"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.
And he set me on fire, and I am burning alive
With his breath in my lungs I am coming undone
And he set me on fire and I am burning alive
With his breath in my lungs I am coming undone
And I cannot hold it in
Remain composed
Love's taken over me
So I propose the letting myself go
I am letting myself go
You are my joy
You are my joy
You are my joy
You are my joy
And he set me on fire, and I am burning alive
With his breath in my lungs I am coming undone
And he set me on fire, and I am burning alive
With his breath in my lungs I am coming undone
And I cannot hold it in and remain composed
Love's taken over me and so I propose the letting myself go
I am letting myself go
You are my joy
You are my joy
You are my joy
You are my joy
I need to catch my breath, I need to
I need to catch my breath, give me a moment now
You are my joy
You are my joy
You are my joy
You are my joy
I'm laughing so hard
And I'm laughing so hard
And I'm laughing so hard
With his breath in my lungs I am coming undone
And he set me on fire and I am burning alive
With his breath in my lungs I am coming undone
And I cannot hold it in
Remain composed
Love's taken over me
So I propose the letting myself go
I am letting myself go
You are my joy
You are my joy
You are my joy
You are my joy
And he set me on fire, and I am burning alive
With his breath in my lungs I am coming undone
And he set me on fire, and I am burning alive
With his breath in my lungs I am coming undone
And I cannot hold it in and remain composed
Love's taken over me and so I propose the letting myself go
I am letting myself go
You are my joy
You are my joy
You are my joy
You are my joy
I need to catch my breath, I need to
I need to catch my breath, give me a moment now
You are my joy
You are my joy
You are my joy
You are my joy
I'm laughing so hard
And I'm laughing so hard
And I'm laughing so hard
Lyrics submitted by seulette suis
You Are My Joy Lyrics as written by Michael Cooke Richard Colburn
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Universal Music Publishing Group, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Capitol CMG Publishing, Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd., Hipgnosis Songs Group, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
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Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman
The Night We Met
Lord Huron
Lord Huron
This is a hauntingly beautiful song about introspection, specifically about looking back at a relationship that started bad and ended so poorly, that the narrator wants to go back to the very beginning and tell himself to not even travel down that road. I believe that the relationship started poorly because of the lines:
"Take me back to the night we met:When the night was full of terrors: And your eyes were filled with tears: When you had not touched me yet"
So, the first night was not a great start, but the narrator pursued the relationship and eventually both overcame the rough start to fall in love with each other:
"I had all and then most of you"
Like many relationships that turn sour, it was not a quick decline, but a gradual one where the narrator and their partner fall out of love and gradually grow apart
"Some and now none of you"
Losing someone who was once everything in your world, who you could confide in, tell your secrets to, share all the most intimate parts of your life, to being strangers with that person is probably one of the most painful experiences a person can go through. So Painful, the narrator wants to go back in time and tell himself to not even pursue the relationship.
This was the perfect song for "13 Reasons Why"
Mountain Song
Jane's Addiction
Jane's Addiction
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."
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.
Just A Little Lovin'
Dusty Springfield
Dusty Springfield
I don't think it's necessarily about sex. It's about wanting to start the day with some love and affection. Maybe a warm cuddle. I'm not alone in interpreting it that way! For example:
"'Just a Little Lovin’ is a timeless country song originally recorded by Eddy Arnold in 1954. The song, written by Eddie Miller and Jimmy Campbell, explores the delicate nuances of love and showcases Arnold’s emotive vocals. It delves into the universal theme of love and how even the smallest gesture of affection can have a profound impact on our lives." https://oldtimemusic.com/the-meaning-behind-the-song-just-a-little-lovin-by-eddy-arnold/
The breath of God is in him, which leads him to repeat how much joy God brings him. The joy of God makes little sense to people who have not experienced it, which is why he cannot remain composed, but he is okay with that because it is worth it.
He needs to catch his breath because God is the source of his fiery passion and if he does not pause to breath he will not be close God. He has to stop in mid song around thousand of audience members to "catch his breath," which is figuratively saying to center himself on God.
As it would turn out (Crowder probably knows this), the word for worship in Greek (which was one of the original languages of the Bible) is pneuma. Phneuma is the root word for pneumonia and it literally means to breathe. So when the Bible says to worship God, the Greek readers were reading to "breathe God."
David Crowder understands that while he is a worshiper, he is also a worship leader, and his purpose in life is to lift up others in mutual worship of God. His final song on this album (A Collision) is titled "The Lark Ascending (I'm Trying to Make You Sing)"
I think in this song he was trying to lead everyone into not just worshiping God but to actually breathe him. To pause in the middle of a song and catch a breath of God, something that most people have never done before. In the Psalms this kind of pause is called a "Selah" which roughly translates from Hebrew to mean "a holy pause"
The last line of the song is "I'm laughing so hard." Laughing occurs when you joyfully expel air from your lungs. In fitting with the rest of the song, he is outpouring God with great joy for everyone around him that they too may enjoy God. Hence the repetition of "You are my joy."
So all in all this song reflect the cycle: pause and inhale God -> spread this joy to everyone around you -> catch you breath and inhale God
-Ben