"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 wear guilt
Like shackles on your feet
Like a halo in reverse
I can feel
The discomfort in your seat
And in your head, it's worse
There's a pain
A famine in your heart
An aching to be free
Can't you see?
All love's luxuries
Are here for you and me
And when our worlds, they fall apart
When the walls come tumbling in
Though we may deserve it
It will be worth it
Bring your chains
Your lips of tragedy
And fall into my arms
And when our worlds, they fall apart
When the walls come tumbling in
Though we may deserve it
It will be worth it
And when our worlds, they fall apart
When the walls come tumbling in
Though we may deserve it
It will be worth it
And when our worlds, they fall apart
When the walls come tumbling in
Though we may deserve it
It will be worth it
And when our worlds, they fall apart
When the walls come tumbling in
Though we may deserve it
It will be worth it
Like shackles on your feet
Like a halo in reverse
I can feel
The discomfort in your seat
And in your head, it's worse
There's a pain
A famine in your heart
An aching to be free
Can't you see?
All love's luxuries
Are here for you and me
And when our worlds, they fall apart
When the walls come tumbling in
Though we may deserve it
It will be worth it
Bring your chains
Your lips of tragedy
And fall into my arms
And when our worlds, they fall apart
When the walls come tumbling in
Though we may deserve it
It will be worth it
And when our worlds, they fall apart
When the walls come tumbling in
Though we may deserve it
It will be worth it
And when our worlds, they fall apart
When the walls come tumbling in
Though we may deserve it
It will be worth it
And when our worlds, they fall apart
When the walls come tumbling in
Though we may deserve it
It will be worth it
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Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
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Lord Huron
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This is a hauntingly beautiful song about introspection, specifically about looking back at a relationship that started bad and ended so poorly, that the narrator wants to go back to the very beginning and tell himself to not even travel down that road. I believe that the relationship started poorly because of the lines:
"Take me back to the night we met:When the night was full of terrors: And your eyes were filled with tears: When you had not touched me yet"
So, the first night was not a great start, but the narrator pursued the relationship and eventually both overcame the rough start to fall in love with each other:
"I had all and then most of you"
Like many relationships that turn sour, it was not a quick decline, but a gradual one where the narrator and their partner fall out of love and gradually grow apart
"Some and now none of you"
Losing someone who was once everything in your world, who you could confide in, tell your secrets to, share all the most intimate parts of your life, to being strangers with that person is probably one of the most painful experiences a person can go through. So Painful, the narrator wants to go back in time and tell himself to not even pursue the relationship.
This was the perfect song for "13 Reasons Why"
Magical
Ed Sheeran
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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.
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.
Head > Heels
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
“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.
My favourite, and one of the reasons I think this is one of the top 5 albums ever. Depeche were known for People are People until 1990, and this album was up against metal, Hammer, and a musical scene that was totally against it and it still blew up. I remember I went to a record store to buy a Faith No More record and I just happened to put Violater in the stereo and WOW! You start off with World, Sweetest perfection, then Boom! Personal Jesus-the way the song ends: Reach out touch faith- Halo (which isn't even the best song on the record is still my fave) Waiting for the night (love Portishead remix) and then the signature song. Enjoy the silence is one of the most powerful songs ever written, but the video put everything on the map for Depeche since it received heavy rotation with GNR, Ozzy, Faith, HAmmer, and although most people don't remember mtv playing videos, it was the shit! It's hard to convey the impact Violator had looking back in time, but I lived it and the accomplishment was more amazing b/c when VH1 was created mtv went to other programming and music videos in general stopped making little movies and went to the concert style, or booty shakin that still prevails to this day. To give just a small idea of the music scene back then, Baby got back was actually banned from VH1 and heavy metal ruled the airwaves with really only sugar coated rap behind it. NWA wasn't played on radio or mtv initially and then the death of metal happened with [bon jovi] and mtv unplugged and Soundgarden/grunge. For this single to take over music like it did was an amazing accomplishment. Anyway, policy of truth, Blue Dress and Clean rounded out the album well and it just seemed like the order of their listings really added to the overall vibe of the record. I'm still not sure if it's the most upbeat album you'll ever hear, but you only have to look at groups like Marylin Manson, Portishead, Rammstein, and moby to realize the inmpact of Violator to this day.