"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.
All Rise
A reading fom the book of Sense Live Song 55 Verse 1, I ran 25 miles blind through the wicked terrain but due to my superior conditioning I maintained and survived my deadly mission. It's crazy the world we live in there's no doubting, But Armageddon it ain't coming in thi year 2000. Me, I know 2000 million armies sprouting, spirits arousing, kids from the burbs and public housing. With 10 worlds to dwell from Buddhahood to hell. Miguel Angel, it seems my poppa named me very well. It's necessary that we spread the love to every. If you touch the life of one, you touch th lives o plenty. So people, let the truth be known, we own the will and the way and so tell me what's the delaying. These are the latter days and benefits will be received. But only for the faithful who truly believe.
chorus
This is for the faithful who truly believe that Babylon is gone, you got everything yu need in your pal. So sing songs of thanks and praise. These are the fatter days, the latter days
When I appear I be the natural 4 divisions of the year; spring, summer, fall, winter, lend me your ear, got this mic her about to start a renaissance, unite all the colors of the world like Benetton. Keep the faith and move on, evolve, don't let it dissolve. Everybody sees the breaks, problems were made to be solved, the power's in your palm, the future's in your hand, open with possibilities, focus, why be afraid? Enter the unknown. Free where life gives you surprises, surprises give you life and your spirit energizes, reaching new horizons, promoting the uprising, rising above cuz el demonio be snuffin. So people, let the truth be known, we own the will and the way and so tell me what's the delaying. These are the latter days and benefits will be received. But only for the faithful who truly believe.
chorus
We are the light of the world. May our light shine before men. That they may see the good that we do. And give glory to God.
A reading fom the book of Sense Live Song 55 Verse 1, I ran 25 miles blind through the wicked terrain but due to my superior conditioning I maintained and survived my deadly mission. It's crazy the world we live in there's no doubting, But Armageddon it ain't coming in thi year 2000. Me, I know 2000 million armies sprouting, spirits arousing, kids from the burbs and public housing. With 10 worlds to dwell from Buddhahood to hell. Miguel Angel, it seems my poppa named me very well. It's necessary that we spread the love to every. If you touch the life of one, you touch th lives o plenty. So people, let the truth be known, we own the will and the way and so tell me what's the delaying. These are the latter days and benefits will be received. But only for the faithful who truly believe.
chorus
This is for the faithful who truly believe that Babylon is gone, you got everything yu need in your pal. So sing songs of thanks and praise. These are the fatter days, the latter days
When I appear I be the natural 4 divisions of the year; spring, summer, fall, winter, lend me your ear, got this mic her about to start a renaissance, unite all the colors of the world like Benetton. Keep the faith and move on, evolve, don't let it dissolve. Everybody sees the breaks, problems were made to be solved, the power's in your palm, the future's in your hand, open with possibilities, focus, why be afraid? Enter the unknown. Free where life gives you surprises, surprises give you life and your spirit energizes, reaching new horizons, promoting the uprising, rising above cuz el demonio be snuffin. So people, let the truth be known, we own the will and the way and so tell me what's the delaying. These are the latter days and benefits will be received. But only for the faithful who truly believe.
chorus
We are the light of the world. May our light shine before men. That they may see the good that we do. And give glory to God.
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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"
Dreamwalker
Silent Planet
Silent Planet
I think much like another song “Anti-Matter” (that's also on the same album as this song), this one is also is inspired by a horrifying van crash the band experienced on Nov 3, 2022. This, much like the other track, sounds like it's an extension what they shared while huddled in the wreckage, as they helped frontman Garrett Russell stem the bleeding from his head wound while he was under the temporary effects of a concussion. The track speaks of where the mind goes at the most desperate & desolate of times, when it just about slips away to all but disconnect itself, and the aftermath.
When We Were Young
Blink-182
Blink-182
This is a sequel to 2001's "Reckless Abandon", and features the band looking back on their clumsy youth fondly.
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.
(quotes Jchase2) Sick...