"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 hope you're feeling happy now
I see you feel no pain at all, it seems
I wonder what you're doin' now
I wonder if you think of me at all
Do you still play the same moves now?
Or are those special moods for someone else?
I hope you're feeling happy now
Just because you feel good
Doesn't make you right, oh no
Just because you feel good
Still want you here tonight
Does laughter still discover you?
I see through all the smiles that look so right
Do you still have the same friends now
To smoke away your problems and your life?
Oh how do you remember me?
The one that made you laugh until you cried
I hope you're feeling happy now
Just because you feel good
Doesn't make you right, oh no
Just because you feel good
Still want you here tonight, want you
Oh, no
Just because you feel good
Doesn't make you right, oh no
Just because you feel good
Still want you here tonight, want you
Just because you feel good
Doesn't make you right, oh no
Just because you feel good
Still want you here tonight, want you
I wonder what you're doing now
I hope you're feeling happy now
I wonder what you're doing now
I hope you're feeling happy now
I see you feel no pain at all, it seems
I wonder what you're doin' now
I wonder if you think of me at all
Do you still play the same moves now?
Or are those special moods for someone else?
I hope you're feeling happy now
Just because you feel good
Doesn't make you right, oh no
Just because you feel good
Still want you here tonight
Does laughter still discover you?
I see through all the smiles that look so right
Do you still have the same friends now
To smoke away your problems and your life?
Oh how do you remember me?
The one that made you laugh until you cried
I hope you're feeling happy now
Just because you feel good
Doesn't make you right, oh no
Just because you feel good
Still want you here tonight, want you
Oh, no
Just because you feel good
Doesn't make you right, oh no
Just because you feel good
Still want you here tonight, want you
Just because you feel good
Doesn't make you right, oh no
Just because you feel good
Still want you here tonight, want you
I wonder what you're doing now
I hope you're feeling happy now
I wonder what you're doing now
I hope you're feeling happy now
Add your thoughts
Log in now to tell us what you think this song means.
Don’t have an account? Create an account with SongMeanings to post comments, submit lyrics, and more. It’s super easy, we promise!
More Featured Meanings
Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman
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."
When We Were Young
Blink-182
Blink-182
This is a sequel to 2001's "Reckless Abandon", and features the band looking back on their clumsy youth fondly.
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.
Punchline
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran sings about missing his former partner and learning important life lessons in the process on “Punchline.” This track tells a story of battling to get rid of emotions for a former lover, whom he now realized might not have loved him the same way. He’s now caught between accepting that fact and learning life lessons from it and going back to beg her for another chance.
i don't think its as simple as hoping that an ex is happy...i think that the 'hope you're feeling happy now' is supposed to be sarcastic.
it's an angry song to sing to a former boyf/girlf who's hurt you when he/she should have thanked you for helping you when he/she felt so low...
I think it´s more sad than angry song - it´s about broken relationship, in which she was more emocionaly involved and now she´s feeling sad and embarassed for being the one, who loved more and that she is still not able to get over it ( I see you feel no pain at all it seems I wonder what you're doin' now I wonder if you think of me at all ) And the fact she still feel bad and lonely, while he doesn´t seem to care and feel bad at all is wounding her even more. And she knows, that even after all she "still wants him here tonight" (un-cared for some dignaty or something), which is the saddest moment.
Am I the only one picking up a message about weed? "Do you still have the same friends now, to smoke away your problems and your life?" Makes a lot of sense and relates to "just because it feels good, doesn't make you right". And the title, Hedonism points in the same direction. This is a song about a relationship that went sour because of a boyfriend who smoked too much. To me anyway :)
hey, im not sure how to word what i feel this means, but all i know is when i hear it i wanna cry.
I agree totally with Skunker!! It reminds me of my ex-boyfriend!! I really don't need him anymore, but I agree with skunker!!
i absolutly love this song... to me it means she has broken up with a loved one, and she hope he is e/she is happy now, though there is anger and hurt as she is not quite over the break up. i love it!!!!!
i can see where fading and ladyboygrrl are going, but i kinda miss the hedonism part in their explanations. skin tells about her ex-boy(/girl)friend: 'i see you feel no pain at all it seems", and 'does laughter still discover you', 'just because you feel good'. does she refer to the hedonistic way of life of het ex boy(/girl)friend?
also: 'how do you remember me? the one that made you laugh until you cried?' does she mean: did you only date my because you could have a good laugh with me or did i mean more to you?
to me lines like these sound as if she's critisising his superficial way of living. his life is all about having fun, but is there a place for true love and care? (hedonism = viewing the own pleasure as highest good)
'just because you feel good, does it make you right', makes perfectly sense...
nice comment enid.. i agree