"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.
Spending all your money
Ain’t it funny how the time goes by?
First you start believing
Then you’re leaving for no reason
And you’re wondering why
So till the morning breaks
Go and make your mistakes
Don’t be surprised if your head hurts
Life is for the living, the forgiven and for leaving town alive
Whisper in the ways
Watching days and moving on
You wake up every Monday then suddenly it’s Sunday
And the week is gone
So till the morning breaks
Go and make your mistakes
Don’t be surprised at the sunrise
Life is for the living, the forgiven and for leaving town alive
Oh, do you wonder where it starts
Where it ends
What you find around the bend
Oh, do you wonder where she’s from
Where she goes
No one knows
Now and then you wonder
Why you’re spending all your money
Ain’t it funny how she walks on by?
She had you all believing
Now she’s leaving for no reason
And you’re wondering why
So till the morning breaks
Go and make your mistakes
Don’t be surprised if your heart hurts
Life is for the living, the forgiven and for leaving town alive
Oh, do you wonder where it starts
Where it ends
What you find around the bend
And oh, do you wonder where she’s from
Where she goes
No one knows
Now and then
Oh, do you wonder where it starts
Where it ends
What you find around the bend
And do you wonder where she’s from
Where she goes
No one knows
Now and then you wonder
Why life is for the living, the forgiven and the leaving town alive
Life is for the living, the forgiven and the leaving town alive
Ain’t it funny how the time goes by?
First you start believing
Then you’re leaving for no reason
And you’re wondering why
So till the morning breaks
Go and make your mistakes
Don’t be surprised if your head hurts
Life is for the living, the forgiven and for leaving town alive
Whisper in the ways
Watching days and moving on
You wake up every Monday then suddenly it’s Sunday
And the week is gone
So till the morning breaks
Go and make your mistakes
Don’t be surprised at the sunrise
Life is for the living, the forgiven and for leaving town alive
Oh, do you wonder where it starts
Where it ends
What you find around the bend
Oh, do you wonder where she’s from
Where she goes
No one knows
Now and then you wonder
Why you’re spending all your money
Ain’t it funny how she walks on by?
She had you all believing
Now she’s leaving for no reason
And you’re wondering why
So till the morning breaks
Go and make your mistakes
Don’t be surprised if your heart hurts
Life is for the living, the forgiven and for leaving town alive
Oh, do you wonder where it starts
Where it ends
What you find around the bend
And oh, do you wonder where she’s from
Where she goes
No one knows
Now and then
Oh, do you wonder where it starts
Where it ends
What you find around the bend
And do you wonder where she’s from
Where she goes
No one knows
Now and then you wonder
Why life is for the living, the forgiven and the leaving town alive
Life is for the living, the forgiven and the leaving town alive
Lyrics submitted by Joypiter
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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"
Head > Heels
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
“Head > Heels” is a track that aims to capture what it feels like to experience romance that exceeds expectations. Ed Sheeran dedicates his album outro to a lover who has blessed him with a unique experience that he seeks to describe through the song’s nuanced lyrics.
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.
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.
I love this song. It's about growing up, and learning as ypu go on with life.
"Oh, do you wonder where it starts Where it ends What you find around the bend"
This is about the innocence and curiosity when your young.
"So 'til the morning breaks go and make your mistakes Don't be surprised at the sunrise"
When you're young, you can make mistakes and learn from them. The sunrise symbolizes a new beginning into adulthood. You can make mistakes, but don't let adulthood sneak up on you when you can no longer those same mistakes.
Great song to listen to when you feel like being alone for a little while just to think, or just to be alone. It makes you want to close your eyes, block eveything else off, make any distractions dissappear and just listen. Listen to the way her voice changes when she goes from verse to chorus or vise-versa. Listen to the way she belts "Oh" s owell it makes you wonder what inspired her, and you really feel like she's singing it TO you. give it a chance. You won't regret it.
Light and lovable song about just living and making it out while still being you and alive.
it made me feel that way too!her voice makes you feel so many things..makes you think about your life and changes you go through!
koolbeckster said it best! I love this song and as I'm about to go off to college it makes me love it more cause now it's personal.