"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.
Before the Daylight falls to rest,
Into shadows,
Soon I'll be on a black-night trip,
I'll fly across the sky.
It's not a lonely flight,
This one'll be black,
The death lies always in the sky,
It reflect hatred in my eyes.
If the daylight dies, the shadow's are falling on me.
Then I'll be at your side, maybe then I'll becoming wild
Always in the moonlight shadow,
I can't get out,
Lost in time for eternity.
You're the guard of the dead ones,
In the night I'll find you to drink your blood,
You're the Dead night's fresh meat in my arms,
The dead by night's close by!
Don't wake it up, call my name, it's death!
Set them all on a trip of pain,
I can't wait!
It's such a lonely flight,
This one'll be black,
The death lies always in the sky,
It reflect hatred in my eyes.
It is such a pain to allow,
Being hard to wound
Always in the moonlight shadow,
I can't get out!
Into shadows,
Soon I'll be on a black-night trip,
I'll fly across the sky.
It's not a lonely flight,
This one'll be black,
The death lies always in the sky,
It reflect hatred in my eyes.
If the daylight dies, the shadow's are falling on me.
Then I'll be at your side, maybe then I'll becoming wild
Always in the moonlight shadow,
I can't get out,
Lost in time for eternity.
You're the guard of the dead ones,
In the night I'll find you to drink your blood,
You're the Dead night's fresh meat in my arms,
The dead by night's close by!
Don't wake it up, call my name, it's death!
Set them all on a trip of pain,
I can't wait!
It's such a lonely flight,
This one'll be black,
The death lies always in the sky,
It reflect hatred in my eyes.
It is such a pain to allow,
Being hard to wound
Always in the moonlight shadow,
I can't get out!
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Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman
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.
Magical
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
How would you describe the feeling of being in love? For Ed Sheeran, the word is “Magical.” in HIS three-minute album opener, he makes an attempt to capture the beauty and delicacy of true love with words. He describes the magic of it all over a bright Pop song produced by Aaron Dessner.
Blue
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
“Blue” is a song about a love that is persisting in the discomfort of the person experiencing the emotion. Ed Sheeran reflects on love lost, and although he wishes his former partner find happiness, he cannot but admit his feelings are still very much there. He expresses the realization that he might never find another on this stringed instrumental by Aaron Dessner.
I'm pretty sure this song is about Alexi cutting himself. He writes a lot of songs about it, and there's a lot of wording in the song that implies that.
Soon I'll be on a black-night trip, I'll fly across the sky.:
He's often described cutting himself as a high (Keywords: Trip, fly across the sky), for instance in the song Blooddrunk, even in the name, it's completely about how cutting himself is like getting drunk (probably from lightheadedness, a high, passing out).
It's not a lonely flight, This one'll be black, The death lies always in the sky, It reflect hatred in my eyes.:
This time he's sick of life and wants to cut himself to death, because he has soo much hatred in his eyes. It's not lonely because maybe lots of people he knew killed themselves and he laments them. This one'll be black, black is universal symbolism for death, which he says in the next line: Death lies always in the sky means he can kill himself anytime.
If the daylight dies, the Shadow's are falling on me. Then I'll be at your side, then I'll becoming wild Always in the moonlight shadow, I can't get out, lost in time for eternity.:
Shadows falling on him and daylight dying again are symbols of death. He'll be at the side of whoever he knew who died, and he'll become wild with happiness. The last 3 lines are saying he'd be stuck dead and could never go back to life, which may not be as great as he first thought.
You're the guard of the dead ones, In the night I'll find you to drink your blood, You're the Dead night's fresh meat in my arms, The dead by night's close by!:
This part, contrary to initial thoughts, is definitely not about vampires. He's drinking HIS blood, talking in the third person. The Dead night's fresh meat means the meat he cut on himself, being fresh in the deadnight, the dead by night, all meaning the night of his death, him being the deadnight warrior that's battling life by killing himself.
Don't wake it up, call my name, it's death! Set them all on a trip of pain, I can't wait!:
Now he's not sure if he wants to kill himself. But he thinks it's too late because death is already calling his name and saying don't wake it up. He tells death that he'd rather kill/"set on a trip of pain" "them all" meaning the people he hates that he's killing himself to escape from.
Then the solo is a crescendo of emotion, and sounds amazing!
It's such a lonely flight, This one'll be black, The death lies always in the sky, It reflect hatred in my eyes.:
Now he knows he's probably gonna die and starts to feel lonely, in contrast to before when he was doing it on a whimsical impulse. He's having mixed feelings, it's not as great as he thought.
It is such a pain to allow being hard to wound Always in the moonlight shadow [echo: shadow], I can't get out!:
Now he's dying, battling just death instead of life. He'll now always be in the moonlight shadow, forever dead, can't get out. Such a pain to allow being hard to wound means it's as if he's undead now, dead but not quite, and all numb.
Thankfully Alexi failed or decided not to kill himself, because he's one of the best musicians out there, and it would be a shame for him to not be with us! Kick ass song, Old Bodom rules!!!