"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.
Let's go
One man at the window
One girl at the bar
Saw that look of recognition
When they know just who you are
I seen you on the tv
I seen you on that show
You make the people crazy
And then you let them go
Before the show we calm them
We sympathize, we care
And the hostile folk we keep apart
'Til the red light says on air'
Did you see our leather lovers
All tied up to the chair
Did you catch those child molesters
No one else goes there
What a show, the Barry Williams show
What a show,
Dysfunctional excess
Is all it took for my success
The greater pain that they endure
The more you know the show will scored
It's showtime
Got the reputation of a surgeon
Cos they cannot feel the cut
It looks so very simple
But it really is an art
They call our studio the hospital'
Making money from the sick
We let people be themselves
There is no other trick
My lover stole my girlfriend'
I keep beating up my ex'
I want to kill my neighbor'
My daughter's selling sex'
My s/m lover hurt me'
My girl became a man'
I love my daughter's rapist
My life's gone down the pan'
What a show, the Barry Williams show
The Barry Williams show
Dysfunctional excess
Is all it took for my success
And when the punches start to fly
The ratings always read so high
It's showtime
That girl has got no scruples'
Not a wrinkle on her face
You would not believe the plot she conceived
So they'd let her take my place
Well, no man is an island
No man is a sea
But this display of emotion
Is all but drowning me
What a show, oh what a show
On my show, the Barry Williams show
It's my show
What a show
Dysfunctional excess
Is all it took for my success
The best tv you've ever seen
Where people say the things that they really mean
I hear my name, I hear them roar
For the one more time I take the floor
Just one more Barry Williams show
We're gonna take you where you want to go
It's showtime
Come on down
Come on down
One man at the window
One girl at the bar
Saw that look of recognition
When they know just who you are
I seen you on the tv
I seen you on that show
You make the people crazy
And then you let them go
Before the show we calm them
We sympathize, we care
And the hostile folk we keep apart
'Til the red light says on air'
Did you see our leather lovers
All tied up to the chair
Did you catch those child molesters
No one else goes there
What a show, the Barry Williams show
What a show,
Dysfunctional excess
Is all it took for my success
The greater pain that they endure
The more you know the show will scored
It's showtime
Got the reputation of a surgeon
Cos they cannot feel the cut
It looks so very simple
But it really is an art
They call our studio the hospital'
Making money from the sick
We let people be themselves
There is no other trick
My lover stole my girlfriend'
I keep beating up my ex'
I want to kill my neighbor'
My daughter's selling sex'
My s/m lover hurt me'
My girl became a man'
I love my daughter's rapist
My life's gone down the pan'
What a show, the Barry Williams show
The Barry Williams show
Dysfunctional excess
Is all it took for my success
And when the punches start to fly
The ratings always read so high
It's showtime
That girl has got no scruples'
Not a wrinkle on her face
You would not believe the plot she conceived
So they'd let her take my place
Well, no man is an island
No man is a sea
But this display of emotion
Is all but drowning me
What a show, oh what a show
On my show, the Barry Williams show
It's my show
What a show
Dysfunctional excess
Is all it took for my success
The best tv you've ever seen
Where people say the things that they really mean
I hear my name, I hear them roar
For the one more time I take the floor
Just one more Barry Williams show
We're gonna take you where you want to go
It's showtime
Come on down
Come on down
Lyrics submitted by mike_patton
The Barry Williams Show Lyrics as written by Peter Gabriel
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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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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I don't think it's necessarily about sex. It's about wanting to start the day with some love and affection. Maybe a warm cuddle. I'm not alone in interpreting it that way! For example:
"'Just a Little Lovin’ is a timeless country song originally recorded by Eddy Arnold in 1954. The song, written by Eddie Miller and Jimmy Campbell, explores the delicate nuances of love and showcases Arnold’s emotive vocals. It delves into the universal theme of love and how even the smallest gesture of affection can have a profound impact on our lives." https://oldtimemusic.com/the-meaning-behind-the-song-just-a-little-lovin-by-eddy-arnold/
Plastic Bag
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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 don't know if this is a real show in England or if Gabriel's just poking fun at Jerry Springer. Either way, it's a really good song and it has some funny lyrics in spots.
This song is a general dig at talk shows today and their willingness to do anything to get ratings.
Its funny, when he decided on the name of the song, he wasn't aware there was a famous Barry Williams in the US, but when he found out, he worked him into the Video.
What's left out seems to me quite disturbing. Someone's gotten the better of Barry Williams, master manipulator. He's lost his show to a pretender, and is now "drowning" in emotion, when he always stayed above the fray. In that context "... the one more time I take the floor just one more Barry Williams show we're gonna take you where you want to go" seems very final.
There's always one song on a Gabriel album that seems lightweight, but has hidden depth. "Steam," "Sledgehammer," etc. This song seems like a tongue-in-cheek look at a fairly revolting Jerry Springer-ish social phenomenon, but I think it's also about What Comes Next. And to top everything that the Barry Williams show has done before, What Comes Next will be extreme.
Oooh. This song is biting (just from going off of the lyrics). It's mocking talk shows where the crazier the episode/guests are, the better. And the host is just so proud of it, because putting these crazy people on TV and letting them tell their stories has made him famous. What a sick practice! Really, the song gets the point across quite well.
It seems to be a commentary on exploiting people's troubles and conflicts on popular shows like Jerry Springer. In the end,which can be confirmed by the video, Barry has an obsessed fan who plots to murder him where it talks about the girl with no scruples who conceived this unbelievable plot. It then goes on to say "no man is an island" is a quote from MEDITATION XVII by John Donne, which is about how when a man dies, everyone is affected by it. So it seems the fan succeeded with her plot and murdered Barry, and now everyone is affected by the loss. If he was actually killed, or if his spot was just taken - who knows.