Fast

Album: Kill the Lights (2015)
Charted: 58
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Songfacts®:

  • Luke Bryan wrote this song in a writing session with Luke Laird ("Head Over Boots," "Talladega") and Rodney Clawson ("May We All," "You Look Like I Need a Drink"); it's about slowing down and experiencing the moment. The singer told Taste of Country that he had his two sons, Thomas Boyer and Tatum Christopher, in mind.

    "I'm just so proud about how we used a simple word, fast, and we tied the verses in, and that second verse, how we brought in how the parents were saying we were falling in love too fast, but we still made it work, and how life does move too fast," Bryan said. "Every time I come home, you know, my boys are bigger and starting to throw me around the house a little more, and one day I'll snap my fingers, and you'll wish you could've froze time a little bit."
  • Bryan first shared the song on June 12, 2015, during his annual fan club party at the 2015 CMA Music Festival.
  • Appropriately, the song came together in a rush on February 2, 2016 during a writing session at Luke Laird's Creative Nation offices in Nashville. "It probably only took about an hour to write it - it went fast," Clawson told Billboard magazine with a laugh. "When you get on the right track with the right song on the right day, it doesn't take long."
  • When Bryan came to record the song, he found the key was to recognize how much the lyrics embody the whirlwind decade that had whirred past, since marrying Caroline in December 2006.

    "My wife and I, the first 10 years, we've had so many wonderful things happen and certainly some tragedy happen," he said. "It feels like we've lived a lifetime in 10 years. You just reflect on that, I reflect on the building of my artist career, I reflect on the building of my family, and that's kind of what puts you in that moment."
  • Bryan did make one minor alteration, changing the chorus' original last line from "Damn, it just goes too fast" to "Man, it just goes too fast."

    "It's one thing to write ["damn"] in there," he said. "But then to think of the reality that kids are going to be hearing it, it's better if you can find an alternative word where you don't lose your punch, and I felt like 'man' certainly did that."
  • When this reached the top spot of the Billboard Country Airplay chart, Bryan became the first artist in the history of the tally to garner six # 1 singles from an album. The singer's previous chart-toppers from Kill The Lights were "Kick The Dust Up," "Strip It Down," "Home Alone Tonight," "Huntin,' Fishin' and Lovin' Every Day" and "Move."
  • Speaking to Taste Of Country in a 2024 interview, Luke Bryan revealed why he can't play this song at home. The American Idol judge explained that his teenage son, Bo, got upset because the video features a childhood photo of him with a girlfriend. Apparently, Bryan hadn't gotten Bo's "official" approval to share the photo publicly.

    The music video shows Bryan playing guitar on stage as family photos appear in the background. While viewers might miss it on a casual watch, for a teenager, their relationships are a big deal, especially when it comes to sharing them with the world.

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