"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 turn my head
I can't shake the look you gave
And I'm as good as dead
'Cause oh, those eyes are all it takes and all
I want is you
So I pulled away
All I do is sit and wait
And I might as well
Write the words right on my face
That all, I want, is you
Always you
Because I've kept my heart under control
But lately, all this time has taken its toll
Said I tried to but I can't hold back what's deep in my soul
Oh, so darling please forgive me
I want you and you'll just have to know
And all my fears
Creep and crawl across my skin, these four walls
Are after me and moving in
And all, all that I want to do
Oh, is give up, give in
And let this one see where it is
But I don't suppose I will
Because I've kept my heart under control
But lately, all this time has taken its toll
Said I tried to but I can not back what's deep in my soul
So darling please believe me
I want you and you'll just have to know
One of these days I'm gonna find myself a way
I'll find the courage 'cause I'll find the grace
Oh, and I'm gonna know just what to say
Oh, and you'll walk on up when you want this love
Or when you've had enough and you've given it up
Because I've kept my heart under control
But lately, all this time has taken its toll
I said I tried to but I can not back what's deep in my soul
Oh, so darling please believe me
I want you and you'll just have to know
I've kept my heart
Oh, it's under control baby
Inside it's something that is gold
I said that it's deep down, it's deep down in my soul
Oh, I want you and you'll just have to know
It's under control
Darling, please don't let this go
Baby, baby, baby, baby, please
Baby girl
Oh, it's under control, baby
I can't shake the look you gave
And I'm as good as dead
'Cause oh, those eyes are all it takes and all
I want is you
So I pulled away
All I do is sit and wait
And I might as well
Write the words right on my face
That all, I want, is you
Always you
Because I've kept my heart under control
But lately, all this time has taken its toll
Said I tried to but I can't hold back what's deep in my soul
Oh, so darling please forgive me
I want you and you'll just have to know
And all my fears
Creep and crawl across my skin, these four walls
Are after me and moving in
And all, all that I want to do
Oh, is give up, give in
And let this one see where it is
But I don't suppose I will
Because I've kept my heart under control
But lately, all this time has taken its toll
Said I tried to but I can not back what's deep in my soul
So darling please believe me
I want you and you'll just have to know
One of these days I'm gonna find myself a way
I'll find the courage 'cause I'll find the grace
Oh, and I'm gonna know just what to say
Oh, and you'll walk on up when you want this love
Or when you've had enough and you've given it up
Because I've kept my heart under control
But lately, all this time has taken its toll
I said I tried to but I can not back what's deep in my soul
Oh, so darling please believe me
I want you and you'll just have to know
I've kept my heart
Oh, it's under control baby
Inside it's something that is gold
I said that it's deep down, it's deep down in my soul
Oh, I want you and you'll just have to know
It's under control
Darling, please don't let this go
Baby, baby, baby, baby, please
Baby girl
Oh, it's under control, baby
Lyrics submitted by realpopprincess
Under Control Lyrics as written by William Charles Anderson
Lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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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"
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.
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.
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.
I agree AllChokedUp, however I think there may be another dimension to it. Seems to me that th girl is a longtime friend, that he's hid his feelings from for awhile, being afraid of what may happen. But now finally it's become too much and he knows he has to let it out.. just a thought .