"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.
[Chorus:]
Echo,
Echo-ooo
We come and we go
No, I don't want to be just another
Echo
Echo-ooo
Everywhere I go
Something that I really need
Everyone I know
Someone that i want to be.
Even though,
I don't really know
I better pick it up
Before I let it slip away
I better stick it out
Before I take another day.
Into now
Every word I say, fades out.
[Chorus]
Can only open up your eyes
When the clouds break
Can only feel alive
Even though the world shakes.
Every night
You're in my quiet, sateen, light.
Can I hold you close
To a rather full moon kiss.
Everything I know
I don't even know who it is
It all falls through
I'm here and I hear you.
[Chorus]
Do you hear me?
Do you hear me?
'Cause I need to, just to reach you
Can you hear me?
Coming clearly?
Am I hollow?
Just an echo?
[Chorus]
(Hello?)Echo
Echo-ooo
(Do you hear me?) We come and we go
(Hello?) No, I don't want to be just another
(Do you hear me?)Echo
Echo-ooo
It's just another day
And every single word I say, fades out.
Echo,
Echo-ooo
We come and we go
No, I don't want to be just another
Echo
Echo-ooo
Everywhere I go
Something that I really need
Everyone I know
Someone that i want to be.
Even though,
I don't really know
I better pick it up
Before I let it slip away
I better stick it out
Before I take another day.
Into now
Every word I say, fades out.
[Chorus]
Can only open up your eyes
When the clouds break
Can only feel alive
Even though the world shakes.
Every night
You're in my quiet, sateen, light.
Can I hold you close
To a rather full moon kiss.
Everything I know
I don't even know who it is
It all falls through
I'm here and I hear you.
[Chorus]
Do you hear me?
Do you hear me?
'Cause I need to, just to reach you
Can you hear me?
Coming clearly?
Am I hollow?
Just an echo?
[Chorus]
(Hello?)Echo
Echo-ooo
(Do you hear me?) We come and we go
(Hello?) No, I don't want to be just another
(Do you hear me?)Echo
Echo-ooo
It's just another day
And every single word I say, fades out.
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Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
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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.
No Surprises
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Same ideas expressed in Fitter, Happier are expressed in this song. We're told to strive for some sort of ideal life, which includes getting a good job, being kind to everyone, finding a partner, getting married, having a couple kids, living in a quiet neighborhood in a nice big house, etc. But in Fitter, Happier the narrator(?) realizes that it's incredibly robotic to live this life. People are being used by those in power "like a pig in a cage on antibiotics"--being pacified with things like new phones and cool gadgets and houses while being sucked dry. On No Surprises, the narrator is realizing how this life is killing him slowly. In the video, his helmet is slowly filling up with water, drowning him. But he's so complacent with it. This is a good summary of the song. This boring, "perfect" life foisted upon us by some higher powers (not spiritual, but political, economic, etc. politicians and businessmen, perhaps) is not the way to live. But there is seemingly no way out but death. He'd rather die peacefully right now than live in this cage. While our lives are often shielded, we're in our own protective bubbles, or protective helmets like the one Thom wears, if we look a little harder we can see all the corruption, lies, manipulation, etc. that is going on in the world, often run by huge yet nearly invisible organizations, corporations, and 'leaders'. It's a very hopeless song because it reflects real life.
Punchline
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Page
Ed Sheeran
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.
i love this song! makes you want to be uniquoe