• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Musicaroo

Learn to Make Music Like a Pro

  • Home
  • Singing
    • Learn To Sing Better
      • Best Online Singing Lessons
      • 30 Day Singer Review (Free Trial Available)
      • Christina Aguilera Masterclass Review
      • Roger Love Singing Academy Review
      • Singorama Review
      • The Vocalist Studio Review
    • Microphone Buying Guides
      • Best Mic For Live Vocals
      • Best Mic For Recording Vocals
      • Best Mic For Rap
      • Best USB Mic For Vocals
      • Blue Yeti Vs AT2020
      • AKG C414 XLII Review
      • Audio-Technica AT2035 Review
      • Neumann TLM 103 Review
      • Rode NT1-A Review
      • Sennheiser e945 Review
      • Shure SM7B Review
    • Best In-Ear Monitors For Singers
    • Preamp Buying Guides
      • Best Mic Preamp For Vocals
      • Avalon VT-737SP Review
      • Behringer XENYX 1202FX Review
      • DBX 286S Review
      • Focusrite Scarlett OctoPre Review
      • Grace Design m101 Review
      • Pre-73 Jr Review
      • TubeOpto 8 Review
      • Warm Audio TB12 Review
  • Guitar
    • Buying Guides
      • Best Baritone Guitars
      • Best Bass Guitars
      • Best Bass Practice Amps
      • Best Combo Amps For Metal
      • Best Electric Guitars
      • Best Metal Guitars
      • Best Electric Guitar Amps
    • Bass Guitar Reviews
      • Fender American Performer Review
      • Gretsch G2220 Review
      • Ibanez GSRM20 Review
      • Squier Bronco Review
      • Sterling Ray34 Review
      • Yamaha TRBX 504 Review
    • Guitar Reviews
      • ESP LTD Eclipse EC-256 Review
      • Jackson JS32 Review
      • Les Paul Studio LT Review
      • Ibanez Gio GRX70 Review
      • Ibanez Prestige RG5120M Review
      • Squier Bullet Strat Review
      • Sterling MAJ100 Review
      • Synyster Gates Custom-S Review
      • Yamaha Pacifica Review
    • Guitar Amp Reviews
      • Bugera Infinium V5 Review
      • EVH 5150 III EL34 Review
      • Fender Mustang LT-25 Review
      • Fender Super Champ X2 Review
      • Line 6 Spider V 20 Review
      • Peavey Vypyr VIP 2 Review
      • Yamaha THR10II Review
    • Learn To Play Guitar
    • Tips and Advice
  • Violin
    • Buying Guides
      • Best Electric Violin
      • Best Violins For Beginners
      • Best Violin Bow
      • Best Violin Case
      • Best Violin Rosin
      • Best Violin Shoulder Rest
      • Best Violin Strings
      • Best Violin Tuner
    • Reviews
      • Bunnel Clearance Violin Review
      • Bunnel EDGE Review
      • Bunnel NEXT Review
      • Bunnel Pupil Violin Review
      • Cecilio CEVN-2 Review
      • Cecilio CVN-300 Review
      • Cremona SV500 Review
      • D Z Strad Model 101 Review
      • Mendini MV500 Review
      • NS Design WAV5 Review
      • Ricard Bunnel G2 Review
      • Yamaha SV-200 Review
      • Yamaha YEV-105 Review
    • Tips and Advice
  • Trumpet
    • Buying Guides
      • Best Trumpets
      • Best Pocket Trumpet
      • Best Plastic Trumpet
      • Best Trumpet Mouthpiece
      • Best Valve Oil For Trumpet
      • Best Mic For Trumpet Recording
    • Reviews
      • Allora MXPT 5801 Review
      • Bach TR300H2 Review
      • Carol Brass CPT-3000 Review
      • Eastar ETR-380 Review
      • Jean Paul TR-430 Review
      • Jupiter JTR710 Review
      • Mendini By Cecilio Review
      • Mendini MPTL Review
      • Sky Band Bb Review
      • Yamaha YTR-2330 Review
    • Tips and Advice
  • DJing
    • How To Become A DJ
    • Equipment For Beginners
    • Learn To DJ
    • Set Up DJ Website
    • Get First DJ Gig
    • Grow DJ Career
  • Great Music
    • Bands Like…
    • Great Songs About Things
    • Song Meanings
    • 27 Great, Forgotten 90s Songs
    • Best Karaoke Songs (Easy To Sing And Sound Like A Star)
    • Songs To Sing To Your Girlfriend
You are here: Home / Song Meanings

“Chasing Cars” Lyrics & Meaning (Snow Patrol)

December 11, 2022 By Camila Leave a Comment

chasing cars lyrics meaningObviously, Snow Patrol wrote this song for the dogs in their lives.

It’s still the third most popular song ever in the canine community, right after Sniffing Butts and Barking at the Wind.

Ok, so maybe it’s not for dogs. Or even about dogs.

But the Chasing Cars lyrics meaning does have something to do with dogs.

Not the meaning itself, but the origin of that line in the song, and the song’s title.

Keep reading to learn exactly what Snow Patrol are singing about in their biggest hit ever, plus the inspiration for the song’s title.

Table of Contents

  • 1 Chasing Cars Lyrics And Meaning
    • 1.1 Chasing Cars Lyrics
      • 1.1.1 Verse 1
      • 1.1.2 Chorus
      • 1.1.3 Verse 2
      • 1.1.4 Chorus
      • 1.1.5 Verse 3
      • 1.1.6 Chorus
      • 1.1.7 Bridge
      • 1.1.8 Chorus
    • 1.2 Chasing Cars Meaning
      • 1.2.1 Interesting Facts About Chasing Cars
  • 2 Chasing Cars Lyrics Meaning: Final Thoughts

 

Chasing Cars Lyrics And Meaning

Following its release, Chasing Cars went on to become Snow Patrol’s biggest hit and has recently been revealed as the most-played song on British radio over the last 20 years.

