"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 think the kids are in trouble
I do not know what all the troubles are for
Give them ice for their fevers
You're the only thing I ever want anymore
Live on coffee and flowers
And try not to wonder what the weather will be
I figured out what we're missing
I tell you miserable things after you are asleep
Now we'll leave the Silver City
'Cause all the silver girls
Gave us black dreams
Leave the Silver City
'Cause all the silver girls
Everything means everything
It's a Hollywood summer
You'll never believe the shitty thoughts I think
Meet our friends out for dinner
When I said what I said, I didn't mean anything
We belong in a movie
Try to hold it together until our friends are gone
We should swim in a fountain
Do not want to disappoint anyone
Now we'll leave the Silver City
'Cause all the silver girls
Gave us black dreams
Leave the Silver City
To all the silver girls
Everything means everything
I was afraid
I'd eat your brains
I was afraid
I'd eat your brains
'Cause I'm evil
'Cause I'm evil
I'm a confident liar
Have my head in the oven so you'll know where I'll be
I try to be more romantic
I want to believe in everything you believe
If I was less than amazing
I do not know what all the troubles are for
Fall asleep in your branches
You're the only thing I ever want anymore
Now we'll leave the Silver City
'Cause all the silver girls
Gave us black dreams
Leave the Silver City
To all the silver girls
Everything means everything
I was afraid
I'd eat your brains
I was afraid
I'd eat your brains
'Cause I'm evil
'Cause I'm evil
'Cause I'm evil
I do not know what all the troubles are for
Give them ice for their fevers
You're the only thing I ever want anymore
Live on coffee and flowers
And try not to wonder what the weather will be
I figured out what we're missing
I tell you miserable things after you are asleep
Now we'll leave the Silver City
'Cause all the silver girls
Gave us black dreams
Leave the Silver City
'Cause all the silver girls
Everything means everything
It's a Hollywood summer
You'll never believe the shitty thoughts I think
Meet our friends out for dinner
When I said what I said, I didn't mean anything
We belong in a movie
Try to hold it together until our friends are gone
We should swim in a fountain
Do not want to disappoint anyone
Now we'll leave the Silver City
'Cause all the silver girls
Gave us black dreams
Leave the Silver City
To all the silver girls
Everything means everything
I was afraid
I'd eat your brains
I was afraid
I'd eat your brains
'Cause I'm evil
'Cause I'm evil
I'm a confident liar
Have my head in the oven so you'll know where I'll be
I try to be more romantic
I want to believe in everything you believe
If I was less than amazing
I do not know what all the troubles are for
Fall asleep in your branches
You're the only thing I ever want anymore
Now we'll leave the Silver City
'Cause all the silver girls
Gave us black dreams
Leave the Silver City
To all the silver girls
Everything means everything
I was afraid
I'd eat your brains
I was afraid
I'd eat your brains
'Cause I'm evil
'Cause I'm evil
'Cause I'm evil
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More Featured Meanings
Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman
Mental Istid
Ebba Grön
Ebba Grön
This is one of my favorite songs. https://fnfgo.io
Cajun Girl
Little Feat
Little Feat
Overall about difficult moments of disappointment and vulnerability. Having hope and longing, while remaining optimistic for the future. Encourages the belief that with each new morning there is a chance for things to improve.
The chorus offers a glimmer of optimism and a chance at a resolution and redemption in the future.
Captures the rollercoaster of emotions of feeling lost while loving someone who is not there for you, feeling let down and abandoned while waiting for a lover. Lost with no direction, "Now I'm up in the air with the rain in my hair, Nowhere to go, I can go anywhere"
The bridge shows signs of longing and a plea for companionship. The Lyrics express a desire for authentic connection and the importance of Loving someone just as they are. "Just in passing, I'm not asking. That you be anyone but you”
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.
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.
what adds to this songs 'zombie' theme is the vocals. His voice lends to the mood so fucking well and takes it from being a beautifully written and executed song to a glimse into the mind and heart of a spirtually and emotionally drained man.