"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.
You put on the videohelmet
And ymu quickly realize that this is not just another videogame
Your entire field of vision fills with another worldly scene
You're in the game!
One day will come you enter the cyberspace
And you never ever want to get out
Cause reality is shit and cyberspace is gone:
Delete Yourself - Delete Yourself
GO!
Are you ready?
Delete Yourself! You got no chance to win!
Delete Yourself! You got no chance to win!
Delete Yourself! You got no chance to win!
Delete Yourself! You got no chance to win!
The shit the shit is gonna make me sick
You're telling me this I tell you that
You're sitting there fat and what do you get?
Is nothing for your money!
No chance to win that's what I tell you
But find it out your problem isn't mine
Try to feel something any longer
Ha! We're getting stronger!
The end of the new age that's what it is!
Let's take the piss there's nothing to risk
Oh come on! Shoot the fuckers and sweat the technique
Two blind eyes that's what we need
Go away and play your game!
HERE'S THE ORDER:
Delete Yourself!
GO!
Delete Yourself! You got no chance to win!
Delete Yourself! You got no chance to win!
Delete Yourself! You got no chance to win!
Delete Yourself! You got no chance to win!
FBI and CIA
I'm waiting for the day when they stop playing
1984 is a joke when you see where we are 10 YEARS LATER!
War will be a warm up and then it will be forgotten
Politicians lie while others die - I'VE HAD ENOUGH!
Tell the truth that's what I want
Tell a lie I can't decide whether it's right or wrong
Fuck the system, man, fuck it up!
START THE RIOT! START IT NOW!
YOU DON'T KNOW? WE TELL YOU HOW!
Come policeman shoot me down! You'll lose ATR is around!
Delete Yourself! You got no chance to win!
Delete Yourself! You got no chance to win!
Delete Yourself! You got no chance to win!
Delete Yourself! You got no chance to win
And ymu quickly realize that this is not just another videogame
Your entire field of vision fills with another worldly scene
You're in the game!
One day will come you enter the cyberspace
And you never ever want to get out
Cause reality is shit and cyberspace is gone:
Delete Yourself - Delete Yourself
GO!
Are you ready?
Delete Yourself! You got no chance to win!
Delete Yourself! You got no chance to win!
Delete Yourself! You got no chance to win!
Delete Yourself! You got no chance to win!
The shit the shit is gonna make me sick
You're telling me this I tell you that
You're sitting there fat and what do you get?
Is nothing for your money!
No chance to win that's what I tell you
But find it out your problem isn't mine
Try to feel something any longer
Ha! We're getting stronger!
The end of the new age that's what it is!
Let's take the piss there's nothing to risk
Oh come on! Shoot the fuckers and sweat the technique
Two blind eyes that's what we need
Go away and play your game!
HERE'S THE ORDER:
Delete Yourself!
GO!
Delete Yourself! You got no chance to win!
Delete Yourself! You got no chance to win!
Delete Yourself! You got no chance to win!
Delete Yourself! You got no chance to win!
FBI and CIA
I'm waiting for the day when they stop playing
1984 is a joke when you see where we are 10 YEARS LATER!
War will be a warm up and then it will be forgotten
Politicians lie while others die - I'VE HAD ENOUGH!
Tell the truth that's what I want
Tell a lie I can't decide whether it's right or wrong
Fuck the system, man, fuck it up!
START THE RIOT! START IT NOW!
YOU DON'T KNOW? WE TELL YOU HOW!
Come policeman shoot me down! You'll lose ATR is around!
Delete Yourself! You got no chance to win!
Delete Yourself! You got no chance to win!
Delete Yourself! You got no chance to win!
Delete Yourself! You got no chance to win
Lyrics submitted by xslicexpaperxwristx
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Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman
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Little Feat
Little Feat
Overall about difficult moments of disappointment and vulnerability. Having hope and longing, while remaining optimistic for the future. Encourages the belief that with each new morning there is a chance for things to improve.
The chorus offers a glimmer of optimism and a chance at a resolution and redemption in the future.
Captures the rollercoaster of emotions of feeling lost while loving someone who is not there for you, feeling let down and abandoned while waiting for a lover. Lost with no direction, "Now I'm up in the air with the rain in my hair, Nowhere to go, I can go anywhere"
The bridge shows signs of longing and a plea for companionship. The Lyrics express a desire for authentic connection and the importance of Loving someone just as they are. "Just in passing, I'm not asking. That you be anyone but you”
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,
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.
God Save the Queen.