"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 try and feel the sunshine
You bring the rain
You try and hold me down
With your complaints
You cry and moan and complain
You whine and tear
Up to my neck in sorrow
The touch you bring
You just don't step inside to, to fourteen years
So hard to keep my own head, that's what I say, you know
I've been the beggar
I've played the thief
I was the dog, they all tried to beat
But it's been
Fourteen years of silence
It's been
Fourteen years of pain
It's been
Fourteen years that are gone forever
And I'll never have again, well
Your stupid girlfriends tell you
That I'm to blame
Well, they're all used-up has-beens
Out of the game
This time I'll have the last word
You hear what I say
I tried to see it your way
It won't work today
You don't just step inside to, to fourteen years
So hard to keep my own head, that's what I say
You know, I've been the dealer hangin' on your street
I was the dog, they all tried to beat
But it's been
Fourteen years of silence
It's been
Fourteen years of pain
It's been
Fourteen years that are gone forever
And I'll never have again, well
Yeah it's been, oh no!
Bullshit and contemplation
Gossip's their trade
If they knew half the real truth
What would they say?
Well I'm past the point of concern
It's time to play
These last four years of madness
Sure put me straight
You don't get back fourteen years
In just one day
So hard to keep my own head
Just go away
You know, just like a hooker she said
Nothin' is free
Oh I tried to see it your way
I tried to see it your way
You bring the rain
You try and hold me down
With your complaints
You cry and moan and complain
You whine and tear
Up to my neck in sorrow
The touch you bring
You just don't step inside to, to fourteen years
So hard to keep my own head, that's what I say, you know
I've been the beggar
I've played the thief
I was the dog, they all tried to beat
But it's been
Fourteen years of silence
It's been
Fourteen years of pain
It's been
Fourteen years that are gone forever
And I'll never have again, well
Your stupid girlfriends tell you
That I'm to blame
Well, they're all used-up has-beens
Out of the game
This time I'll have the last word
You hear what I say
I tried to see it your way
It won't work today
You don't just step inside to, to fourteen years
So hard to keep my own head, that's what I say
You know, I've been the dealer hangin' on your street
I was the dog, they all tried to beat
But it's been
Fourteen years of silence
It's been
Fourteen years of pain
It's been
Fourteen years that are gone forever
And I'll never have again, well
Yeah it's been, oh no!
Bullshit and contemplation
Gossip's their trade
If they knew half the real truth
What would they say?
Well I'm past the point of concern
It's time to play
These last four years of madness
Sure put me straight
You don't get back fourteen years
In just one day
So hard to keep my own head
Just go away
You know, just like a hooker she said
Nothin' is free
Oh I tried to see it your way
I tried to see it your way
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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"
Mental Istid
Ebba Grön
Ebba Grön
This is one of my favorite songs. https://fnfgo.io
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.
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/
Actually your all wrong. It's actually a song hitting out at critics who called them an overnight success and who say they would just be a flash in the pan. 14 years refers to the time spent as "the beggar" and "the thief" and as "as the dog... they all tried to beat" (possible referring to jailtime) and of course as "the dealer hangin' on your street". Basically all the shit the band went through before they were successful. The second verse refers to "stupid girlfriends" and parents who think they won't last long. The last verse is about the lies printed about their past (If they knew half the real truth what would they say) and the "last four years of madness" since the release of Appetite For Destruction when they became successful. At a 1991 concert in los angeles, axl introduced the song by saying "This is for all of those who, have the impression that we're any form of an overnight success, this is called 14 Years."
But the band hadn't been together for even close to 14 years when they wrote the song.
Doesn't have to so exact. Maybe it refers to about 14 years of each member trying to make it in the rock world or something. Not limited to just GNR years.
@paulmartin THat's a really interesting thought... :)
This song is about Izzy and Axl's friendship, that, around 1990, had been going on for 14 years. Izzy had written this track, called Axl and Axl told him he was also writing one song called 14 Years. So, Izzy mixed his (which was finished) with some parts of Axl's and there you have it.
Now, in 2006, this could very well represent GNR's situation:
"I was the dog... they all tried to beat" - GNR was on top of the world by 1991
"But it's been 14 years of silence" - It's been 14 and a half years since GNR last released original material
"It's been 14 years of pain" - For us, GNR fans, seeing the original band break apart
"Bullshit and contemplation Gossip's their trade If they knew half the real truth What would they say" - So many things have happened and only they know it. There has been so much speculation around GNR, yet none is particularly accurate
"These last 4 years of madness Sure put me straight" - It's been 4 years since the failed 2002 tour. I hope they have really put Axl straight, cause I'm seeing GNR at Rock In Rio and I want Axl to show up
Anyway, this is Izzy on top of his game. Great lyrics, probably the best out of all GNR songs, and he sound great singing as well.
Agreed. One of the best GNR songs.
14 years of silence, 14 years of pain... Sounds like one hell of a happy mariage, huh? It's damn miserable to have a woman who believes you're hurting her by just being a husband. Especially if that woman listens to her dumb friends who dunno a thing what's going on beteeen her and her man, but always try to give her profound advise on how she is mistreated, poor plus on how she deserves more just becuz she's a woman. God damn, it happened to me once, some really stupid people fitting their nose where it doesn't belong and messing things up, so I kinda feel this one.
I know this for a fact.
Izzy Stradlin sung this song, and I am almost positive he wrote the song.
Izzy Stradlin was the first member of Guns N Roses to drop out. Steven Addler was kicked out for drug use and couldn't perform while recording Use Your Illusion One and Two, which is why they got Matt Sorum. Izzy Stradlin left Indiana with Axl Rose to L.A where they were in several bands together. Izzy Stadlin had to put up with Axl for many many years before he was fed up enough to walk away, leaving in the middle of the Use Your Illusion tour.
On a final note, the band Guns N Roses got the name because the origional three who were in the band were Axl Rose, Izzy Stradlin, and Tracy Guns(Lead Guitarist). Tracy Guns, not being able to put up with Axl, left to form his own band called L.A. Guns. Which left the band without a Lead Guitarist and they already needed a bassist and a drummer.
Moral of the story, Axl is a very difficult person to put up with and anyone would get fed up with him. Honestly, I'm impressed Izzy Lasted out as long as he did, because he was with Axl for such a long time and in multiple bands with him, such as AXL and Hollywood Rose.
But that's besides the point. Lyrics are ambigious anyway, and what an artist intends isn't always how the listener interperets it. Each song means something different to each person, and no one person is more Right or more Wrong than any other person. Each view and opinion is legitimate, no matter how much an individual may disagree, it is still a valid one.
You can defiantely tell this is a Rolling Stone/ Led Zeppelin influeneced song.
i think the song pretty ambiguous, just like any song, and you cant say that its about this and not that.
ok inchianfreak, besides the 14 part wat makes u possibly think that is baout drugs, it isnt at all, its about wasting 14 long years of ur life with a good for nothing rottin cunt
well, howbout this and that: 14 years of excess (...) spent with ussless, worthless, ever-whining and moaning bitch? does that matter? gnr is fuckin great music and that music is gonna be around for the next couple of milleniums, thats all that really matters!
It's a hell of a song!!! And the beginning of it? With that drum shit? Just roxx
I really believe that Izzy (who sang the song) wrote this about Axl Rose, which is funny and ironic. And very true...hahaha the band referred to in the song could easily be Guns N Roses now lol