"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.
C'mon (yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah)
Yeah, now get 'em up, get 'em up, what?
Get 'em up, get 'em up, what?
Get 'em up, get 'em up, what?
Uh, yo, yo, yo
What's with the melodrama?
Fella's wanna hover in my cypher like a helicopter
Like it's a special honor
The stealth bomba, gem droppa
Make the ghetto holla, intercontinental
Takin' you high like sky divers
When we spark with live wires
Original, cavemen quest for my fire (what?)
Express my desire to drop this new shit (c'mon)
These record executives keep tellin' me y'all stupid
Now if they right, shut the fuck up
Revolutionary, throw your guns up
Whether you a bougie broad who actin' stuck up
Or some ignorant thug motherfucker shootin' the club up
We gon' make y'all feel this (uh), break y'all spirit
If y'all fake that realness, word, we bringin' it
Ringin' it in from the new millennium to way after that
I call these cats Reynolds 'cause they plastic rap
Kill all the yappin' let's make it happen (c'mon)
You cats ain't real, y'all just a re-enactment
Better yet, dramatization
Soon as the director say action you start fakin'
I start breakin' (what?)
The whole joint start shakin' (c'mon)
This ain't the time or place for you to prove somethin'
Cut the stargazin', yo, move somethin'
Move somethin' (move somthin')
Move somethin' (move somthin')
Move somethin' (move somthin')
Move somethin' (move somthin')
Word, alright bring it back to the top
To be continued (uh)
Let's see what's next up on the menu run up in you (uh)
Lyrics that be fuckin with you
In the mental, pick any mental, instru', funda', detri'
Extra, extra large like the borough of Brooklyn the residential
Existentialist specialist
Like Sly Stone wit my poem and fly song
Ride along with cats who live great and die strong, word
We gonna rock 'til nothin' else matters (uh)
Y'all catch bodies, we catch excellent cadavers (uh)
Your next of kin an' shatter stories splattered in the tabloids
Erase your trace like your cotton mouth and we peppermint Altoids
Step in the high reppin' the spot called Flatbush
Whether rappers or actors you still feel the gat bust
The abstract then becomes the reality
Alcoholics like to call it the moment of clarity (word)
Kill all the yappin' let's make it happen
You cats ain't real, y'all just a re-enactment
Better yet, dramatization
Soon as the director say action you start fakin'
I start breakin' (what?)
The whole joint start shakin' (c'mon)
This ain't the time or place for you to prove somethin'
Cut the stargazin', yo, move somethin'
Move somethin' (move somthin')
Move somethin' (move somthin')
Move somethin' (move somthin')
Move somethin' (word)
Flatbush, Brownsville
Bed-stuy niggas, move somethin'
Chi and West Side niggas, move somethin'
Cincinnati in the house, you got to move somethin'
My niggas in the Dirty South got to move somethin'
The South Bronx, 125 niggas move somethin'
Q Borough make it live, niggas, move somethin'
Miami all the way to Philly got to move somethin'
Chicago and the Brick City got to move somethin'
My Soul Rebels in the world you got to move somethin'
B-boys and B-Girls got to move somethin'
Yeah, now get 'em up, get 'em up, what?
Get 'em up, get 'em up, what?
Get 'em up, get 'em up, what?
Uh, yo, yo, yo
What's with the melodrama?
Fella's wanna hover in my cypher like a helicopter
Like it's a special honor
The stealth bomba, gem droppa
Make the ghetto holla, intercontinental
Takin' you high like sky divers
When we spark with live wires
Original, cavemen quest for my fire (what?)
Express my desire to drop this new shit (c'mon)
These record executives keep tellin' me y'all stupid
Now if they right, shut the fuck up
Revolutionary, throw your guns up
Whether you a bougie broad who actin' stuck up
Or some ignorant thug motherfucker shootin' the club up
We gon' make y'all feel this (uh), break y'all spirit
If y'all fake that realness, word, we bringin' it
Ringin' it in from the new millennium to way after that
I call these cats Reynolds 'cause they plastic rap
Kill all the yappin' let's make it happen (c'mon)
You cats ain't real, y'all just a re-enactment
Better yet, dramatization
Soon as the director say action you start fakin'
I start breakin' (what?)
The whole joint start shakin' (c'mon)
This ain't the time or place for you to prove somethin'
Cut the stargazin', yo, move somethin'
Move somethin' (move somthin')
Move somethin' (move somthin')
Move somethin' (move somthin')
Move somethin' (move somthin')
Word, alright bring it back to the top
To be continued (uh)
Let's see what's next up on the menu run up in you (uh)
Lyrics that be fuckin with you
In the mental, pick any mental, instru', funda', detri'
Extra, extra large like the borough of Brooklyn the residential
Existentialist specialist
Like Sly Stone wit my poem and fly song
Ride along with cats who live great and die strong, word
We gonna rock 'til nothin' else matters (uh)
Y'all catch bodies, we catch excellent cadavers (uh)
Your next of kin an' shatter stories splattered in the tabloids
Erase your trace like your cotton mouth and we peppermint Altoids
Step in the high reppin' the spot called Flatbush
Whether rappers or actors you still feel the gat bust
The abstract then becomes the reality
Alcoholics like to call it the moment of clarity (word)
Kill all the yappin' let's make it happen
You cats ain't real, y'all just a re-enactment
Better yet, dramatization
Soon as the director say action you start fakin'
I start breakin' (what?)
The whole joint start shakin' (c'mon)
This ain't the time or place for you to prove somethin'
Cut the stargazin', yo, move somethin'
Move somethin' (move somthin')
Move somethin' (move somthin')
Move somethin' (move somthin')
Move somethin' (word)
Flatbush, Brownsville
Bed-stuy niggas, move somethin'
Chi and West Side niggas, move somethin'
Cincinnati in the house, you got to move somethin'
My niggas in the Dirty South got to move somethin'
The South Bronx, 125 niggas move somethin'
Q Borough make it live, niggas, move somethin'
Miami all the way to Philly got to move somethin'
Chicago and the Brick City got to move somethin'
My Soul Rebels in the world you got to move somethin'
B-boys and B-Girls got to move somethin'
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Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
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Little Feat
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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”
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.
Head > Heels
Ed Sheeran
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“Head > Heels” is a track that aims to capture what it feels like to experience romance that exceeds expectations. Ed Sheeran dedicates his album outro to a lover who has blessed him with a unique experience that he seeks to describe through the song’s nuanced lyrics.
Plastic Bag
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
“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.
I am awed by this whole album. This song is a great example of using gangster rap tactics to deliver the most positive, conscious messages you'll ever hear!