"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.
Say from the forest itself comes the handle for the ax
Split this wilderness, listen, I'm not missing where it's at
Clear a path so that you could find your way back
Chop 'em down, chop 'em down chop 'em down, chop 'em down
Said time flies by like clouds passing in the sky
Lifetimes even gone in the blink of an eye
March through the desert one step at a time
March through the desert one step at a time
Said from the forest itself comes the handle for the ax
Drop the staff Moshe Rabbeinu split the ocean in half
March through the desert, this ain't where it's at
Said chop 'em down, Chop 'em down, chop 'em down, chop 'em down
Said patterns engraved not so easily erased
Still wandering trying to find your place
Playing the game I see pain on your face
Now a day's the Yidden like children sold as slaves
Strange ways running through the maze, strange ways always
Lost in the desert trying to find your way
Lost, lost in the desert trying to find your way
From the forest itself comes the handle for the ax
Split this wilderness, listen, I'm not missing where it's at
Clear a path so that you could find your way back
Said chop 'em down, chop 'em down chop 'em down, chop 'em down
Yosef descended sold as a slave
Thrown into a dungeon 'cause he wouldn't be swayed
Interpreted Pharaoh's dreams and Egypt was saved
Stockpiled food for seven years of rain
Sold to all the nations when the drought came
Yosef rose to power and the Yidden stayed
They started to build and success was made
Pharaoh is getting worried, let's make them pay
Bound in chains, firstborn was sent down to their graves
Moshe was saved and a prince he was raised
Hashem spoke to him, "here's a message to relay
Take my Nation from Mitzrayim I see the suffering"
Hard hearts ego breaks take sparks and make way
Trail blaze through the wasteland breaking the chains
Last generation just the remnants
Peel through the desert leaving footprints
Peel off the lid this is just plastic, lord
Get into it, get-get into it
Said heavy hitter stepping solid never quitter
Jump into the ocean before it split got a jump into it
Jump-jump into the ocean, jump into it
Rip-rip through Egypt rip through it
Six hundred thousand witnessed it, no you didn't forget
No you didn't forget
Rip-rip through Egypt rip through it
Said rip-rip through Egypt, yo
Said, in the spiritual desert things are not what they seem
Snakes camouflaged just to fit the scene
Put your faith in a mirage it's just a smokescreen
Just a smokescreen, just a smoke-
In the spiritual desert things are not what they seem
Snakes camouflaged just to fit in the scene
Put your faith in a mirage it's just a smokescreen
Took that path and you know you're in E-
Split this wilderness, listen, I'm not missing where it's at
Clear a path so that you could find your way back
Chop 'em down, chop 'em down chop 'em down, chop 'em down
Said time flies by like clouds passing in the sky
Lifetimes even gone in the blink of an eye
March through the desert one step at a time
March through the desert one step at a time
Said from the forest itself comes the handle for the ax
Drop the staff Moshe Rabbeinu split the ocean in half
March through the desert, this ain't where it's at
Said chop 'em down, Chop 'em down, chop 'em down, chop 'em down
Said patterns engraved not so easily erased
Still wandering trying to find your place
Playing the game I see pain on your face
Now a day's the Yidden like children sold as slaves
Strange ways running through the maze, strange ways always
Lost in the desert trying to find your way
Lost, lost in the desert trying to find your way
From the forest itself comes the handle for the ax
Split this wilderness, listen, I'm not missing where it's at
Clear a path so that you could find your way back
Said chop 'em down, chop 'em down chop 'em down, chop 'em down
Yosef descended sold as a slave
Thrown into a dungeon 'cause he wouldn't be swayed
Interpreted Pharaoh's dreams and Egypt was saved
Stockpiled food for seven years of rain
Sold to all the nations when the drought came
Yosef rose to power and the Yidden stayed
They started to build and success was made
Pharaoh is getting worried, let's make them pay
Bound in chains, firstborn was sent down to their graves
Moshe was saved and a prince he was raised
Hashem spoke to him, "here's a message to relay
Take my Nation from Mitzrayim I see the suffering"
Hard hearts ego breaks take sparks and make way
Trail blaze through the wasteland breaking the chains
Last generation just the remnants
Peel through the desert leaving footprints
Peel off the lid this is just plastic, lord
Get into it, get-get into it
Said heavy hitter stepping solid never quitter
Jump into the ocean before it split got a jump into it
Jump-jump into the ocean, jump into it
Rip-rip through Egypt rip through it
Six hundred thousand witnessed it, no you didn't forget
No you didn't forget
Rip-rip through Egypt rip through it
Said rip-rip through Egypt, yo
Said, in the spiritual desert things are not what they seem
Snakes camouflaged just to fit the scene
Put your faith in a mirage it's just a smokescreen
Just a smokescreen, just a smoke-
In the spiritual desert things are not what they seem
Snakes camouflaged just to fit in the scene
Put your faith in a mirage it's just a smokescreen
Took that path and you know you're in E-
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Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman
Mental Istid
Ebba Grön
Ebba Grön
This is one of my favorite songs. https://fnfgo.io
Gentle Hour
Yo La Tengo
Yo La Tengo
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,
No Surprises
Radiohead
Radiohead
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.
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.
I went to a Lutheran grade school and a Catholic high school.....we learned this story....read a fucking book.