The first time I heard this song, my friend and I were getting ready to go for a late night bike ride. It was summer and we were trying to decide if we wanted to take a year off, or go straight to college. We rode our bikes until the wee hours of the morning. She and I still talk about that night and laugh about some of the crazy plans that we made. "Fast Car" is such a beautiful song! When I listen to it, I think about the people that Tracy's singing about and what kind of life they must have had. The sense of hopelessness and the need to overcome it all, is very heartbreaking and inspiring at the same time.
Did you know?
"The song is a narrative tale of generational poverty. The song's narrator tells the story of her hard life, which begins when her mother divorces her jobless, alcoholic father, forcing the narrator to quit school in order to care for him. Eventually, she leaves her hometown with her partner in hopes of making a better life. Despite her employment at a grocery store, she falls victim to the cycle of poverty, as her life begins to mirror her mother's: her partner remains largely unemployed and becomes an alcoholic. She is left alone with her children while her partner spends time drinking with friends. Finally, after getting a job that will support her family, she comes to accept her life as the way it is and to give up chasing empty dreams. She tells her partner to leave her; to take "your fast car and keep on driving." The final refrain is sung in variation, changing from "We gotta make a decision, leave tonight or live and die this way" to "You gotta make a decision, leave tonight or live and die this way."