The slow-building ballad was penned by lead singer Gary Lightbody. It gained significant popularity in the US after being used in the finale of the medical drama Grey’s Anatomy’s second series, which aired on the 15th of May 2006.

Lightbody described the song as being “the purest love song” he had ever written at the time, with the lyrics being a reflection of the strong affection he felt for his significant other.

The lyrics reflect the singer’s vision of the relationship he is in, and of how he sees that relationship, and how he wants it to develop.

Chasing Cars was released as the second single from their fourth studio album, Eyes Open, on the 6th of June 2006.

The song ended 2006 as the year’s 14th best-selling single in the UK and it peaked at number 6 on the UK Singles Chart and number 5 on the US Billboard Hot 100. It remains Snow Patrol’s biggest-selling single to date.

Let’s take a look at the lyrics in their entirety, before diving into our analysis of their meaning.

 

Chasing Cars Lyrics

Verse 1

We’ll do it all
Everything
On our own
We don’t need
Anything or anyone

Chorus

If I lay here
If I just lay here
Would you lie with me and just forget the world?

Verse 2

I don’t quite know
How to say
How I feel
Those three words
Are said too much
They’re not enough

Chorus

If I lay here
If I just lay here
Would you lie with me and just forget the world?
Forget what we’re told
Before we get too old
Show me a garden that’s burstin’ into life

Verse 3

Let’s waste time
Chasing cars
Around our heads
I need your grace
To remind me
To find my own

Chorus

If I lay here
If I just lay here
Would you lie with me and just forget the world?
Forget what we’re told
Before we get too old
Show me a garden that’s burstin’ into life

Bridge

All that I am
All that I ever was
Is here in your perfect eyes, they’re all I can see
I don’t know where
Confused about how, as well
Just know that these things will never change for us at all

Chorus

If I lay here
If I just lay here
Would you lie with me and just forget the world?

 

Chasing Cars Meaning

The song’s title appears once within the song’s lyrics, in the third verse, when Lightbody sings to his partner, “Let’s waste time chasing cars around our heads.”

The final three words of that lyric show that the chasing of cars mentioned is a figurative expression and not a literal one.

Lightbody revealed that he got the metaphor from his father, who used the expression to describe Gary’s infatuation with a girl, saying “you’re like a dog chasing a car. You’ll never catch it, and you just wouldn’t know what to do with it if you did.”

That’s not to say Lightbody was trying to say that his relationship was a pointless exercise, rather that he would like to spend time with his partner doing nothing but enjoying each other’s company.

That same sentiment is echoed in the chorus with the lyric “If I lay here, if I just lay here, would you lie with me and just forget the world?”

The song is a great love song, with the lyrics also revealing that the love Lightbody feels is being reciprocated with the line “All that I am, all that I ever was, is here in your perfect eyes, they’re all I can see.”

This means that he can tell by the way she looks at him how she feels. The song’s lyrics are complemented by the simple instrumentation, with the two-note alternating guitar pattern continuing throughout the song.

The rather abrupt ending seems to be a nod to being snapped back to reality from Lightbody’s reverie.

 

Interesting Facts About Chasing Cars

  • Chasing Cars was nominated for a Grammy award for Best Rock Song in 2007, but it did not win. That honor went to the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Dani California.
  • Rumor has it that Gary Lightbody wrote the song after getting wasted on white wine. He sobered up and then penned the tune in the garden of Jacknife Lee’s cottage in Kent. Lee produced the song.
  • Chasing Cars was the last song performed live Top of the Pops on UK television.
  • Chasing Cars spent 111 weeks in the UK Top 75. That is the second longest streak ever. The longest was Frank Sinatra’s My Way.
  • Ed Sheeran performed a cover of the song on MTV in September 2014. He and Lightbody also performed the song together live in 2012.
  • Snow Patrol have gone on to rack up many other hit songs in the UK, but Chasing Cars is still their only US Top 40 hit. And that is almost certainly thanks to it being on Grey’s Anatomy.

 

Chasing Cars Lyrics Meaning: Final Thoughts

Chasing Cars was a huge hit for Snow Patrol. It is not actually about Chasing Cars. Instead it is a love song that got its title from something the singer’s father once told him. 

This song is about a perfect love, but sometimes even perfect love stories have to end. Take a look at the lyrics and meaning of Wild Horses by The Rolling Stones for a great example of a great relationship that has to end.

This article looks at the MacArthur Park lyrics meaning. This song by Richard Harris (yes, the first Dumbledore from Harry Potter) also talks about a love affair that had to end amicably and took place in, you guessed it, Los Angeles’ MacArthur Park.

Like this? Please share...

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)

You Might Also Like

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Search

Recent Posts

Songs About Winning

12 Songs About Winning (To Inspire And Celebrate Victory)

Wish You Were Here Lyrics Meaning

“Wish You Were Here” Lyrics & Meaning (Pink Floyd)

Hey Jude Lyrics Meaning

“Hey Jude” Lyrics & Meaning (The Beatles)

poker face lyrics meaning

“Poker Face” Lyrics & Meaning (Lady Gaga)

paint it black lyrics meaning

“Paint It Black” Lyrics & Meaning (The Rolling Stones)

Footer

Important Links

  • Home
  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms and Conditions
  • Disclosure

Search

Disclosure

Some recommended products may use affiliate links. musicaroo.com is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

*Amazon and the Amazon logo are trademarks of Amazon.com, Inc, or its affiliates

Copyright © 2023 · Musicaroo · All rights reserved.