"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.
I'm sitting on a citadel
Contemplating life
Making a point to waste my time
I'm walking on clouds of white
What if I fall?
What if I don't?
What if I never make it home?
What if I bleed?
What if I break?
And I find that I can't take
The city below the Citadel
Holding my own hand?
And I'm breaking on the balcony
Breaking window panes
Killing the pain of broken hearts
I'm walking on clouds
Walking on stars
What if I fall?
What if I don't?
What if I never make it home?
What if I bleed?
What if I break?
And I find that I can't take
The city below the Citadel
Holding my own hand?
I'm holding on to something
It's keeping me from jumping
I'm so afraid to do it alone
And holding up this fortress
With imaginary forces
Longing for a life down below
What if I fall?
What if I don't?
What if I never make it home?
What if I bleed?
What if I break?
And I find that I can't take
The city below the Citadel
Holding my own hand?
Contemplating life
Making a point to waste my time
I'm walking on clouds of white
What if I fall?
What if I don't?
What if I never make it home?
What if I bleed?
What if I break?
And I find that I can't take
The city below the Citadel
Holding my own hand?
And I'm breaking on the balcony
Breaking window panes
Killing the pain of broken hearts
I'm walking on clouds
Walking on stars
What if I fall?
What if I don't?
What if I never make it home?
What if I bleed?
What if I break?
And I find that I can't take
The city below the Citadel
Holding my own hand?
I'm holding on to something
It's keeping me from jumping
I'm so afraid to do it alone
And holding up this fortress
With imaginary forces
Longing for a life down below
What if I fall?
What if I don't?
What if I never make it home?
What if I bleed?
What if I break?
And I find that I can't take
The city below the Citadel
Holding my own hand?
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Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman
Bron-Y-Aur Stomp
Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin
This is about bronies. They communicate by stomping.
Cajun Girl
Little Feat
Little Feat
Overall about difficult moments of disappointment and vulnerability. Having hope and longing, while remaining optimistic for the future. Encourages the belief that with each new morning there is a chance for things to improve.
The chorus offers a glimmer of optimism and a chance at a resolution and redemption in the future.
Captures the rollercoaster of emotions of feeling lost while loving someone who is not there for you, feeling let down and abandoned while waiting for a lover. Lost with no direction, "Now I'm up in the air with the rain in my hair, Nowhere to go, I can go anywhere"
The bridge shows signs of longing and a plea for companionship. The Lyrics express a desire for authentic connection and the importance of Loving someone just as they are. "Just in passing, I'm not asking. That you be anyone but you”
Dreamwalker
Silent Planet
Silent Planet
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.
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 also think this song is about suicide. My favorite part, "What if I fall? What if I don't?" makes me think this. She's thinking, 'what would happen if I were to take my life (to fall, in a sense)? What would happen if I kept on living?' "And holding up this fortress With imaginary forces" -- She's trying to find reason to live, continue to live, keep up her citadel. The imaginary forces are the reasons she invents to keep living, but they're only imaginary. She knows they're nothing.