"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 am trapped in a flood, but it isn't raining
i have a tendancy to get bored too quickly
recently my dull life seems to have no meaning
i am stuck with someone we're not communicating
i want to buy
have you been affected?
i need consoling
you could be addicted
i need something new
something trivial would do
i want to satisfy this empty feeling
walking down the street looking in the windows
the t.v., the lights, flickering in other peoples windows
imagine myself moving in the kitchens
somehow i don't know it just looks so tempting
i want to buy
have you been affected?
i need consoling
you could be addicted
i need something new
something trivial would do
i want to satisfy this empty feeling
i've got a new improved remedy
two of my lonely fantasies
when i supply myself with something new...
going home, into bed when i've treated myself
i've been quite hard, after a hard days work
i have found a hundred ways to get rid of all my worries
he's not pilliging, stopping me, commenting the crime
i want to buy
have you been affected?
i need consoling
you could be addicted
i need something new
something trivial would do
i want to satisfy this empty feeling
i've got a new improved remedy
two of my lonely fantasies
i've got a new improved remedy
two of my lonely fantasies
i have a tendancy to get bored too quickly
recently my dull life seems to have no meaning
i am stuck with someone we're not communicating
i want to buy
have you been affected?
i need consoling
you could be addicted
i need something new
something trivial would do
i want to satisfy this empty feeling
walking down the street looking in the windows
the t.v., the lights, flickering in other peoples windows
imagine myself moving in the kitchens
somehow i don't know it just looks so tempting
i want to buy
have you been affected?
i need consoling
you could be addicted
i need something new
something trivial would do
i want to satisfy this empty feeling
i've got a new improved remedy
two of my lonely fantasies
when i supply myself with something new...
going home, into bed when i've treated myself
i've been quite hard, after a hard days work
i have found a hundred ways to get rid of all my worries
he's not pilliging, stopping me, commenting the crime
i want to buy
have you been affected?
i need consoling
you could be addicted
i need something new
something trivial would do
i want to satisfy this empty feeling
i've got a new improved remedy
two of my lonely fantasies
i've got a new improved remedy
two of my lonely fantasies
Lyrics submitted by bladet
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Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
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This is one of my favorite songs. https://fnfgo.io
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Yo La Tengo
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This song was originally written by a guy called Peter Gutteridge. He was one of the founders of the "Dunedin Sound" a musical scene in the south of New Zealand in the early 80s. From there it was covered by "The Clean" one of the early bands of that scene (he had originally been a member of in it's early days, writing a couple of their best early songs). The Dunedin sound, and the Clean became popular on american college radio in the mid to late 80s. I guess Yo La Tengo heard that version.
Great version of a great song,
Magical
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How would you describe the feeling of being in love? For Ed Sheeran, the word is “Magical.” in HIS three-minute album opener, he makes an attempt to capture the beauty and delicacy of true love with words. He describes the magic of it all over a bright Pop song produced by Aaron Dessner.
Blue
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
“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.
Consumerism.
"walking down the street looking in the windows the t.v., the lights, flickering in other peoples windows imagine myself moving in the kitchens somehow i don't know it just looks so tempting"
"when i supply myself with something new..."
"going home, into bed when I've treated myself I've been quite hard, after a hard days work I have found a hundred ways to get rid of all my worries it's not pilliging, stopping me, commiting the crime"
along with the song "Shoplifting" makes me think she's not actually buying anything.