Fast Car by Wyclef Jean Analysis
When a Car is More Than Just a Car
The first time I heard the song, “Fast Car” by Wyclef Jean, I really liked it because it was catchy. After listening to it a few more times, I realized there was a lot of meaning to it. To me, the main goal of this song is to teach the young listeners a difficult lesson to be careful before they do something that could potentially ruin their lives. Also, Jean is showing his listeners there is help out there and tomorrow is not promised – everybody needs take advantage of their available resources so they do not harm themselves. Basically, Jean wants everyone to be careful with the life that they currently have rather than wasting time here on earth. Jean explains his story by using a type of music that will get to young people without making them feel like they are being scolded. He also relates his verses to famous people such as Kanye West, Notorious B.I.G., Tupac, Sean Bell, Left Eye Lopez, and an innocent 16 year old girl; by using this type of song writing style, young people will listen to the song and learn from it rather than avoiding the topic.
The first verse of the song is allduding to Kanye West having a major car accident. He was driving home from a recording studio in Los Angelos at three in the morning when he fell asleep at the wheel. He totaled his car and broke his jaw severely. After this accident, Kanye wrote a song called “Jesus Walks.” It was part of the album called “Through the Wire,” which Kanye West actually produced while he had wires holding his jaw together(“Kanye West”). The first verse of Wyclef Jean’s song says “I heard a man say Jesus walks, me myself I heard Jesus talk.” This line shows how Jesus is real and how both West and Jean have personally had encounters with Him. The next lines say, “Cause when I heard his beat I felt Jesus' force, I heard it Through The Wire that he made it out the coma, from a fast car.” This line shows West’s devastating accident and the aftermath of it. Kanye was in a
The first time I heard the song, “Fast Car” by Wyclef Jean, I really liked it because it was catchy. After listening to it a few more times, I realized there was a lot of meaning to it. To me, the main goal of this song is to teach the young listeners a difficult lesson to be careful before they do something that could potentially ruin their lives. Also, Jean is showing his listeners there is help out there and tomorrow is not promised – everybody needs take advantage of their available resources so they do not harm themselves. Basically, Jean wants everyone to be careful with the life that they currently have rather than wasting time here on earth. Jean explains his story by using a type of music that will get to young people without making them feel like they are being scolded. He also relates his verses to famous people such as Kanye West, Notorious B.I.G., Tupac, Sean Bell, Left Eye Lopez, and an innocent 16 year old girl; by using this type of song writing style, young people will listen to the song and learn from it rather than avoiding the topic.
The first verse of the song is allduding to Kanye West having a major car accident. He was driving home from a recording studio in Los Angelos at three in the morning when he fell asleep at the wheel. He totaled his car and broke his jaw severely. After this accident, Kanye wrote a song called “Jesus Walks.” It was part of the album called “Through the Wire,” which Kanye West actually produced while he had wires holding his jaw together(“Kanye West”). The first verse of Wyclef Jean’s song says “I heard a man say Jesus walks, me myself I heard Jesus talk.” This line shows how Jesus is real and how both West and Jean have personally had encounters with Him. The next lines say, “Cause when I heard his beat I felt Jesus' force, I heard it Through The Wire that he made it out the coma, from a fast car.” This line shows West’s devastating accident and the aftermath of it. Kanye was in a
Cited: Huey, Steve. “The Notorious B.I.G.” Bad Boys Forever. Bad Boys. 2002-2010. http://www.badboyforever.com/artists/the-notorious-big. 21 Feb 2011. “Kanye West.” Chicago Tribune. Chicago Tribune. n.d. http://www.chicagotribune.com/topic/entertainment/music/kanye-west-PECLB004230.topic. 21 Feb 2011. “Sean Bell.” NY Times Online. NY Times. 28 July 2010. <http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/b/sean_bell/index.html> 21 Feb 2011 “TLC 's Lisa 'Left Eye ' Lopes dies in wreck.” CNN Entertainment. CNN. 26 April 2002. http://articles.cnn.com/2002-04-26/entertainment/obit.lopes_1_watkins-and-thomas-tionne-t-boz-watkins-rozonda-chilli-thomas?_s=PM:SHOWBIZ. 21 Feb 2011.