"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.
A dove is a glove
That i wear in my heart
And though I like to dress smart
It doesn't have any part of the world of fashion
And you're there to put me down
And I'm sick of the frowns
That follow me around
I would like the sky
But there's no reason why
She'd say it in this world with the nose of a girl
It's turned up so
Loud that you hear them resist
The clouds
I've never been here
And know you're physically here
You're pushing me away
To decay like the day that I loved
There is a girl blabbing nothing outside my window
What do I have to show
To a world that the only way to destroy
Is to die like a baby boy?
I could be happy in infinity
Of the space of my eyelid
But I know I'm somewhere else
Where the words on this page
Will be the scribbling nonsense they are
And it would be real
And I eat my last meal
Wish here I could feel
But now I don't even know
If I'm real
That i wear in my heart
And though I like to dress smart
It doesn't have any part of the world of fashion
And you're there to put me down
And I'm sick of the frowns
That follow me around
I would like the sky
But there's no reason why
She'd say it in this world with the nose of a girl
It's turned up so
Loud that you hear them resist
The clouds
I've never been here
And know you're physically here
You're pushing me away
To decay like the day that I loved
There is a girl blabbing nothing outside my window
What do I have to show
To a world that the only way to destroy
Is to die like a baby boy?
I could be happy in infinity
Of the space of my eyelid
But I know I'm somewhere else
Where the words on this page
Will be the scribbling nonsense they are
And it would be real
And I eat my last meal
Wish here I could feel
But now I don't even know
If I'm real
Lyrics submitted by UseYourIllusion
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Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
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Ebba Grön
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This is one of my favorite songs. https://fnfgo.io
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,
Punchline
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran sings about missing his former partner and learning important life lessons in the process on “Punchline.” This track tells a story of battling to get rid of emotions for a former lover, whom he now realized might not have loved him the same way. He’s now caught between accepting that fact and learning life lessons from it and going back to beg her for another chance.
Page
Ed Sheeran
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There aren’t many things that’ll hurt more than giving love a chance against your better judgement only to have your heart crushed yet again. Ed Sheeran tells such a story on “Page.” On this track, he is devastated to have lost his lover and even more saddened by the feeling that he may never move on from this.
The lyrics sound like an early draft of "Usually Just A T-Shirt".