer WAS successful, contrary to what all of those people were telling him.