"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.
Learn to lose, it's easier that way
We've paid our dues, but we can't make life pay
All across the world, people going mad
In their mother's cars, the kids are feeling sad
That's how it is, and I'll see you later
Everything old is new again
Everything under the sun
Now that I'm back with you again
We hug and we kiss
We sit and make lists
We drink and I bandage your wrists
Wasted youth, there wasn't much to waste
Down to the bone, and still losing weight
With all the wishing in the world glistening in her eyes
But when I say I love her, she thinks I'm telling lies
Is it all lost?
No, we never had it
Everything old is new again
Everything under the sun
All of our fears come true again
Recycle reuse
Resent and refuse
Our parent's ideals and views
She thinks the afterlife might just be where the action is
With high schools built like prisons, she can't find a way to live
Moved back home to fill the empty nest
Afraid to roam, in love with second best
While somewhere in the world, she's hosting her own show
And everyone she questions never seems to know
Just who they are and where they are going
Everything old is new again
Everything under the sun
Now that I'm without you again
I wake up and eat
I go back to sleep
And let all my nightmares repeat
All across the world, people going mad
We've paid our dues, but we can't make life pay
All across the world, people going mad
In their mother's cars, the kids are feeling sad
That's how it is, and I'll see you later
Everything old is new again
Everything under the sun
Now that I'm back with you again
We hug and we kiss
We sit and make lists
We drink and I bandage your wrists
Wasted youth, there wasn't much to waste
Down to the bone, and still losing weight
With all the wishing in the world glistening in her eyes
But when I say I love her, she thinks I'm telling lies
Is it all lost?
No, we never had it
Everything old is new again
Everything under the sun
All of our fears come true again
Recycle reuse
Resent and refuse
Our parent's ideals and views
She thinks the afterlife might just be where the action is
With high schools built like prisons, she can't find a way to live
Moved back home to fill the empty nest
Afraid to roam, in love with second best
While somewhere in the world, she's hosting her own show
And everyone she questions never seems to know
Just who they are and where they are going
Everything old is new again
Everything under the sun
Now that I'm without you again
I wake up and eat
I go back to sleep
And let all my nightmares repeat
All across the world, people going mad
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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
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I think much like another song “Anti-Matter” (that's also on the same album as this song), this one is also is inspired by a horrifying van crash the band experienced on Nov 3, 2022. This, much like the other track, sounds like it's an extension what they shared while huddled in the wreckage, as they helped frontman Garrett Russell stem the bleeding from his head wound while he was under the temporary effects of a concussion. The track speaks of where the mind goes at the most desperate & desolate of times, when it just about slips away to all but disconnect itself, and the aftermath.
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Blink-182
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This is a sequel to 2001's "Reckless Abandon", and features the band looking back on their clumsy youth fondly.
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“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.
It's so evident. It's written from the POV of a guy, dating a girl who not only struggles continuously with self-esteem and life-satisfaction issues but who also dwells in her self-pity. Thus the line... "everything old is new again... everything under the sun" meaning all the same bullshit plagues this girl and nothing ever makes a difference. His love doesn't make a difference because her low self-esteem perpetuates the sentiment: "I say I love her, she thinks I'm telling lies" While she expresses suicidal aspirations, she takes comfort in her sad-bastard existinence and as long as she has that... "everything old is new again!" Geeze, I think I've dated a couple-few of these types. :(