There’s no denying that “Chasing Cars” has become a hugely popular song. It’s a play on the old saying, “If you chase something, it’ll run away from you.” However, in this song, the protagonist is chasing after love, and it’s not running away. It’s simply a metaphor for the protagonist’s love for their significant other. The title “Chasing Cars” doesn’t necessarily have any huge significance on its own. It’s interesting to note that the original title of the song was simply “Chasing Cars Forever”, but Lightbody thought it was too long and shortened it to “Chasing Cars”. Lightbody said, “I said to the guys, ‘We’ll wait until it gets light before we do anything.’ And then one of them piped up and said, ‘Like we could just lie here and chase cars forever.’ That’s where that bit of the song came from.”
They had been drinking and ended up at one of their houses, lying on the lawn and looking up at the stars. In the same interview with Q Magazine, Lightbody went on to say that the inspiration for the song came from a night out with his bandmates. They’re happy just chasing cars and being in love. The protagonist is head over heels in love with someone, and they don’t need anyone else to do anything with them. The now-iconic opening lines of the song, “We’ll do it all, everything, on our own” set the tone for the rest of the song.
