"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.
in the confines of this culture who's doors are welded tight with accumulated wealth that can't buy anything close to happiness, i'm kicking off my coffin lid. shake the world awake because we're far from vampires, and the sand we shed is nothing more than dust on timecards, and the seats of rusting cars headed to places we despise. I WANT TO BUILD CASTLES WITH MY TIME! CASTLES WHOS TRUMPETS WAKE THE DEAD FOR MILES! streets drenched in people that can't smile at one another because their programs are set to serve the master's cause, who could give a rat's fuck about arthritis and crippled spines. time chews through heads clouded with appointments well worth missing every time. it's time to dislodge our roots from this thick oily earth, and roll through town like steamboats yelling "WAKE THE FUCK UP!". they're drowning us in urine that will later turn to gold. these alchemists have nothing else in mind for us. wake me up before i die. before i forget why i shouldn't smile your way and ask you why we're sitting here together, same destination, train packed to the tracks. and i should'nt ask you whether we should'nt just all jump the fuck out the window, abandon this high speed train full of empty chains and weightless iron balls that have been gluing our imaginations to the neverending tv movie that we pay our "souls and 52 cents" for generations-old plastic headphones, to watch on this monotonous flight "destination" straight to hell. stop me if i'm sounding crazy. stop me faster if i'm acting like a drone again. wake me up before i die. they'll never take us back to the overcrowded solitary confines. wake me up before i die. because in the middle of this eternal winter there is within us an invincible summer!
Lyrics submitted by imperfect_offering
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Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
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Holiday
Bee Gees
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@[Diderik:33655] "Your a holiday!" Was a popular term used in the 50s/60s to compliment someone on their all around. For example, not only are they beautiful, but they are fun and kind too ... just an all around "holiday".
I think your first comment is closer to being accurate. The singer/song writers state "Millions of eyes can see, yet why am i so blind!? When the someone else is me, its unkind its unkind". I believe hes referring to the girl toying with him and using him. He wants something deeper with her, thats why he allows himself to be as a puppet (even though for her fun and games) as long as it makes her happy. But he knows deep down that she doesnt really want to be serious with him and thats what makes him.
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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.
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Ed Sheeran
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.
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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 WANT TO BUILD CASTLES WITH MY TIME!