"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.
Feels like you're miles from here, in other towns with lesser names
Where the unholy ghost doesn't tell Mary or William exactly what they want to hear
You remember the house on Ridge Road told you and the Devil to both just leave me alone
If this is salvation, I can show you the trembling
You'll just have to trust me. I'm scared
I am the patron saint of lost causes
Aren't we all to you just near lost causes?
Aren't we all to you just lost Tommy, you left behind something that will mean everything right before you die.
What if you gained the whole world?
You've already lost four little souls from your life
Widows and orphans aren't hard to find
They're home missing daddy who's saving the abandoned tonight
Wish your drinking would hurry and kill you
Sympathy's better than having to tell you the truth
That you are the patron saint of lost causes
All you are to them is now a lost cause
All you are to them is now, causes
Billy, don't you understand?
Timothy stood as long as he could and now you made his faith disappear
More like a magician and less like a man of the cloth
We're not questioning God.
Just those he chose to carry on His cross
We're no better, you'll see
Just all of us, the lost causes
Aren't we all to you just lost causes?
Are we all to you lost?
Lost causes
So all we are to you,
Is all we are, is all we are
All we are is all we are
Patron Saint, are we all lost like you?
Patron Saint, are we all lost like you?
Patron Saint, are we all lost like you?
Patron Saint, are we all lost like you?
Patron Saint, are we all lost like you?
(Lost causes, all we are is all we are)
Patron Saint, are we all lost like you?
(To you, lost)
Patron Saint, are we all lost like you?
Patron Saint, are we all lost like you?
Patron Saint, are we all lost like you?
Take what you will, what you will and leave
Could you kill, could you kill me
If the world was on fire and nothing was left but hope or desire
And take all that I could bring forth, is this hell
Or am I on the floor over-desperate?
Hold hands streaming of blood again?
And then take full weight of me
Guard my dreams, figure this out, It's me on my own
Helpless, hurting, hell
Will you stay strong as you promised?
'Cause I'm stranded and bare
Meanness is washed up in all that I am is God
Take this and all
Then grace takes me to a place
Of the father you never had
Ripping and breaking and tearing apart
This is not heaven
This is my hell
Where the unholy ghost doesn't tell Mary or William exactly what they want to hear
You remember the house on Ridge Road told you and the Devil to both just leave me alone
If this is salvation, I can show you the trembling
You'll just have to trust me. I'm scared
I am the patron saint of lost causes
Aren't we all to you just near lost causes?
Aren't we all to you just lost Tommy, you left behind something that will mean everything right before you die.
What if you gained the whole world?
You've already lost four little souls from your life
Widows and orphans aren't hard to find
They're home missing daddy who's saving the abandoned tonight
Wish your drinking would hurry and kill you
Sympathy's better than having to tell you the truth
That you are the patron saint of lost causes
All you are to them is now a lost cause
All you are to them is now, causes
Billy, don't you understand?
Timothy stood as long as he could and now you made his faith disappear
More like a magician and less like a man of the cloth
We're not questioning God.
Just those he chose to carry on His cross
We're no better, you'll see
Just all of us, the lost causes
Aren't we all to you just lost causes?
Are we all to you lost?
Lost causes
So all we are to you,
Is all we are, is all we are
All we are is all we are
Patron Saint, are we all lost like you?
Patron Saint, are we all lost like you?
Patron Saint, are we all lost like you?
Patron Saint, are we all lost like you?
Patron Saint, are we all lost like you?
(Lost causes, all we are is all we are)
Patron Saint, are we all lost like you?
(To you, lost)
Patron Saint, are we all lost like you?
Patron Saint, are we all lost like you?
Patron Saint, are we all lost like you?
Take what you will, what you will and leave
Could you kill, could you kill me
If the world was on fire and nothing was left but hope or desire
And take all that I could bring forth, is this hell
Or am I on the floor over-desperate?
Hold hands streaming of blood again?
And then take full weight of me
Guard my dreams, figure this out, It's me on my own
Helpless, hurting, hell
Will you stay strong as you promised?
'Cause I'm stranded and bare
Meanness is washed up in all that I am is God
Take this and all
Then grace takes me to a place
Of the father you never had
Ripping and breaking and tearing apart
This is not heaven
This is my hell
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More Featured Meanings
Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman
Holiday
Bee Gees
Bee Gees
@[Diderik:33655] "Your a holiday!" Was a popular term used in the 50s/60s to compliment someone on their all around. For example, not only are they beautiful, but they are fun and kind too ... just an all around "holiday".
I think your first comment is closer to being accurate. The singer/song writers state "Millions of eyes can see, yet why am i so blind!? When the someone else is me, its unkind its unkind". I believe hes referring to the girl toying with him and using him. He wants something deeper with her, thats why he allows himself to be as a puppet (even though for her fun and games) as long as it makes her happy. But he knows deep down that she doesnt really want to be serious with him and thats what makes him.
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.
Magical
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
How would you describe the feeling of being in love? For Ed Sheeran, the word is “Magical.” in HIS three-minute album opener, he makes an attempt to capture the beauty and delicacy of true love with words. He describes the magic of it all over a bright Pop song produced by Aaron Dessner.
this is what Stephen says in an interview. I got this from: absolutepunk.net/showthread.php
Was there an inspiration or prior experience behind what you sang at the end of (*fin), since it was improvised? And what is the song about?
Stephen: I honestly just went with it. It was a rather spiritual experience for me. I have not a clue what i was saying. The great thing is to google it and see what other people think it said. Its hilarious. (*fin) is by far the most personal song in the arsenal. It is about being raised around suffocating religion and questioning the people who say they come in the name of ‘faith’ but are wolves in sheep’s clothing.
Thanks for that direct meaning!