"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.
You had me at hello
Do you regret what you said?
We've got a lot to talk about, we've got a lot to talk about.
We take regrets with the best intentions
My right hand, you left me for just one second we got this down to the exact moment
Until the time we meet again
We'll take it back to the first time when I met you
You had me at hello
Do you regret what you said?
We've got a lot to talk about, we've got a lot to talk about.
So pick the pedals and just speak the words you never meant to say
But on the second time around make them so elegant to hear
Me talk about the times we used to have, the way you looked at me
And how you said walking away was just out of the question.
You had me at hello
Do you regret what you said?
We've got a lot to talk about, we've got a lot to talk about.
The space between these lines, could never keep us apart.
Keep this in mind, and I'll keep this close by.
Do you regret what you said?
We've got a lot to talk about, we've got a lot to talk about.
We take regrets with the best intentions
My right hand, you left me for just one second we got this down to the exact moment
Until the time we meet again
We'll take it back to the first time when I met you
You had me at hello
Do you regret what you said?
We've got a lot to talk about, we've got a lot to talk about.
So pick the pedals and just speak the words you never meant to say
But on the second time around make them so elegant to hear
Me talk about the times we used to have, the way you looked at me
And how you said walking away was just out of the question.
You had me at hello
Do you regret what you said?
We've got a lot to talk about, we've got a lot to talk about.
The space between these lines, could never keep us apart.
Keep this in mind, and I'll keep this close by.
Lyrics submitted by ontherooftops
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Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman
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.
When We Were Young
Blink-182
Blink-182
This is a sequel to 2001's "Reckless Abandon", and features the band looking back on their clumsy youth fondly.
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.
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.
the first time they met, he was caught up. he wanted to know more about her, and he did. they both liked each other and said things that made each other feel special.. but then they drifted. and things got in the way.
one day they meet again, and those feelings re-surface. he's wondering if all the things that she said to him about love was a regret..
but in the end their feelings are still the same, and it's even more special for those words to be heard a second time because he knows she means it. they'll always be connected.
-sharon