preview

Fast Car Song Meaning

Decent Essays

Most songs are trying to portray a message to other listeners through the use of lyrics and music put together, to me the song “Fast Car” written by Tracy Chapman was very successful at this. This song portrays a teenage girl whose mother ran away from her drunken father and that she left school to look after him as she felt it was her responsibility. She had a boyfriend with a fast car and saw him as an escape from her unhappy home life. Through the main character of the teenage girl, I was able to see her perspective through the lyrics and her feelings towards running away for a better life. To me, I can see how choosing to run away as opposed to staying was more tempting as she still had her whole life ahead of her and she was excited about a new life in the city with her boyfriend who would take care of her. She had no parents to care for her so she had to grow up very quickly and make decisions that teenagers of that age wouldn’t normally make. She believes that her and her boyfriend can have a future together …show more content…

This made me question if some teenagers in today’s society have to step foot inside an adult role and run away from their unloved parents to have a better life elsewhere. It highlights the predicament of dysfunctional, broken and poor families where children are often left to fend for themselves. The song states that she “wants a ticket to anywhere” conveying that she’d rather be anywhere than at her home. Often in these situations, education isn’t considered a priority as the parents are on a very low income and need more money to survive. It still exist in some cultures today where families live in poverty and rely on their children to leave school and find a job to support their parents. To me, I feel the important message was that there is hope if you believe in yourself and that you’re not responsible for your parent’s

Get Access