"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.
Whatever gets you through the night
It's alright, it's alright
It's your money or your life
It's alright, it's alright
Don't need a sword to cut through flowers
No-no, oh-no
Whatever gets you through your life
It's alright, it's alright
Do it wrong, or do it right
It's alright, it's alright
Don't need a watch to waste your time
Oh-no, oh-no
Hold me, darlin', come on, listen to me
I won't do you no harm
Trust me, darlin', come on, listen to me
Come on, listen to me, come on, listen, listen
Whatever gets you to the light
It's alright, it's alright
Out of the blue, or out of sight
It's alright, it's alright
Don't need a gun to blow you mind
Oh-no, oh-no
Hold me, darlin', come on, listen to me
I won't do you no harm
Trust me, darlin', come on, listen to me
Come on, listen to me, come on, listen, listen
It's alright, it's alright
It's your money or your life
It's alright, it's alright
Don't need a sword to cut through flowers
No-no, oh-no
Whatever gets you through your life
It's alright, it's alright
Do it wrong, or do it right
It's alright, it's alright
Don't need a watch to waste your time
Oh-no, oh-no
Hold me, darlin', come on, listen to me
I won't do you no harm
Trust me, darlin', come on, listen to me
Come on, listen to me, come on, listen, listen
Whatever gets you to the light
It's alright, it's alright
Out of the blue, or out of sight
It's alright, it's alright
Don't need a gun to blow you mind
Oh-no, oh-no
Hold me, darlin', come on, listen to me
I won't do you no harm
Trust me, darlin', come on, listen to me
Come on, listen to me, come on, listen, listen
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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”
Dreamwalker
Silent Planet
Silent Planet
I think much like another song “Anti-Matter” (that's also on the same album as this song), this one is also is inspired by a horrifying van crash the band experienced on Nov 3, 2022. This, much like the other track, sounds like it's an extension what they shared while huddled in the wreckage, as they helped frontman Garrett Russell stem the bleeding from his head wound while he was under the temporary effects of a concussion. The track speaks of where the mind goes at the most desperate & desolate of times, when it just about slips away to all but disconnect itself, and the aftermath.
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.
i herd this from a bootleg of lohn lennon talking. when john lennon wrote the song" what ever gets you throgh the night", he was watching tv and a minister of a chruch came on tv and seid" i don't care, what ever gets you thorgh the night", he liked it so much, he used it in his song. john loved watching the news and making songs out of curent events. everything i seid was true, i have lohn lennon saying all of this stuff
"Dont need a gun to blow your mind!!!" I love that. i love John lennon's music its so sincere and just beautiful. today would have been his 64th birthday :) so i got to go hit the pipe!! peace out ya'll
Lennon & Elton John were good friends & when Elton & Lennon co wrote this song In 1974, Elton wagered with Lennon that if the song made it to #1, Lennon would have to appear on stage with him. Lennon accepted convinced that the song would not do that well. When the song reached #1, Lennon made good on his promise by appearing on stage with Elton John at Madison Square Garden in New York. It would be Lennon's final concert appearance. Also, look for the song "Empty garden" by Elton John-it was a tribute to Lennon after he died.
Elton John & Lennon were good friends, they co-wrote this song. In 1974, after they recorded it, Elton wagered with Lennon that if the song made it to #1, Lennon would have to appear on stage with him. Lennon accepted convinced that the song would not do that well. When the song reached #1, Lennon made good on his promise by appearing on stage with Elton John at Madison Square Garden in New York. It would be Lennon's final concert appearance. Also look for the song "Empty Garden" by Elton John. It's a tearjerking tribute written for Lennon after he passed.
wow, i didnt know what tripperfreek said... i love this song by the way... its quite different from everything else---
It was at this very concert that Yoko sat backstage, ready to take John back after the "lost weekend".
Love the bassline int this song. Just gets me moving every time.
It was also at this very concert that John Lennon made a terrible mess of the bathroom, because he was so nervous about performing together with Elton John since he was afraid that the homosexual crowd wouldn't accept him, that he threw up all he had eaten the entire day (according to the Philip Norman biography anyway).
However, according to Paul McCartney in the book "Many Years From Now", John only threw up because of his drug addiction.
@scts I have never heard about this comment by Philip Norman (author of “SHOUT!” - I had to make sure I was remembering correctly), and I’m not saying it didn’t happen, but it sounds bizarre ! (Truth can be stranger than fiction, after all). I’ve no doubt that he threw up, and was nervous about facing a crowd for the first time in a long while, but because they were HOMOSEXUAL!? Was the concert “gays only”? Tickets half-off at the bathhouses? Maybe it’s true but sounds apocryphal. I’m not even sure ELTON knew he was gay in 1974, let alone the entire NY population of gay people...