"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.
Grey fake plastic mistletoe
Wrap me in a great big bow and tear me apart
It's Christmas time so open up the flood gates
Tell me that it'll be late and rip me apart
'Cause you say that
You say that things will be alright
But I've heard that
I've heard that so many times and I know that
It's not Christmas if the snow don't fall
And I'm still standing here, three feet small
Lose our troubles because after all it's Christmas time
It's Christmas time
Cold icing on a walkways
Slip into the games we play, we're falling apart
A great big house, we made out of ginger bread
Crumbles to the ground, we're breaking apart
But you said that (said that)
Said that things will be alright
But I've heard that (heard that)
I've hard that so many times and I know that
It's not Christmas if the snow don't fall
And I'm still standing here, three feet small
Lose our troubles because after all it's Christmas time
And I've been waiting for you to come
It's hard 'cause I feel so alone
And I just want you to come home
Waiting for you to come
It's hard 'cause I feel so alone
And I just want you to come home
It's not Christmas if the snow don't fall
And I'm still standing here, three feet small
Lose our troubles because after all it's Christmas time
It's not Christmas if the snow don't fall
You're not here to keep me safe and warm
Lose our troubles because after all it's Christmas time
It's Christmas time again
All your friends, all your friends are smiling
It's Christmas time
Wrap me in a great big bow and tear me apart
It's Christmas time so open up the flood gates
Tell me that it'll be late and rip me apart
'Cause you say that
You say that things will be alright
But I've heard that
I've heard that so many times and I know that
It's not Christmas if the snow don't fall
And I'm still standing here, three feet small
Lose our troubles because after all it's Christmas time
It's Christmas time
Cold icing on a walkways
Slip into the games we play, we're falling apart
A great big house, we made out of ginger bread
Crumbles to the ground, we're breaking apart
But you said that (said that)
Said that things will be alright
But I've heard that (heard that)
I've hard that so many times and I know that
It's not Christmas if the snow don't fall
And I'm still standing here, three feet small
Lose our troubles because after all it's Christmas time
And I've been waiting for you to come
It's hard 'cause I feel so alone
And I just want you to come home
Waiting for you to come
It's hard 'cause I feel so alone
And I just want you to come home
It's not Christmas if the snow don't fall
And I'm still standing here, three feet small
Lose our troubles because after all it's Christmas time
It's not Christmas if the snow don't fall
You're not here to keep me safe and warm
Lose our troubles because after all it's Christmas time
It's Christmas time again
All your friends, all your friends are smiling
It's Christmas time
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Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
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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"
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.
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.
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.
One Of My Classic ChristmasTunes Now:)