"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.
This is the room where we always dreamed
Of grass and splendid evenings
Emitting frequencies, lost between the
Leaves and things
And I held on brightly, crushing quietly
Feeling mountains rising out of
Make-believe seas, creating typhoons
Of feelings not easily made without need
God bless that smile on your face
God bless the seeds in the ground
God bless my family's keen gaze,
Oh, I know
That whatever happens to you,
Whatever happens to me,
I hope that I'll fall asleep
Knowing that you'll always be
The story with no ending
The whole slew blossomed beautifully,
And I was beside myself
So I gave into your love
As you rapture asleep, upended
And this is like I have always dreamed:
Cobblestone and dusty feet
That's the way it should always be
Head over heels and deftly
Wonderful and healthy
God bless that smile on your face
God bless the seeds in the ground
God bless my family's keen gaze, oh,
I know that whatever happens to you,
Whatever happens to me,
I hope that I'll fall asleep
Knowing that you'll always be
The story with no ending
I never thought you were here
You've never left me, have you?
You've never left me at all, not once, and I'm sorry I'm such a bore
I'm sorry I am so hard
I swear to god, I'll be good
From now on, and
God bless that smile on your face
God bless the seeds in the ground
God bless my family's keen gaze, oh,
I know that whatever happens to you,
Whatever happens to me,
I hope that I'll fall asleep
Knowing that you'll always be
The story with no ending
Of grass and splendid evenings
Emitting frequencies, lost between the
Leaves and things
And I held on brightly, crushing quietly
Feeling mountains rising out of
Make-believe seas, creating typhoons
Of feelings not easily made without need
God bless that smile on your face
God bless the seeds in the ground
God bless my family's keen gaze,
Oh, I know
That whatever happens to you,
Whatever happens to me,
I hope that I'll fall asleep
Knowing that you'll always be
The story with no ending
The whole slew blossomed beautifully,
And I was beside myself
So I gave into your love
As you rapture asleep, upended
And this is like I have always dreamed:
Cobblestone and dusty feet
That's the way it should always be
Head over heels and deftly
Wonderful and healthy
God bless that smile on your face
God bless the seeds in the ground
God bless my family's keen gaze, oh,
I know that whatever happens to you,
Whatever happens to me,
I hope that I'll fall asleep
Knowing that you'll always be
The story with no ending
I never thought you were here
You've never left me, have you?
You've never left me at all, not once, and I'm sorry I'm such a bore
I'm sorry I am so hard
I swear to god, I'll be good
From now on, and
God bless that smile on your face
God bless the seeds in the ground
God bless my family's keen gaze, oh,
I know that whatever happens to you,
Whatever happens to me,
I hope that I'll fall asleep
Knowing that you'll always be
The story with no ending
Lyrics submitted by apocryphal, edited by SimplySymphony, PITCHINDIGO
Live to Tell the Tale Lyrics as written by Michael Angelakos
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
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Hayalperest
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This song seemingly tackles the methods of deception those who manipulate others use to get victims to follow their demands, as well as diverting attention away from important issues. They'll also use it as a means to convince people to hate or kill others by pretending acts of terrorism were committed by the enemy when the acts themselves were done by the masters of control to promote discrimination and hate. It also reinforces the idea that these manipulative forces operate in various locations, infiltrating everyday life without detection, and propagate any and everywhere.
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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,
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I tried my best. There are some lines that are going to be really hard to decipher without putting it through some software.
Please correct them, as this song is too beautiful to be misrepresented in this way!