"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.
Damn it all—everything
But the circus
Wonder who said that?
Somebody told us what we wanted to be
It was candy for the mind
Look behind them—you’ll see
It was circusy
It was hi diddle diddle
It was cat and the fiddle
It was safe as can be
It was right down the middle
It was fantasy—fantasy galore
It was everything we ever wanted
It was that and so much more
Who was it that said—damn it all
Damn everything—but the circus
But the circus
Wonder who said that?
Somebody told us what we wanted to be
It was candy for the mind
Look behind them—you’ll see
It was circusy
It was hi diddle diddle
It was cat and the fiddle
It was safe as can be
It was right down the middle
It was fantasy—fantasy galore
It was everything we ever wanted
It was that and so much more
Who was it that said—damn it all
Damn everything—but the circus
Lyrics submitted by sillybunny
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Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman
Dreamwalker
Silent Planet
Silent Planet
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.
Head > Heels
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
“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.
Page
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
There aren’t many things that’ll hurt more than giving love a chance against your better judgement only to have your heart crushed yet again. Ed Sheeran tells such a story on “Page.” On this track, he is devastated to have lost his lover and even more saddened by the feeling that he may never move on from this.
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.
Bill Frisell and Wayne Horwitz also contributed to this cool and slightly scary intro to Little April Shower on "Stay Awake", a collection of Disney tunes by contemporary artists compiled by Hal Wilner.
from The Best Of Word Jazz, Vol. 1... by Tom Waits 1990)
Ken Nordine, yea I know that guy, I heard his voice 1000 times, he's the guy in the bus station that says "go ahead I'll keep an eye on your stuff for you," and you see him the next day walking around town wearing your clothes. He broadcasts from the boiler room of the Wilmont Hotel with 50,000 watts of power. I know that voice, he's the guy with the pitchfork in your head saying go ahead and jump, and he's the ambulance driver who tells you you're going to pull thru. He's the guy in the control tower who talked you down in a storm with a hole in your fuselage and both engines on fire. I heard him barking thru the Rose Alley Carnival strobe as samurai firemen were pulling hose. Yea he's the dispatcher with the heart of gold, the only guy up this late on the suicide hotline. Ken Nordine is the real angel sitting on the wire in the tangled matrix of cobwebs that holds the whole attic together. Yea Ken Nordine, he's the switchboard operator at the Taft Hotel, the only place in town you can get a drink at this hour. You know Ken Nordine, he's the lite in the icebox, he's the blacksmith on the anvil in your ear.
Tue Apr 22 04:09:26 CDT 1997Scott Altizer (ekmek@pacbell.net) says: Simply put, Ken Nordine is a genius. He's navigating in uncharted territory. Not only is he in a place no one else could ever be, he's in a place no one else could ever imagine being. To say he's "one of a kind" is a humorous understatement. If he were a musician his talent would rival Bartok's, Satie's, Prokofiev's. If he were a film director his films would be as good as Fellini's, Scorsese's, David Lynch's. Yet, what Ken Nordine does none of these men could ever dream of doing. Well...except, maybe, David Lynch.
From the Grateful Dead website
You may not know the name, but you've heard The Voice. Since the 1940s, Ken Nordine has been known as radio's undisputed "King Of The Voice-overs." His impossibly resonant baritone has been heard extolling the virtues of everything from Levi's 501s to Slugeta Snail Bait. But in the deepest recesses of Ken Nordine's mind there exists a magical domain, several galaxies to the left of Madison Avenue. This is the world of Word Jazz.
Word Jazz is the name Ken gave to the unique art form he invented as a creative diversion from his day job. Falling into the cracks somewhere between Beat poetry, shaggy-dog storytelling and standup comedy (delivered sitting down), Word Jazz earned Nordine an avid cult following, with the release of a string of albums on various labels in the late 1950s and early '60s, and a National Public Radio series in the 80s. Among Ken's earliest and most rabid fans was a loose collection of Northern California seekers of fun, truth and music that eventually mutated into the Grateful Dead.