"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.
This is nonstop baby
You've got me going crazy
You're heavier than I knew
But I don't want no other
You're my cameo love
Only here for a moment or two
You stay inside that bubble
With all of your trouble
In your black hole
You turn from the skies
You dance with your demise
I'll be here when you come home
We've all gotta break down
Let me come and break down, there with you
'Cause everyday's like talking in your sleep
Love is like a silhouette in dreams
Open up your heart, open up your heart
Open up your heart and let me pull you out
Everyday's like talking in your sleep
Love is like a silhouette in dreams
Open up your heart, open up your heart
Open up your heart and let me pull you out of here
I've got high hopes baby
But all you do is take me down to depths that I never knew
You've got two arms baby
They're all tangled in ladies of the black skies posing blue
Let go of your mother
And turn to your brother
Not a long gone lover's noose
Sometimes baby the hardest part of breaking
Is leaving pieces behind you
Oh we've all gotta get by
Let me come and hold you high, with you
'Cause everyday's like talking in your sleep
Love is like a silhouette in dreams
Open up your heart, open up your heart
Open up your heart and let me pull you out
Everyday's like talking in your sleep
Love is like a silhouette in dreams
Open up your heart, open up your heart
Open up your heart and let me pull you out of here
Open up your heart to me
The sun won't shine if you're not looking
Baby love is all that you need
When everyday's like talking in your sleep
Love is like a silhouette in dreams
Open up your heart, open, open, open
Everyday's like talking in your sleep
Love is like a silhouette in dreams
Open up your heart, open up your heart
Open up your heart and let me pull you out
Open up your heart, open up your heart
Open up your heart, open up your heart
Open up your heart, open up your heart
You've got me going crazy
You're heavier than I knew
But I don't want no other
You're my cameo love
Only here for a moment or two
You stay inside that bubble
With all of your trouble
In your black hole
You turn from the skies
You dance with your demise
I'll be here when you come home
We've all gotta break down
Let me come and break down, there with you
'Cause everyday's like talking in your sleep
Love is like a silhouette in dreams
Open up your heart, open up your heart
Open up your heart and let me pull you out
Everyday's like talking in your sleep
Love is like a silhouette in dreams
Open up your heart, open up your heart
Open up your heart and let me pull you out of here
I've got high hopes baby
But all you do is take me down to depths that I never knew
You've got two arms baby
They're all tangled in ladies of the black skies posing blue
Let go of your mother
And turn to your brother
Not a long gone lover's noose
Sometimes baby the hardest part of breaking
Is leaving pieces behind you
Oh we've all gotta get by
Let me come and hold you high, with you
'Cause everyday's like talking in your sleep
Love is like a silhouette in dreams
Open up your heart, open up your heart
Open up your heart and let me pull you out
Everyday's like talking in your sleep
Love is like a silhouette in dreams
Open up your heart, open up your heart
Open up your heart and let me pull you out of here
Open up your heart to me
The sun won't shine if you're not looking
Baby love is all that you need
When everyday's like talking in your sleep
Love is like a silhouette in dreams
Open up your heart, open, open, open
Everyday's like talking in your sleep
Love is like a silhouette in dreams
Open up your heart, open up your heart
Open up your heart and let me pull you out
Open up your heart, open up your heart
Open up your heart, open up your heart
Open up your heart, open up your heart
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More Featured Meanings
Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman
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.
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.
Amazing
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran tells a story of unsuccessfully trying to feel “Amazing.” This track is about the being weighed down by emotional stress despite valiant attempts to find some positivity in the situation. This track was written by Ed Sheeran from the perspective of his friend. From the track, we see this person fall deeper into the negative thoughts and slide further down the path of mental torment with every lyric.
She explained it in an interview, it's about a guy who lives in the dark, he's brooding and she's trying to bring him out. The lyrics are fairly self explanatory. I love it, relatable etc
This song works really well as a foil to "Hearts A Mess" by Gotye. Whereas his is about keeping all of your pains inwards, and not expressing yourself and your love to anybody else, her song is a charge to that same character to finally reveal himself, all of his pains and joys and true feelings. The contrast even carries over in the musical moods of the songs. Perhaps this is just me connecting Gotye and Kimbra after a few hundred listens to Somebody That I Used to Know, aha.
This song is, in my opinion, just about a man who has built up a wall around him, and won't let anyone see his true self. She is trying to bring him out, for him to tell her about it. It's sort of like "A problem shared is a problem halved." She wants to help him.
I love this song, as you can probably tell if you read my username!