"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.
Woven in the surface a premonition of a land
Erupting a sparkling occasion of a city crashdown!
Overhead revolvin' in a whirlpool a drag-o-rama walk'n on the sidewalk
So let me see ya howl'n through the keyhole"god damn,
Swept away" she shouted, she love it, getin away yeah!
I concentrate the midnight without the benefit of ceremony, whoever said,
"The one who strips your soul is the one that got away"
A weather-beaten angel descending to embrace the cemetery,
Got love, so mystifying "god damn, swept away" she shouted, she love it, get in away yeah!
She shouted, she love it, get in away, yeah!
Voodoo beat on the mind the digs too deep to find something has got to give,
Man (psych-out) racketeer or star you are just what you are, don't play the misty, baby!
(Get you) into a river sky electro nation cry "I need another, now"
Drift beyond the sleeping the moon is shiftin' shadows on her figure,
Swamptime locomotion "I can't take it, anymore!"
Sunlight through the shutters illuminating moment to the moment buzz a halo over
"Goddamn, swept away" she shouted, she love it, get in away, yeah,
Planet pretty kill, motherfucker hang me on the thrills,
Psychoholic slag tomorrow is another drag[yeah] picnic in the homeland,
Like a Jesus super-star yeah! kiss me deadly, baby (baby)
I know who you are (come on) planet pretty kill,
Motherfucker hang me on the thrills yeah! no small heaven (haven)
I got the left hand of the keeper,
Meet me in St. Louis "god" a one way ticket's cheaper yeah!
Time-travel I'm walk'n (walk'n)
I got a white line zombie fever (fever) yeah!
Time bomb the hero (hero) yeah get down!!
Erupting a sparkling occasion of a city crashdown!
Overhead revolvin' in a whirlpool a drag-o-rama walk'n on the sidewalk
So let me see ya howl'n through the keyhole"god damn,
Swept away" she shouted, she love it, getin away yeah!
I concentrate the midnight without the benefit of ceremony, whoever said,
"The one who strips your soul is the one that got away"
A weather-beaten angel descending to embrace the cemetery,
Got love, so mystifying "god damn, swept away" she shouted, she love it, get in away yeah!
She shouted, she love it, get in away, yeah!
Voodoo beat on the mind the digs too deep to find something has got to give,
Man (psych-out) racketeer or star you are just what you are, don't play the misty, baby!
(Get you) into a river sky electro nation cry "I need another, now"
Drift beyond the sleeping the moon is shiftin' shadows on her figure,
Swamptime locomotion "I can't take it, anymore!"
Sunlight through the shutters illuminating moment to the moment buzz a halo over
"Goddamn, swept away" she shouted, she love it, get in away, yeah,
Planet pretty kill, motherfucker hang me on the thrills,
Psychoholic slag tomorrow is another drag[yeah] picnic in the homeland,
Like a Jesus super-star yeah! kiss me deadly, baby (baby)
I know who you are (come on) planet pretty kill,
Motherfucker hang me on the thrills yeah! no small heaven (haven)
I got the left hand of the keeper,
Meet me in St. Louis "god" a one way ticket's cheaper yeah!
Time-travel I'm walk'n (walk'n)
I got a white line zombie fever (fever) yeah!
Time bomb the hero (hero) yeah get down!!
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More Featured Meanings
Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman
Cajun Girl
Little Feat
Little Feat
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”
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,
Amazing
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
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
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.
Could it be about the old Leslie Neilson movie "Forbidden Planet"? I just dunno
it could be, rob zombie does like all those old movies
They made a video for this song.
If it were an animated super-natural thriller, it would involve some kind of entity/painting that encompassed earth, a God and his new found lover, Gaia, having sex, deciding if he will destroy her before caring on....
The sound byte of "Get up and kill!" after planet pretty kill is from the opening moments of George Romero's Dawn of the Dead.