"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.
I'm so glad to be here I could slit my fucking wrist
This chaos is just what I need to keep me nice and pissed
My chest fills up with acid till the veins pop in my head
I wake up every morning wishing God would strike me dead
But...
When the whole world looks at me they see some other guy
Doesn't matter what I say, they all made up their minds
I didn't like it then, and I still don't like it now
But I find the strength to smile somehow
And say...
I'm so glad to be here I could jump off every bridge
But everybody's got a rope around one of my limbs
Tryin' to get their piece they keep on tearing me apart
They wanna get inside me so they can kick around my heart
'Coz...
When the whole world looks at me they see some other guy
Doesn't matter what I say, they all made up their minds
I didn't like it then, and I still don't like it now
But I find the strength to smile somehow
And say...
I'm so glad to be here
I'm really glad to be here
I'm so glad to be here
I'm really glad to be here
I'm so glad I could just hang myself from the highest tree
I'm longing for the crush of rushing trains over me
I haven't had a good night sleep since 1995
I'm too tired to ask why I keep myself alive
But...
When the whole world looks at me they see some other guy
Doesn't matter what I say, they all made up their minds
I didn't like it then, and I still don't like it now
But I find the strength to smile somehow
And say...
I'm so glad to be here
I'm really glad to be here
I'm so glad to be here
I'm really glad to be here
This chaos is just what I need to keep me nice and pissed
My chest fills up with acid till the veins pop in my head
I wake up every morning wishing God would strike me dead
But...
When the whole world looks at me they see some other guy
Doesn't matter what I say, they all made up their minds
I didn't like it then, and I still don't like it now
But I find the strength to smile somehow
And say...
I'm so glad to be here I could jump off every bridge
But everybody's got a rope around one of my limbs
Tryin' to get their piece they keep on tearing me apart
They wanna get inside me so they can kick around my heart
'Coz...
When the whole world looks at me they see some other guy
Doesn't matter what I say, they all made up their minds
I didn't like it then, and I still don't like it now
But I find the strength to smile somehow
And say...
I'm so glad to be here
I'm really glad to be here
I'm so glad to be here
I'm really glad to be here
I'm so glad I could just hang myself from the highest tree
I'm longing for the crush of rushing trains over me
I haven't had a good night sleep since 1995
I'm too tired to ask why I keep myself alive
But...
When the whole world looks at me they see some other guy
Doesn't matter what I say, they all made up their minds
I didn't like it then, and I still don't like it now
But I find the strength to smile somehow
And say...
I'm so glad to be here
I'm really glad to be here
I'm so glad to be here
I'm really glad to be here
Lyrics submitted by Ryan Cacophony
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Fast Car
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This is one of my favorite songs. https://fnfgo.io
Mountain Song
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"'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."
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“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.
" After getting off a tour, the transition back to civilian life ain't easy - life feels wrong, like it isn't yours and ya don't belong there. Within 12 hours, I'm going crazy, have even less tolerance for the little things that piss me off, need to drive faster than a shitty old Hyundai was meant to, and am at a loss on how to budget my time, re-learning what a day is and what it's suddenly supposed to consist of. "Glad To Be Here" came out of one of those moments where you're in the last place you'd want to be.
Like in the 80's at the DMV, when the lines went out the door, ya get to the window and the lady says there's another form to fill out, and you have to wait on line again for another 3 hours. Or traffic court, waitin' to see the judge. I think I've seen half the ones in NJ, one in Westchester, got out of having to sit in one in Virginia. But yeah, if you're ever in that spot, in that kinda traffic, in that kinda trouble, or with those kinds of people, think of the verses to this song, it'll say it all for ya."