"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 was doing my job as a clerk in the city store
I was asking if I could help
But to my greatest surprise came the words of inspiration
From this guy and here is what he said,
Only winners will take the risk at hand
(Do you hear what I’m saying, now?)
Losers rather stay on the ground and land
(This is how you will make it out)
If you listen to what I say, you'll go all the way
(Do you hear what I’m saying, now?)
Just believe and you can
(This is how you will make it out)
So I smiled and said, “Hey, you’re right”
He said, “I know that”
Then his daughter attracted my eyes
He was pulled to the side by his wife
Who had a question of an album she wanted to buy
Only winners will take the risk at hand
(Do you hear what I’m saying, now?)
Losers rather stay on the ground and land
(This is how you will make it out)
If you listen to what I say, you'll go all the way
(Do you hear what I’m saying, now?)
Just believe and you can
(This is how you will make it out)
I was put in a trance by his words
(I was searching for words to say)
It’s as if he knew all that’s too learn
(Couldn’t think ‘cause my mind was blank)
I was put in a trance by his words
(I was searching for words to say)
It’s as if he knew all that’s too learn
So I took all the words that he said
Put them together
Then I stored them inside of my head
Only winners will take the risk at hand
(Do you hear what I’m saying, now?)
Losers rather stay on the ground and land
(This is how you will make it out)
If you listen to what I say, you'll go all the way
(Do you hear what I’m saying, now?)
Just believe and you can
(This is how you will make it out)
I was put in a trance by his words
(I was searching for words to say)
It’s as if he knew all that’s too learn
(Couldn’t think ‘cause my mind was blank)
I was put in a trance by his words
(I was searching for words to say)
It’s as if he knew all that’s too learn
I was asking if I could help
But to my greatest surprise came the words of inspiration
From this guy and here is what he said,
Only winners will take the risk at hand
(Do you hear what I’m saying, now?)
Losers rather stay on the ground and land
(This is how you will make it out)
If you listen to what I say, you'll go all the way
(Do you hear what I’m saying, now?)
Just believe and you can
(This is how you will make it out)
So I smiled and said, “Hey, you’re right”
He said, “I know that”
Then his daughter attracted my eyes
He was pulled to the side by his wife
Who had a question of an album she wanted to buy
Only winners will take the risk at hand
(Do you hear what I’m saying, now?)
Losers rather stay on the ground and land
(This is how you will make it out)
If you listen to what I say, you'll go all the way
(Do you hear what I’m saying, now?)
Just believe and you can
(This is how you will make it out)
I was put in a trance by his words
(I was searching for words to say)
It’s as if he knew all that’s too learn
(Couldn’t think ‘cause my mind was blank)
I was put in a trance by his words
(I was searching for words to say)
It’s as if he knew all that’s too learn
So I took all the words that he said
Put them together
Then I stored them inside of my head
Only winners will take the risk at hand
(Do you hear what I’m saying, now?)
Losers rather stay on the ground and land
(This is how you will make it out)
If you listen to what I say, you'll go all the way
(Do you hear what I’m saying, now?)
Just believe and you can
(This is how you will make it out)
I was put in a trance by his words
(I was searching for words to say)
It’s as if he knew all that’s too learn
(Couldn’t think ‘cause my mind was blank)
I was put in a trance by his words
(I was searching for words to say)
It’s as if he knew all that’s too learn
Lyrics submitted by otica
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Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman
The Night We Met
Lord Huron
Lord Huron
This is a hauntingly beautiful song about introspection, specifically about looking back at a relationship that started bad and ended so poorly, that the narrator wants to go back to the very beginning and tell himself to not even travel down that road. I believe that the relationship started poorly because of the lines:
"Take me back to the night we met:When the night was full of terrors: And your eyes were filled with tears: When you had not touched me yet"
So, the first night was not a great start, but the narrator pursued the relationship and eventually both overcame the rough start to fall in love with each other:
"I had all and then most of you"
Like many relationships that turn sour, it was not a quick decline, but a gradual one where the narrator and their partner fall out of love and gradually grow apart
"Some and now none of you"
Losing someone who was once everything in your world, who you could confide in, tell your secrets to, share all the most intimate parts of your life, to being strangers with that person is probably one of the most painful experiences a person can go through. So Painful, the narrator wants to go back in time and tell himself to not even pursue the relationship.
This was the perfect song for "13 Reasons Why"
Mental Istid
Ebba Grön
Ebba Grön
This is one of my favorite songs. https://fnfgo.io
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,
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.