"Fast car" is kind of a continuation of Bruce Springsteen's "Born to Run." It has all the clawing your way to a better life, but in this case the protagonist never makes it with her love; in fact she is dragged back down by him.
There is still an amazing amount of hope and will in the lyrics; and the lyrics themselve rank and easy five. If only music was stronger it would be one of those great radio songs that you hear once a week 20 years after it was released. The imagery is almost tear-jerking ("City lights lay out before us", "Speeds so fast felt like I was drunk"), and the idea of starting from nothing and just driving and working and denigrating yourself for a chance at being just above poverty, then losing in the end is just painful and inspiring at the same time.
I slipped away last night
Took me away from sight and the place I know
All crushed upon my skin
This mess I put you in and the punch I threw
It was a strange reaction
For someone like you to remain on side
And in a chain reaction
I was down and calling for a place to hide
I saw a broken arm
Machines will all break down in the way I know
Mended and all made clean
I saw up on the screen all the stones I throw
It was a strange reaction
For someone like you to remain so sure
And in a chain reaction
I dissolve and break and then away I crawl
And then away I crawl
And away I crawl
And away I crawl
And away I crawl
Took me away from sight and the place I know
All crushed upon my skin
This mess I put you in and the punch I threw
It was a strange reaction
For someone like you to remain on side
And in a chain reaction
I was down and calling for a place to hide
I saw a broken arm
Machines will all break down in the way I know
Mended and all made clean
I saw up on the screen all the stones I throw
It was a strange reaction
For someone like you to remain so sure
And in a chain reaction
I dissolve and break and then away I crawl
And then away I crawl
And away I crawl
And away I crawl
And away I crawl
Lyrics submitted by hang on to a dream
Your Love Means Everything, Pt. 2 Lyrics as written by Christopher Anthony John Martin David Jeremy Kosten
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Peermusic Publishing
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman
The Night We Met
Lord Huron
Lord Huron
This is a hauntingly beautiful song about introspection, specifically about looking back at a relationship that started bad and ended so poorly, that the narrator wants to go back to the very beginning and tell himself to not even travel down that road. I believe that the relationship started poorly because of the lines:
"Take me back to the night we met:When the night was full of terrors: And your eyes were filled with tears: When you had not touched me yet"
So, the first night was not a great start, but the narrator pursued the relationship and eventually both overcame the rough start to fall in love with each other:
"I had all and then most of you"
Like many relationships that turn sour, it was not a quick decline, but a gradual one where the narrator and their partner fall out of love and gradually grow apart
"Some and now none of you"
Losing someone who was once everything in your world, who you could confide in, tell your secrets to, share all the most intimate parts of your life, to being strangers with that person is probably one of the most painful experiences a person can go through. So Painful, the narrator wants to go back in time and tell himself to not even pursue the relationship.
This was the perfect song for "13 Reasons Why"
Gentle Hour
Yo La Tengo
Yo La Tengo
This song was originally written by a guy called Peter Gutteridge. He was one of the founders of the "Dunedin Sound" a musical scene in the south of New Zealand in the early 80s. From there it was covered by "The Clean" one of the early bands of that scene (he had originally been a member of in it's early days, writing a couple of their best early songs). The Dunedin sound, and the Clean became popular on american college radio in the mid to late 80s. I guess Yo La Tengo heard that version.
Great version of a great song,
No Surprises
Radiohead
Radiohead
Same ideas expressed in Fitter, Happier are expressed in this song. We're told to strive for some sort of ideal life, which includes getting a good job, being kind to everyone, finding a partner, getting married, having a couple kids, living in a quiet neighborhood in a nice big house, etc. But in Fitter, Happier the narrator(?) realizes that it's incredibly robotic to live this life. People are being used by those in power "like a pig in a cage on antibiotics"--being pacified with things like new phones and cool gadgets and houses while being sucked dry. On No Surprises, the narrator is realizing how this life is killing him slowly. In the video, his helmet is slowly filling up with water, drowning him. But he's so complacent with it. This is a good summary of the song. This boring, "perfect" life foisted upon us by some higher powers (not spiritual, but political, economic, etc. politicians and businessmen, perhaps) is not the way to live. But there is seemingly no way out but death. He'd rather die peacefully right now than live in this cage. While our lives are often shielded, we're in our own protective bubbles, or protective helmets like the one Thom wears, if we look a little harder we can see all the corruption, lies, manipulation, etc. that is going on in the world, often run by huge yet nearly invisible organizations, corporations, and 'leaders'. It's a very hopeless song because it reflects real life.
Amazing
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran tells a story of unsuccessfully trying to feel “Amazing.” This track is about the being weighed down by emotional stress despite valiant attempts to find some positivity in the situation. This track was written by Ed Sheeran from the perspective of his friend. From the track, we see this person fall deeper into the negative thoughts and slide further down the path of mental torment with every lyric.
i don't understand this song.. i wish i did though b/c it is beautiful. does anyone?
this song is really good i can agree with you there but i think the song is about...uhh ill try my best for ya... it sounds to me like there was a fight and it sounds that he killed himself "i slipped away last night" it also sounds like he hurt her "i saw a broken arm" and how he compares her to a broken down machine and how she will get better and he still doesnt understand why she stayed with him... that wut i got out of the song i hope it helps you
This song is quite confusing but to me it is about a guy that got in his first real fight with his girlfreind and he hit her... And he was surprised taht she didnt back down even after that "For some one to remain so sure" So i'm guessing that he probably got aressted and he is now looking back on what he did.
Something along those lines, i nkow that it doesnt all fit with the song, but oh well, i still love how the music sounds
chris martin has such a beautiful voice; wow.
With some songs, it's not about 'understanding' them. It's about feeling them. This song is one of them.
I think this song is about a very defensive girl that doesnt want to allow want to allow any love to come out, she has all this rage inside but yet the boy only has love to offer and remains by her side. this is just a startling reaction, because all the machines "all the other people" would just give up on someone easily and move on to find someone else. this strange reaction, the strong confidence of the boy to remain by her side and accept who she is is just the strangest reaction anyone has ever given to her..she has always been crawling not wanting any support.