"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.
A peculiar thing happened to me this morning
Just as I reached into my pocket to find it empty of any sou
I saw two broken twigs on the ground
Shaped like the Greek letters "F" and "S"
"F" and "S", Helium, "F" and "S"
These are the chemical symbols for Iron and Sulfur
It was a sign, I'm sure, for me to make gold from these two elements
I have been working all day
Over these hellish flames
Locked in his bedroom
He saw the world
A web of answers
And cumshot girls
Tick, tick, tick, tick, tick
Tick, tick, tick, tick, tick
Don't bother blaming
His games and guns
He's only playing
And boys just want to have fun
He picked a soundtrack
And packed his bag
He hung his Walkman
Around his neck
Tick, tick, tick, tick, tick
Tick, tick, tick, tick, tick
It's so simple
The way they fall
No cry, no whimper
No sound at all
Tick, tick, tick, tick, tick
Tick, tick, tick, tick, tick
Tick, tick, tick, tick, tick
Tick, tick, tick, tick, tick
Tick, tick, tick, tick
Boom
Just as I reached into my pocket to find it empty of any sou
I saw two broken twigs on the ground
Shaped like the Greek letters "F" and "S"
"F" and "S", Helium, "F" and "S"
These are the chemical symbols for Iron and Sulfur
It was a sign, I'm sure, for me to make gold from these two elements
I have been working all day
Over these hellish flames
Locked in his bedroom
He saw the world
A web of answers
And cumshot girls
Tick, tick, tick, tick, tick
Tick, tick, tick, tick, tick
Don't bother blaming
His games and guns
He's only playing
And boys just want to have fun
He picked a soundtrack
And packed his bag
He hung his Walkman
Around his neck
Tick, tick, tick, tick, tick
Tick, tick, tick, tick, tick
It's so simple
The way they fall
No cry, no whimper
No sound at all
Tick, tick, tick, tick, tick
Tick, tick, tick, tick, tick
Tick, tick, tick, tick, tick
Tick, tick, tick, tick, tick
Tick, tick, tick, tick
Boom
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Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
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Dreamwalker
Silent Planet
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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.
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This is a sequel to 2001's "Reckless Abandon", and features the band looking back on their clumsy youth fondly.
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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
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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 the sound clip at the start is a metaphor for the shooter. The narrator sees some broken twigs and connects dots that aren't there, making the large leap that he is destined to make gold from sulphur and iron.
The shooter is someone who sat all day on his computer, thinking he was seeing the world, but really just seeing the internet. We all know how people can act on the internet, the world could seem like an inhospitable place, and because no one ever reached out to the guy why shouldn't he come to that conclusion? Like the narrator in the sound clip at the start he connects dots that aren't there, but it's not entirely his fault, society is to blame as well.