"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 it flow, deh-deh-duh (yeah) it's on (beh-deh-deh-deh)
(Den-e-neh) on... (yo, aiyo)
[Chorus]
Keep on knowin' what you know
Keep on knowin' what you know
End up, up, up, in chains, chains, chains
Back in '88, son was gettin' a little paper
Caught a few stings, rocked the phat rope cables
Pushed the white Mercury Sable, known for holdin' heat
Pharaoh garmer marks on his feet, serpents whisper
You can smell the deceit, they greet me like peeps, to blend
And try to befriend, to get up, underneath the skin
My long wind'll blow ya head piece degrees
Murder One Team, Barcelini Noodle had lean
Microphone fiend, step into the rhythm
This is how I'm servin' them, no need for medic attention
I just murder them, murder them... pussy, I just murder them
[Chorus]
I'm a dip-dip diverse, socializer
I'm a hoof flat top rule, in eighty niner
They say Rugged, by now, you should of at least blown
It's funny, I'm mad famous for being unknown
I'm just a dirty motherfucker, they hate my guts
All I talk about is bitches, and bustin' nuts
Yeah, I got a foul mouth, yeah, I cuss too much
I'm just so Ricky Ricardo, ri-di-see you-lous
And I ain't got no fly whip, I still ride the bus
I got Mitch Blood Green on the scene with us
Hospitable, hitable, cooler, than Jacob who criminal
Miracle, lyrical, take every syllable literal
Little riddle, profitable, visible, iritibal
Little brittle, pitiful, for so through little, you tickle, you typical
Yeah, I talk shit, I'm cocky with it
It's hard for you to admit it, but I'm one of the best in it
[Chorus]
My mind is haunted, filled with the extension of slaves that's torment
Slow down my steps, one foot from the grave to con it
Our young black males, they lick pon gate
Son of the morning, roasted souls, tell Minister "come pray"
It's gun trade inside of smokey apartments
Flow process, one nine, two tech, four revolvers
Coke overballing kettels, it's like we struck oil in the ghetto's
We supply it to addict's, the devil work
He practice, he's like a search backwards
Til they throw that dirt in our casket, and that's it
I live where the fiends are nothin', just a scene of the projects, similar to
Osama's
An old man, at the top of the stairs, he just stare
'Cause his mind ain't there, victim of the war
Polar signs, the times is near
He drop the jewels, til you buy him a beer
He said he was a linebacker for the Bears
Said he did it all back, while he's dryin' his tear
Yeah, it's that real shit, that made me
That music from the '80's, the child's of the '70's
I live long til they bury me...
(Den-e-neh) on... (yo, aiyo)
[Chorus]
Keep on knowin' what you know
Keep on knowin' what you know
End up, up, up, in chains, chains, chains
Back in '88, son was gettin' a little paper
Caught a few stings, rocked the phat rope cables
Pushed the white Mercury Sable, known for holdin' heat
Pharaoh garmer marks on his feet, serpents whisper
You can smell the deceit, they greet me like peeps, to blend
And try to befriend, to get up, underneath the skin
My long wind'll blow ya head piece degrees
Murder One Team, Barcelini Noodle had lean
Microphone fiend, step into the rhythm
This is how I'm servin' them, no need for medic attention
I just murder them, murder them... pussy, I just murder them
[Chorus]
I'm a dip-dip diverse, socializer
I'm a hoof flat top rule, in eighty niner
They say Rugged, by now, you should of at least blown
It's funny, I'm mad famous for being unknown
I'm just a dirty motherfucker, they hate my guts
All I talk about is bitches, and bustin' nuts
Yeah, I got a foul mouth, yeah, I cuss too much
I'm just so Ricky Ricardo, ri-di-see you-lous
And I ain't got no fly whip, I still ride the bus
I got Mitch Blood Green on the scene with us
Hospitable, hitable, cooler, than Jacob who criminal
Miracle, lyrical, take every syllable literal
Little riddle, profitable, visible, iritibal
Little brittle, pitiful, for so through little, you tickle, you typical
Yeah, I talk shit, I'm cocky with it
It's hard for you to admit it, but I'm one of the best in it
[Chorus]
My mind is haunted, filled with the extension of slaves that's torment
Slow down my steps, one foot from the grave to con it
Our young black males, they lick pon gate
Son of the morning, roasted souls, tell Minister "come pray"
It's gun trade inside of smokey apartments
Flow process, one nine, two tech, four revolvers
Coke overballing kettels, it's like we struck oil in the ghetto's
We supply it to addict's, the devil work
He practice, he's like a search backwards
Til they throw that dirt in our casket, and that's it
I live where the fiends are nothin', just a scene of the projects, similar to
Osama's
An old man, at the top of the stairs, he just stare
'Cause his mind ain't there, victim of the war
Polar signs, the times is near
He drop the jewels, til you buy him a beer
He said he was a linebacker for the Bears
Said he did it all back, while he's dryin' his tear
Yeah, it's that real shit, that made me
That music from the '80's, the child's of the '70's
I live long til they bury me...
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Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
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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.
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Great version of a great song,
No Surprises
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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.
Magical
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How would you describe the feeling of being in love? For Ed Sheeran, the word is “Magical.” in HIS three-minute album opener, he makes an attempt to capture the beauty and delicacy of true love with words. He describes the magic of it all over a bright Pop song produced by Aaron Dessner.