"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 remember the days when we talked for hours
And we were young, we thought we had superpowers
We kissed the sky, expanded our minds, thought we could fly
We were dreamers and we'd never die
We were young punks but we showed potential
Was us against the world, we weren't sentimental
We weren't our problems, our age or our paychecks
And we weren't taking anybody's shit
If I know now what I knew then
I'd back up do it all again
I'd take a bow, take it real slow
Take a ride down that yellow brick road
Know now what I knew then
I'd back up do it all again
I'd take a bow, take it real slow
Take a ? take a ride down that yellow brick road
Come on, come on rise up
Come on, come on rise up
Come on, come on rise
The winters were cold but we had your parents basement
This underground was for sinners and we embraced it
Magic pills, fairy tales, Syd Barrett's ghost
Oh, we'd all get on that spaceship
We measured our lives in coffee spoons
And those Friday nights quickly turned into Sunday afternoons
We weren't our money, our muscles or our regrets
We were having a mere life experience
If I know now what I knew then
I'd back up do it all again
I'd take a bow, take it real slow
Take a ride down that yellow brick road
Know now what I knew then
I'd back up do it all again
I'd take a bow, take it real slow
Take a ride down that yellow brick road
I remember the days when we talked for hours
And we were young, we thought we had superpowers
We weren't our problems, our age or our paychecks
And we weren't taking anybody's shit
If I know now what I knew then
I'd back up do it all again
I'd take a bow, take it real slow
Take a ride down that yellow brick road
Know now what I knew then
I'd back up do it all again
I'd take a bow, take it real slow
Take a ride down that yellow brick road
Take a bow, take it real slow
Take a ride down that yellow brick road
Come on, come on rise up
Come on, come on rise up
Come on, come on rise
And we were young, we thought we had superpowers
We kissed the sky, expanded our minds, thought we could fly
We were dreamers and we'd never die
We were young punks but we showed potential
Was us against the world, we weren't sentimental
We weren't our problems, our age or our paychecks
And we weren't taking anybody's shit
If I know now what I knew then
I'd back up do it all again
I'd take a bow, take it real slow
Take a ride down that yellow brick road
Know now what I knew then
I'd back up do it all again
I'd take a bow, take it real slow
Take a ? take a ride down that yellow brick road
Come on, come on rise up
Come on, come on rise up
Come on, come on rise
The winters were cold but we had your parents basement
This underground was for sinners and we embraced it
Magic pills, fairy tales, Syd Barrett's ghost
Oh, we'd all get on that spaceship
We measured our lives in coffee spoons
And those Friday nights quickly turned into Sunday afternoons
We weren't our money, our muscles or our regrets
We were having a mere life experience
If I know now what I knew then
I'd back up do it all again
I'd take a bow, take it real slow
Take a ride down that yellow brick road
Know now what I knew then
I'd back up do it all again
I'd take a bow, take it real slow
Take a ride down that yellow brick road
I remember the days when we talked for hours
And we were young, we thought we had superpowers
We weren't our problems, our age or our paychecks
And we weren't taking anybody's shit
If I know now what I knew then
I'd back up do it all again
I'd take a bow, take it real slow
Take a ride down that yellow brick road
Know now what I knew then
I'd back up do it all again
I'd take a bow, take it real slow
Take a ride down that yellow brick road
Take a bow, take it real slow
Take a ride down that yellow brick road
Come on, come on rise up
Come on, come on rise up
Come on, come on rise
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More Featured Meanings
Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman
Bron-Y-Aur Stomp
Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin
This is about bronies. They communicate by stomping.
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.
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.
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.
what I believe he's getting at with "If I knew now what I knew then" is that when you're a kid, you thing you know everything about everything. Thing seem more simple when you "know everything", so I think he's saying if he knew everything now like he did when he was a kid, he'd have all the answers and everything would be easy.
I think it says: We weren't our problems, our age or our paycheques.
Fixed. Thanks!
fucking ace. full stop.
I think the lyrics are: "If I know now what I knew then .."
This song is amaaaaazing.
We weren't our problems, our age or our paychecks and We weren't our money, our muscles or our regrets. not to be picky or anything:) and im not sure, but it might be "wise up" innstead of rise up
but anyways great song amazing lyrics amazing musician.
Not sure about the rise/wise or the know/knew, but I'll change it if others agree.
Im pretty sure it is rise up, but the Know thing is like 99%. Unless someone has his actual lyric book and can actually counter that.
just think about it though - if hes talking about knowing something now - how can you "knew" something in the present tense? "Knew" is past tense. "If I knew now" wouldn't really be gramatically correct. It would kinda be an oxymoron.
But like I said - if someone has the lyric book, then they should go by that.
It actually makes perfect grammatical sense. Think about it. Haven't you ever heard anyone say "If I knew that, I would..."
Knew is the present as well as past tense. Know is "to know". I'm not an english major obviously, but it's very clear that knew is the appropriate word in this situation. And it also clearly sounds like knew.
Also, it sounds like "wise up" to me.
Having seen it live - I believe he does say "Wise"
youtube.com/watch
Still hearing him say "know" though.