"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.
After winter comes another storm
It's a shiver, it's a freaking out
Could be real time
Could be wonderful
It's the future in the maybe world
Let the bird fly
Let it out of here
They just brought it as an offering
It's the color of remembering
And the weirdness of forgetting
In the shiver, in the freaking out
See the live ones, see 'em taking off
It's the color of happy endings
In another world beginning
In the could time
In the maybe world
I was thinking I might like it there
In the future I was wondering
How many birds you're gonna bring me
It's a shiver, it's a freaking out
Could be real time
Could be wonderful
It's the future in the maybe world
Let the bird fly
Let it out of here
They just brought it as an offering
It's the color of remembering
And the weirdness of forgetting
In the shiver, in the freaking out
See the live ones, see 'em taking off
It's the color of happy endings
In another world beginning
In the could time
In the maybe world
I was thinking I might like it there
In the future I was wondering
How many birds you're gonna bring me
Lyrics submitted by Deckers
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Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
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Gentle Hour
Yo La Tengo
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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
Ed Sheeran
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Punchline
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran sings about missing his former partner and learning important life lessons in the process on “Punchline.” This track tells a story of battling to get rid of emotions for a former lover, whom he now realized might not have loved him the same way. He’s now caught between accepting that fact and learning life lessons from it and going back to beg her for another chance.
American Town
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran shares a short story of reconnecting with an old flame on “American Town.” The track is about a holiday Ed Sheeran spends with his countrywoman who resides in America. The two are back together after a long period apart, and get around to enjoying a bunch of fun activities while rekindling the flames of their romance.
I think this song is fairly self-explanatory. Lisa is singing about the future, in another world, perhaps she is referring to a different planet on which humans can live. The 'birds' obviously have some symbolism, although I have heard she related them in the song because her cats used to bring her dead birds as offerings.