"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 hear a sigh, longing for loving in this life
The how and the why, that keeps us running through the night
Touching divine, for me it has only your face
I'm looking to find pieces of wisdom I've misplaced
I don't make the rules dear
You don't hear the symphony I hear
We don't get a dollar bill for every shining tear
Fictitious and so real
Love's a onetime deal
With a delicious dark appeal
And a religious kind of zeal, yeah
So precious, yet surreal
Life's a onetime deal
With a delicious dark appeal
And a religious kind of zeal, yeah
Witnessing fault in every pawn in the game
The only one called proudly answers to my name
No I don't know why love is a thief in the night
The one that you try, is your most devoted guide
We don't make the rules dear
We don't hear the symphony they hear
We don't get a dollar bill for every shining tear
Fictitious and so real
Love's a onetime deal
With a delicious dark appeal
And a religious kind of zeal, yeah
So precious, yet surreal
Life's a onetime deal
With a delicious dark appeal
And a religious kind of zeal, yeah
So thank you for choosing me, playing me, displaying me
And selling me to slavery, yeah
Thank you for using me, flaying me, erasing me
Awarding me for bravery
Fictitious and so real
Love's a onetime deal
With a delicious dark appeal
And a religious kind of zeal, yeah
So precious, yet surreal
Life's a onetime deal
With a delicious dark appeal
And a religious kind of zeal, yeah
The how and the why, that keeps us running through the night
Touching divine, for me it has only your face
I'm looking to find pieces of wisdom I've misplaced
I don't make the rules dear
You don't hear the symphony I hear
We don't get a dollar bill for every shining tear
Fictitious and so real
Love's a onetime deal
With a delicious dark appeal
And a religious kind of zeal, yeah
So precious, yet surreal
Life's a onetime deal
With a delicious dark appeal
And a religious kind of zeal, yeah
Witnessing fault in every pawn in the game
The only one called proudly answers to my name
No I don't know why love is a thief in the night
The one that you try, is your most devoted guide
We don't make the rules dear
We don't hear the symphony they hear
We don't get a dollar bill for every shining tear
Fictitious and so real
Love's a onetime deal
With a delicious dark appeal
And a religious kind of zeal, yeah
So precious, yet surreal
Life's a onetime deal
With a delicious dark appeal
And a religious kind of zeal, yeah
So thank you for choosing me, playing me, displaying me
And selling me to slavery, yeah
Thank you for using me, flaying me, erasing me
Awarding me for bravery
Fictitious and so real
Love's a onetime deal
With a delicious dark appeal
And a religious kind of zeal, yeah
So precious, yet surreal
Life's a onetime deal
With a delicious dark appeal
And a religious kind of zeal, yeah
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More Featured Meanings
Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman
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Little Feat
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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”
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,
I Can't Go To Sleep
Wu-Tang Clan
Wu-Tang Clan
This song is written as the perspective of the boys in the street, as a whole, and what path they are going to choose as they get older and grow into men. (This is why the music video takes place in an orphanage.) The seen, and unseen collective suffering is imbedded in the boys’ mind, consciously or subconsciously, and is haunting them. Which path will the boys choose? Issac Hayes is the voice of reason, maybe God, the angel on his shoulder, or the voice of his forefathers from beyond the grave who can see the big picture and are pleading with the boys not to continue the violence and pattern of killing their brothers, but to rise above. The most beautiful song and has so many levels. Racism towards African Americans in America would not exist if everyone sat down and listened to this song and understood the history behind the words. The power, fear, pleading in RZA and Ghostface voices are genuine and powerful. Issac Hayes’ strong voice makes the perfect strong father figure, who is possibly from beyond the grave.
Head > Heels
Ed Sheeran
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“Head > Heels” is a track that aims to capture what it feels like to experience romance that exceeds expectations. Ed Sheeran dedicates his album outro to a lover who has blessed him with a unique experience that he seeks to describe through the song’s nuanced lyrics.
One of my favourites - simple word order mixing makes up for such great lyrics. Ficticious, real, sweet and dark - love, life. It's almost insulting, the way it makes you go - 'yeah, it kinda is this way'.
there are no words to describe love or the feeling of love...but the poets have done it again...oh man they are bad,real bad.love indeed has a dark and sweet apeal..great song