"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.
You live your life in the songs you hear
On the rock and roll radio
And when a young girl doesn't have any friends
That's a really nice place to go
Folks hoping you'd turn out cool
But they had to take you out of school
You're a little touched you know, Angie baby
Lovers appear in your room each night
And they whirl you across the floor
But they always seem to fade away
When your daddy taps on your door
Angie girl, are you all right
Tell the radio good-night
All alone once more, Angie baby
Angie baby, you're a special lady
Living in a world of make-believe
Well, maybe
Stopping at her house is a neighbor boy
With evil on his mind
'Cause he's been peeking in Angie's room
At night through the window blind
I see your folks have gone away
Would you dance with me today?
I'll show you how to have a good time, Angie baby
When he walks in the room, he feels confused
Like he's walked into a play
And the music's so loud it spins him around
'Til his soul has lost its way
And as she turns the volume down
He's getting smaller with the sound
It seems to pull him off the ground
Toward the radio he's bound
Never to be found
The headlines read that a boy disappeared
And everyone thinks he died
Except a crazy girl with a secret lover who
Keeps her satisfied
It's so nice to be insane
No one asks you to explain
Radio by your side, Angie baby
Angie baby, you're a special lady
Living in a world of make-believe
Well, maybe
Well, maybe (Angie baby, Angie baby)
Well, maybe (Angie baby, Angie baby)
(Angie baby, Angie baby, Angie baby, Angie baby)
On the rock and roll radio
And when a young girl doesn't have any friends
That's a really nice place to go
Folks hoping you'd turn out cool
But they had to take you out of school
You're a little touched you know, Angie baby
Lovers appear in your room each night
And they whirl you across the floor
But they always seem to fade away
When your daddy taps on your door
Angie girl, are you all right
Tell the radio good-night
All alone once more, Angie baby
Angie baby, you're a special lady
Living in a world of make-believe
Well, maybe
Stopping at her house is a neighbor boy
With evil on his mind
'Cause he's been peeking in Angie's room
At night through the window blind
I see your folks have gone away
Would you dance with me today?
I'll show you how to have a good time, Angie baby
When he walks in the room, he feels confused
Like he's walked into a play
And the music's so loud it spins him around
'Til his soul has lost its way
And as she turns the volume down
He's getting smaller with the sound
It seems to pull him off the ground
Toward the radio he's bound
Never to be found
The headlines read that a boy disappeared
And everyone thinks he died
Except a crazy girl with a secret lover who
Keeps her satisfied
It's so nice to be insane
No one asks you to explain
Radio by your side, Angie baby
Angie baby, you're a special lady
Living in a world of make-believe
Well, maybe
Well, maybe (Angie baby, Angie baby)
Well, maybe (Angie baby, Angie baby)
(Angie baby, Angie baby, Angie baby, Angie baby)
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More Featured Meanings
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"
Son Şansın - Şarkı Sözleri
Hayalperest
Hayalperest
This song seemingly tackles the methods of deception those who manipulate others use to get victims to follow their demands, as well as diverting attention away from important issues. They'll also use it as a means to convince people to hate or kill others by pretending acts of terrorism were committed by the enemy when the acts themselves were done by the masters of control to promote discrimination and hate. It also reinforces the idea that these manipulative forces operate in various locations, infiltrating everyday life without detection, and propagate any and everywhere.
In general, it highlights the danger of hidden agendas, manipulation, and distraction, serving as a critique of those who exploit chaos and confusion to control and gain power, depicting a cautionary tale against falling into their traps. It encourages us to question the narratives presented to us and remain vigilant against manipulation in various parts of society.
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."
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.
You know how in the movies whenever someone is psychic or does something else involving the supernatural (something which they can't proove) ordinary people wind up trying to lock them in the loony bin?
Well basically I think that is whats happened with Angie (Folks hoping you'd turn out cool/ But they had to take you out of school/ You're a little touched you know)
People assume she must be crazy because shes not even trying to make friends, the only friends she seems to want are the "imaginary" ones conjured; I don't think shes actually crazy for two reasons. The first is that theres a nuanced sarcasm to the lyrics that imply that she's aware of her situation, and people who are self aware are rarely crazy enough to get pulled out of school permanently.
The second reason is this part of the song: "The headlines read, that a boy dissappeared, and everyone thinks he died, 'cept a crazy girl and her secret lover, who keeps her Satisfied" Okay so obviously its not all in her head if someone really went missing is it?
To explain the weird thing about the radio shrinking and capturing the neighborboy, and it only letting him out when the music plays, i think you should look to fairy tales. In the movie Moulan Rouge theres a citar that has a spirit that always tells the truth when the citarplayer plays the instrument. I know a similar story where one of the bones of a murdered girl is used to make a string instrument and when the musician plays that instrument in front of her killer her spirit is finally able to come out and accuse her killer. So maybe the radio is magic and lovers really were whirring across the floor but only when the music was on.
Personally I think the neighborboy was pretty brazen. I mean, if I was in his shoes I know I'd think twice before going into the house of a mysterious crazy girl. He must have nerved himself to do it after peeking through her window blinds he undoubtably convinced himself that she was harmlessly dancing with herself.
I like the imagery of him getting smaller in stature when the volume goes down. (Honey I Shrunk the peeping Tom!)
Anyway thats my interpretation of the song. I think the theme of this song is that the truth is hidden.