"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.
There never was a night like this
How could there ever be
Through sweat and velvet misery
The fever race in me
Cornered in a symmetrical design
Sphere-like chrome on a sea enraged
Hatred
What the mirror sees
Is the clutching at straws
Taking us under
The storm of the ocean
This velvety crush
Ringcorners, firm in the outrage
Synaptic patterns
Waves contort
Break into these cellular walls
Why?
Globes of disease, infest my dreams
Burning the ends of my veins
Pattern and form, the squares cling fast
Dance the tide now
Could never bare another night
Although I know it'll come
The freezing ends of what is me
The icy rages
Free
Cornered in a symmetrical design
Sphere-like chrome on a sea enraged
Hatred
Take hold of the boundaries
The perimeter sea
Burn
Enflame the oppressors
But if four was one
In a corner alone
Recovering, licking the wounds
Delerium coming
The weakness kicks in
Resigning, cornered within
How could there ever be
Through sweat and velvet misery
The fever race in me
Cornered in a symmetrical design
Sphere-like chrome on a sea enraged
Hatred
What the mirror sees
Is the clutching at straws
Taking us under
The storm of the ocean
This velvety crush
Ringcorners, firm in the outrage
Synaptic patterns
Waves contort
Break into these cellular walls
Why?
Globes of disease, infest my dreams
Burning the ends of my veins
Pattern and form, the squares cling fast
Dance the tide now
Could never bare another night
Although I know it'll come
The freezing ends of what is me
The icy rages
Free
Cornered in a symmetrical design
Sphere-like chrome on a sea enraged
Hatred
Take hold of the boundaries
The perimeter sea
Burn
Enflame the oppressors
But if four was one
In a corner alone
Recovering, licking the wounds
Delerium coming
The weakness kicks in
Resigning, cornered within
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Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
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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.
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.
anyone knows what this song really means?
obviously, there's someone in a corner, but what is his sweat and velvet misery? what makes this night so unbearable for him?
i really don't know, and i'd be glad to hear some of your thoughts about this
If I had to guess at it...it seems to be about drugs. That's the impression I get from the lyrics. The fever, burning, etc. is the effects of the drugs in his system. I could be way off, but that's what it seems to be saying to me. I have no clue, but it seems to be an experience gone horribly wrong.