"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.
Let's go see paradise
The red fruit
Drink Adam dry
Tongue pierced Eva
Clad in forbidden passion, kiss him
You swim in the provocative night
Moonlit swallowtail
I'll snap off your fucking pride
And your fucking stilettos
So slap your jet-black wings about
And go astray
So beautiful as you flutter down, swallowtail
For loveless loving
You fly about this broken world
How unfortunate that it has to
Rain, rain, rain...
You lost your precious wings
And realize
That you can't fly
As you please
Smeared with rain, you disappear in the deap night
I'm sure I'll be able to fly off
When the May rain ends
As long as I'm with you
For loveless loving
You fly about this broken world
Mercifully, the rain falls...
Can these eyes of yours
See this new world?
The sky is so clean and blue, it's dazzling
I learnt that
One can be strong
Just by protecting what's precious to him
So I'll devote myself to your sky
Let's go to the ends of hell
Ah,I hurt to much it's scary
The red fruit
Drink Adam dry
Tongue pierced Eva
Clad in forbidden passion, kiss him
You swim in the provocative night
Moonlit swallowtail
I'll snap off your fucking pride
And your fucking stilettos
So slap your jet-black wings about
And go astray
So beautiful as you flutter down, swallowtail
For loveless loving
You fly about this broken world
How unfortunate that it has to
Rain, rain, rain...
You lost your precious wings
And realize
That you can't fly
As you please
Smeared with rain, you disappear in the deap night
I'm sure I'll be able to fly off
When the May rain ends
As long as I'm with you
For loveless loving
You fly about this broken world
Mercifully, the rain falls...
Can these eyes of yours
See this new world?
The sky is so clean and blue, it's dazzling
I learnt that
One can be strong
Just by protecting what's precious to him
So I'll devote myself to your sky
Let's go to the ends of hell
Ah,I hurt to much it's scary
Lyrics submitted by daisuki-ruki
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Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman
Gentle Hour
Yo La Tengo
Yo La Tengo
This song was originally written by a guy called Peter Gutteridge. He was one of the founders of the "Dunedin Sound" a musical scene in the south of New Zealand in the early 80s. From there it was covered by "The Clean" one of the early bands of that scene (he had originally been a member of in it's early days, writing a couple of their best early songs). The Dunedin sound, and the Clean became popular on american college radio in the mid to late 80s. I guess Yo La Tengo heard that version.
Great version of a great song,
Blue
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
“Blue” is a song about a love that is persisting in the discomfort of the person experiencing the emotion. Ed Sheeran reflects on love lost, and although he wishes his former partner find happiness, he cannot but admit his feelings are still very much there. He expresses the realization that he might never find another on this stringed instrumental by Aaron Dessner.
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.
Page
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
There aren’t many things that’ll hurt more than giving love a chance against your better judgement only to have your heart crushed yet again. Ed Sheeran tells such a story on “Page.” On this track, he is devastated to have lost his lover and even more saddened by the feeling that he may never move on from this.
Not a big thing, really, but in the 4th line, it's not "Tongue pierced Eva" it's supposed to be "Tongue pierced Eve" ... The word is "puisuibu" "Ibu" (V is often written as a B in japanese = Evu, pronounced "EE-VOO" = Eve.