"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.
Come back my dear
Come back and make my world again
Your voice so clear
Your voice reminds me of a friend
You had a heart like a hero
You sang a song that only I could ever know
Where would I be without you, where would I be?
How could the softest heart be separated by the word 'goodbye'?
She believed in Heaven, yeah
She believed in everybody else
She believed in miracles, but never let them help
Honey, honey take my heart like money and run
Honey, honey take my heart like money and run
She believed in everybody else but never in her, never in herself
There's no denial
You brought the world a little love
And fought each mile,
And fought the fight more than my love
It was so much bigger than a cure
It wasn't bigger than a heart that isn't sure
Where would I be without you, where would I be?
How could the softest heart be separated by the word 'goodbye'?
She believed in Heaven, yeah
She believed in everybody else
She believed in miracles, but never let them help
Honey, honey take my heart like money and run
Honey, honey take my heart like money and run
She believed in everybody else but never in her, never in herself
I wish I could (I wish I could) give what you gave to me
I wish I said (I wish I said), "please don't leave (please don't leave). Please don't leave. Please don't leave me."
She believed in Heaven, yeah
She believed in everybody else
She believed in Heaven, yeah
She believed in everybody else
She believed in miracles, but never let them help, whoa
Honey, honey take my heart like money and run
Honey, honey take my heart like money and run
She believed in everybody else but never in her, never in her, never in her, never in herself.
Come back and make my world again
Your voice so clear
Your voice reminds me of a friend
You had a heart like a hero
You sang a song that only I could ever know
Where would I be without you, where would I be?
How could the softest heart be separated by the word 'goodbye'?
She believed in Heaven, yeah
She believed in everybody else
She believed in miracles, but never let them help
Honey, honey take my heart like money and run
Honey, honey take my heart like money and run
She believed in everybody else but never in her, never in herself
There's no denial
You brought the world a little love
And fought each mile,
And fought the fight more than my love
It was so much bigger than a cure
It wasn't bigger than a heart that isn't sure
Where would I be without you, where would I be?
How could the softest heart be separated by the word 'goodbye'?
She believed in Heaven, yeah
She believed in everybody else
She believed in miracles, but never let them help
Honey, honey take my heart like money and run
Honey, honey take my heart like money and run
She believed in everybody else but never in her, never in herself
I wish I could (I wish I could) give what you gave to me
I wish I said (I wish I said), "please don't leave (please don't leave). Please don't leave. Please don't leave me."
She believed in Heaven, yeah
She believed in everybody else
She believed in Heaven, yeah
She believed in everybody else
She believed in miracles, but never let them help, whoa
Honey, honey take my heart like money and run
Honey, honey take my heart like money and run
She believed in everybody else but never in her, never in her, never in her, never in herself.
Lyrics submitted by manda31
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Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman
Mental Istid
Ebba Grön
Ebba Grön
This is one of my favorite songs. https://fnfgo.io
Cajun Girl
Little Feat
Little Feat
Overall about difficult moments of disappointment and vulnerability. Having hope and longing, while remaining optimistic for the future. Encourages the belief that with each new morning there is a chance for things to improve.
The chorus offers a glimmer of optimism and a chance at a resolution and redemption in the future.
Captures the rollercoaster of emotions of feeling lost while loving someone who is not there for you, feeling let down and abandoned while waiting for a lover. Lost with no direction, "Now I'm up in the air with the rain in my hair, Nowhere to go, I can go anywhere"
The bridge shows signs of longing and a plea for companionship. The Lyrics express a desire for authentic connection and the importance of Loving someone just as they are. "Just in passing, I'm not asking. That you be anyone but you”
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.
No Surprises
Radiohead
Radiohead
Same ideas expressed in Fitter, Happier are expressed in this song. We're told to strive for some sort of ideal life, which includes getting a good job, being kind to everyone, finding a partner, getting married, having a couple kids, living in a quiet neighborhood in a nice big house, etc. But in Fitter, Happier the narrator(?) realizes that it's incredibly robotic to live this life. People are being used by those in power "like a pig in a cage on antibiotics"--being pacified with things like new phones and cool gadgets and houses while being sucked dry. On No Surprises, the narrator is realizing how this life is killing him slowly. In the video, his helmet is slowly filling up with water, drowning him. But he's so complacent with it. This is a good summary of the song. This boring, "perfect" life foisted upon us by some higher powers (not spiritual, but political, economic, etc. politicians and businessmen, perhaps) is not the way to live. But there is seemingly no way out but death. He'd rather die peacefully right now than live in this cage. While our lives are often shielded, we're in our own protective bubbles, or protective helmets like the one Thom wears, if we look a little harder we can see all the corruption, lies, manipulation, etc. that is going on in the world, often run by huge yet nearly invisible organizations, corporations, and 'leaders'. It's a very hopeless song because it reflects real life.
Agreed great song. Underrated band. This is a song about someone who really is special and shows how special she was when she spoke of others, but the feeling never translated through herself.