"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've got no money in my hands or my coat or my pocket
Wont get to space cos I haven't got a rocket
But I've air in my lungs
Eyes in my sockets
And a heart that beats
Like a tap that leaks
In the night when you haven't got a plumber who can stop it
Jack in a box without a key to lock it
Well this boat may sink but I'm not gonna rock it
Cos the sea doesn't know my name
Yeah the boat may sink but I'm not gonna rock it
Cos the sea doesn't know my name
Well if you can't get what you love
You learn to love the things you've got
If you can't be what you want
You learn to be the things you're not
If you can't get what you need
You learn to need the things that stop you dreaming
All the things that stop you dreaming
Well I've got no ones word and no bodies promise
Not a lot to show but this book full of sonnets
And my liver may be fucked but my heart is honest
And my word is true
Like the sky is blue
In the summer time when everybody gets on it
Warm our skins and get sunburnt from it
And our eyes shine bright like a sky full of comets that shoot like silver trains
Yeah our eyes shine bright like a sky full of comets that shoot like silver trains
Well if you can't get what you love
You learn to love the things you've got
If you can't be what you want
You learn to be the things you're not
If you can't get what you need
You learn to need the things that stop you dreaming
All the things that stop you dreaming
Well if you can't get what you love
You learn to love the things you've got
If you can't be what you want
You learn to be the things you're not
If you can't get what you need
You learn to need the things that stop you dreaming
All the things that stop you dreaming
All the things that stop you dreaming
Wont get to space cos I haven't got a rocket
But I've air in my lungs
Eyes in my sockets
And a heart that beats
Like a tap that leaks
In the night when you haven't got a plumber who can stop it
Jack in a box without a key to lock it
Well this boat may sink but I'm not gonna rock it
Cos the sea doesn't know my name
Yeah the boat may sink but I'm not gonna rock it
Cos the sea doesn't know my name
Well if you can't get what you love
You learn to love the things you've got
If you can't be what you want
You learn to be the things you're not
If you can't get what you need
You learn to need the things that stop you dreaming
All the things that stop you dreaming
Well I've got no ones word and no bodies promise
Not a lot to show but this book full of sonnets
And my liver may be fucked but my heart is honest
And my word is true
Like the sky is blue
In the summer time when everybody gets on it
Warm our skins and get sunburnt from it
And our eyes shine bright like a sky full of comets that shoot like silver trains
Yeah our eyes shine bright like a sky full of comets that shoot like silver trains
Well if you can't get what you love
You learn to love the things you've got
If you can't be what you want
You learn to be the things you're not
If you can't get what you need
You learn to need the things that stop you dreaming
All the things that stop you dreaming
Well if you can't get what you love
You learn to love the things you've got
If you can't be what you want
You learn to be the things you're not
If you can't get what you need
You learn to need the things that stop you dreaming
All the things that stop you dreaming
All the things that stop you dreaming
Lyrics submitted by jubileeeee
Things That Stop You Dreaming Lyrics as written by Michael David Rosenberg
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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More Featured Meanings
Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman
The Night We Met
Lord Huron
Lord Huron
This is a hauntingly beautiful song about introspection, specifically about looking back at a relationship that started bad and ended so poorly, that the narrator wants to go back to the very beginning and tell himself to not even travel down that road. I believe that the relationship started poorly because of the lines:
"Take me back to the night we met:When the night was full of terrors: And your eyes were filled with tears: When you had not touched me yet"
So, the first night was not a great start, but the narrator pursued the relationship and eventually both overcame the rough start to fall in love with each other:
"I had all and then most of you"
Like many relationships that turn sour, it was not a quick decline, but a gradual one where the narrator and their partner fall out of love and gradually grow apart
"Some and now none of you"
Losing someone who was once everything in your world, who you could confide in, tell your secrets to, share all the most intimate parts of your life, to being strangers with that person is probably one of the most painful experiences a person can go through. So Painful, the narrator wants to go back in time and tell himself to not even pursue the relationship.
This was the perfect song for "13 Reasons Why"
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.
Just A Little Lovin'
Dusty Springfield
Dusty Springfield
I don't think it's necessarily about sex. It's about wanting to start the day with some love and affection. Maybe a warm cuddle. I'm not alone in interpreting it that way! For example:
"'Just a Little Lovin’ is a timeless country song originally recorded by Eddy Arnold in 1954. The song, written by Eddie Miller and Jimmy Campbell, explores the delicate nuances of love and showcases Arnold’s emotive vocals. It delves into the universal theme of love and how even the smallest gesture of affection can have a profound impact on our lives." https://oldtimemusic.com/the-meaning-behind-the-song-just-a-little-lovin-by-eddy-arnold/
"if you can't get what you need you learn to need the things that stop you dreaming"
What stops you dreaming? I think that this song is a representation of hope in a bleak situation, much like several other songs of his. Each verse starts with the things he doesn't have (money, rocket, word, promise) and he shows that things could be worse (air in my lungs, eyes in my sockets/ heart is honest, word is true) and revels for a bit in the good things.
The chorus comes around like a mantra, something that someone down on their luck might repeat to themselves to make them feel better, give them strength, etc. "If you can't get what you love, you learn to love the things you've got". You Settle. "And if you can't be what you want, you learn to be the thing's you're not" You adapt. "And if you can't get what you need, you learn to need the things that stop you dreaming" You take a crutch, be it alcohol, gambling, tobacco, drugs, etc.
Ultimately, I feel like the things that stop you dreaming refers to alcohol, as passing out drunk doesn't result in dreams, but also it keeps him in a position that he cannot realize his dreams of bettering his life.
@mattdemanche To me the key is that last paragraph in your interpretation. The song is, in essence, the first step towards addiction and one of the most hidden aspects of it that those who never been on that slope sees. We drink, we take drugs, we do things we aren't supposed because it feels good - and when the rest of your life feels bad, it's nice ot have that escape. You give up your future - but that's okay, you have what makes you feel good now. So you end up needing these things ... the things that stop your dreaming.
soo good!
Rosenberg explained to VH1: "It's a song about how difficult it is to remain positive and keep on pursuing what you love. You have to be grateful for what you have, and not always striving towards what's over there."