"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.
How do you document real life
When real life's getting more
Like fiction each day
Headlines, bread lines
Blow my mind
And now this deadline
"Eviction or pay"
Rent
How do you write a song
When the chords sound wrong
Though they once sounded right and rare
When the notes are sour
Where is the power
You once had to ignite the air
We're hungry and frozen
Some life that we've chosen
How we gonna pay
How we gonna pay
How we gonna pay
Last year's rent
How do you start a fire
When there's nothing to burn
And it feels like something's stuck in your flue
How can you generate heat
When you can't feel your feet
And they're turning blue
You light up a mean blaze
With posters
And screenplays
How we gonna pay
How we gonna pay
How we gonna pay
Last year's rent
How do you stay on your feet
When on every street
It's 'trick or treat'
And tonight its 'trick'
'Welcome back to town'
I should lie down
Everything's brown
And uh oh
I feel sick
Where is he?
Getting dizzy
How we gonna pay
How we gonna pay
How we gonna pay
Last year's rent
The music ignites the night with passionate fire
The narration crackles and pops with incendiary wit
Zoom in as they burn the past to the ground
And feel the heat of the future's glow
How do you leave the past behind
When it keep finding ways to get to your heart
It reaches way down deep and tears you inside out
'Til you're torn apart
Rent
How can you connect in an age
Where strangers, landlords, lovers
Your own blood cells betray
What binds the fabric together
When the raging, shifting winds of change
Keep ripping away
Draw a line in the sand
And then make a stand
Use your camera to spar
Use your guitar
When they act tough
You call their bluff
We're not gonna pay
We're not gonna pay
We're not gonna pay
Last year's rent
This year's rent
Next year's rent
Rent rent rent rent rent
We're not gonna pay rent
'Cause everything is rent
When real life's getting more
Like fiction each day
Headlines, bread lines
Blow my mind
And now this deadline
"Eviction or pay"
Rent
How do you write a song
When the chords sound wrong
Though they once sounded right and rare
When the notes are sour
Where is the power
You once had to ignite the air
We're hungry and frozen
Some life that we've chosen
How we gonna pay
How we gonna pay
How we gonna pay
Last year's rent
How do you start a fire
When there's nothing to burn
And it feels like something's stuck in your flue
How can you generate heat
When you can't feel your feet
And they're turning blue
You light up a mean blaze
With posters
And screenplays
How we gonna pay
How we gonna pay
How we gonna pay
Last year's rent
How do you stay on your feet
When on every street
It's 'trick or treat'
And tonight its 'trick'
'Welcome back to town'
I should lie down
Everything's brown
And uh oh
I feel sick
Where is he?
Getting dizzy
How we gonna pay
How we gonna pay
How we gonna pay
Last year's rent
The music ignites the night with passionate fire
The narration crackles and pops with incendiary wit
Zoom in as they burn the past to the ground
And feel the heat of the future's glow
How do you leave the past behind
When it keep finding ways to get to your heart
It reaches way down deep and tears you inside out
'Til you're torn apart
Rent
How can you connect in an age
Where strangers, landlords, lovers
Your own blood cells betray
What binds the fabric together
When the raging, shifting winds of change
Keep ripping away
Draw a line in the sand
And then make a stand
Use your camera to spar
Use your guitar
When they act tough
You call their bluff
We're not gonna pay
We're not gonna pay
We're not gonna pay
Last year's rent
This year's rent
Next year's rent
Rent rent rent rent rent
We're not gonna pay rent
'Cause everything is rent
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Fast Car
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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.
Plastic Bag
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“Plastic Bag” is a song about searching for an escape from personal problems and hoping to find it in the lively atmosphere of a Saturday night party. Ed Sheeran tells the story of his friend and the myriad of troubles he is going through. Unable to find any solutions, this friend seeks a last resort in a party and the vanity that comes with it.
“I overthink and have trouble sleepin’ / All purpose gone and don’t have a reason / And there’s no doctor to stop this bleedin’ / So I left home and jumped in the deep end,” Ed Sheeran sings in verse one. He continues by adding that this person is feeling the weight of having disappointed his father and doesn’t have any friends to rely on in this difficult moment. In the second verse, Ed sings about the role of grief in his friend’s plight and his dwindling faith in prayer. “Saturday night is givin’ me a reason to rely on the strobe lights / The lifeline of a promise in a shot glass, and I’ll take that / If you’re givin’ out love from a plastic bag,” Ed sings on the chorus, as his friend turns to new vices in hopes of feeling better.
definately my favorite song in the show, right next to La Vie Boheme. <3