"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.
It could be your southern drawl
Or how you limp when you walk
That makes me wanna say
All those things I never could
Schoolboy crush carved into wood
That fades in the rain
You were born in a baptist house
With a rusty spoon inside your mouth
The taste to go away
And when the sun comes peeking out
You work until it goes back down
The days are all the same
A baby boy strapped to your hip
And a tiny cut above your lip
That states, god doesn't save
Everyone who buys his book
Some of us get overlooked
In a way it's a shame
But you still walk in his light
And say the same words every night:
I pray the lord my soul to keep
What about the rest of me?
My faith can't take the weight
Summers came and left for fall
Ten thankless years of working hard
The school bell rings the kids come home
but you still feel like you're alone
'cause your husband holds his whiskey glass
tighter than our hero's past
Rip those black beads off your throat
And swap them out for a knotted rope
The end is your only friend
Ears are full of rushing blood
You say the things you never could
Pray the lord that you will see
That my eyes bulge out and my body swing
'Cause now I finally understand
Jesus is like every man
He tells you what you want to hear
Until you fall in love
then he disappears
My faith couldn't take the Weight
When the weight of the world
Falls square on your shoulders
A pin prick or miscall can somehow destroy you
We all are victims with warped expectations
When people can't save us we suddenly hate them
So much, in fact, that we lose our grasp
on reality and responsibility
that we have to ourselves and everybody else
When the weight of the world
falls square on your shoulders
a pin prick or miscall can somehow destroy you
We all are victims with warped expectations
When people can't save us we suddenly hate them
Or how you limp when you walk
That makes me wanna say
All those things I never could
Schoolboy crush carved into wood
That fades in the rain
You were born in a baptist house
With a rusty spoon inside your mouth
The taste to go away
And when the sun comes peeking out
You work until it goes back down
The days are all the same
A baby boy strapped to your hip
And a tiny cut above your lip
That states, god doesn't save
Everyone who buys his book
Some of us get overlooked
In a way it's a shame
But you still walk in his light
And say the same words every night:
I pray the lord my soul to keep
What about the rest of me?
My faith can't take the weight
Summers came and left for fall
Ten thankless years of working hard
The school bell rings the kids come home
but you still feel like you're alone
'cause your husband holds his whiskey glass
tighter than our hero's past
Rip those black beads off your throat
And swap them out for a knotted rope
The end is your only friend
Ears are full of rushing blood
You say the things you never could
Pray the lord that you will see
That my eyes bulge out and my body swing
'Cause now I finally understand
Jesus is like every man
He tells you what you want to hear
Until you fall in love
then he disappears
My faith couldn't take the Weight
When the weight of the world
Falls square on your shoulders
A pin prick or miscall can somehow destroy you
We all are victims with warped expectations
When people can't save us we suddenly hate them
So much, in fact, that we lose our grasp
on reality and responsibility
that we have to ourselves and everybody else
When the weight of the world
falls square on your shoulders
a pin prick or miscall can somehow destroy you
We all are victims with warped expectations
When people can't save us we suddenly hate them
Lyrics submitted by CrystalMef
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Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
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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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Jane's Addiction vocalist Perry Farrell gives Adam Reader some heartfelt insight into Jane’s Addiction's hard rock manifesto "Mountain Song", which was the second single from their revolutionary album Nothing's Shocking. Mountain song was first recorded in 1986 and appeared on the soundtrack to the film Dudes starring Jon Cryer. The version on Nothing's Shocking was re-recorded in 1988.
"'Mountain Song' was actually about... I hate to say it but... drugs. Climbing this mountain and getting as high as you can, and then coming down that mountain," reveals Farrell. "What it feels to descend from the mountain top... not easy at all. The ascension is tough but exhilarating. Getting down is... it's a real bummer. Drugs is not for everybody obviously. For me, I wanted to experience the heights, and the lows come along with it."
"There's a part - 'Cash in now honey, cash in Miss Smith.' Miss Smith is my Mother; our last name was Smith. Cashing in when she cashed in her life. So... she decided that, to her... at that time, she was desperate. Life wasn't worth it for her, that was her opinion. Some people think, never take your life, and some people find that their life isn't worth living. She was in love with my Dad, and my Dad was not faithful to her, and it broke her heart. She was very desperate and she did something that I know she regrets."
Gentle Hour
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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.
although on the surface this song seems to be about a depressed, abused, suicidal christian woman the meaning is what seems most important here. the symbolism and underlying feelings are far beyond the face value. it all comes to how it makes you feel when you hear it, the story is merely a tool of expression and shouldnt be considered the true meaning.
perhaps what marc was portraying that inside a human being (in this case the girl) looks at themselves as weak and emotionally empty and represssed. our social status of being poor or disrespected causes a lack of value in ourselves we so desperately try to fight and prove wrong. wiether we think we are trying to find value in god or others we are desperately lacking value in ourselves.
as the song goes on he emphasizes her strong morals in religion and salvation yet her life illustrates in return they get her nowhere. this is the internal struggle a person can find themselves in when so eagerly dedicated to an idea. he is showing just because you believe in something strongly (marriage, religon, etc) doesnt mean you are saved. if anything, youre ignoring obvious signs your beliefs are wrong. yet, when reality sinks in and youve lost all comfort and hope youve ever had in your life, all your left is with a broken heart.
reality, is in a sense, heavy. he mentions the wieght of her own body breaking her neck in the end which means she not only physically killed her self but that her problems were the real wieght that killed her. its when this metaphorical weight catches up and literally crushes your spirit or even your will to live. yet the saddest most touching part is that when she finally leaves her life and feels the salvation she was so desperately looking for while alive only in death. it is only then the wieght of the world, finally leaves her.
we have a lot to learn from this story. he writes "we all are victims with warped expectations, people cant save us we suddenly hate them so much, in fact that we lose our grasp on reality and responsibility that we have to ourselves and everybody else" perhaps her beliefs trapped her into being a victim to a viscous cycle that no one could save her from. we all as people can have this tendency and that we should chose not to be helpless, become victim, become abused, or become even selfish because of it. no matter your upbringing or background, the fulfillment and happiness in our lives is entirely up to us.
@chrissy519 Understand there is a strain of Christianity that is known as "prosperity Christianity," particularly popular in USA and the south. The premise being God rewards the good with a prosperous life and punishes the wicked with poverty and tragedy. It's nonsense, but it internalized as a belief system by far too many people. And this woman, is confused how she could be doing everything right and living such a sad, desperate life? "Jesus is like every man… he disappears."