"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.
Lying on my side
Knowing of thirst is how I've died
Choke on my tongue
Lying on the night
Beneath the dunes is where I lie block the sun
Trying to ignite
Some sort of passion from inside
To overcome
This feeling of desertion
Can't be worse then having any words
So I'll ask one thing, just one thing
Of you, don't turn me loose even when I turn my back
The Lion on his side,
Was it the lying or his pride which brought him down
Once the king of beast but now they feast
On the thoughts beneath his faking crown.
Trying to decide was it the lying or the pride which brought him down.
To be alone to be de-crowned believe me I know all about it now
So I'll ask one thing, just one thing
Of you
Don't ever turn me loose, even when I turn my back
I never told you then that I'd be easy to love
Supposedly I'm a man but I feel like a CUB
I wondered if the planes flying farther away
Not ever knowing I would never come back the same
As my lungs gave way, I swear I felt something burst,
It's been 13 days and I'm dying of thirst.
For the birds who prey I pray that someone else will get here first.
If I'm not alone, I'll be alright
Just take these bones and bring them back to life.
So I'll ask one thing, just one thing
Of you
Don't ever turn me loose,
So I'll ask one thing, Just one thing,
Of you,
Don't ever turn me loose
Don't ever turn me loose
Don't ever turn me loose
Even when I turn my back
Knowing of thirst is how I've died
Choke on my tongue
Lying on the night
Beneath the dunes is where I lie block the sun
Trying to ignite
Some sort of passion from inside
To overcome
This feeling of desertion
Can't be worse then having any words
So I'll ask one thing, just one thing
Of you, don't turn me loose even when I turn my back
The Lion on his side,
Was it the lying or his pride which brought him down
Once the king of beast but now they feast
On the thoughts beneath his faking crown.
Trying to decide was it the lying or the pride which brought him down.
To be alone to be de-crowned believe me I know all about it now
So I'll ask one thing, just one thing
Of you
Don't ever turn me loose, even when I turn my back
I never told you then that I'd be easy to love
Supposedly I'm a man but I feel like a CUB
I wondered if the planes flying farther away
Not ever knowing I would never come back the same
As my lungs gave way, I swear I felt something burst,
It's been 13 days and I'm dying of thirst.
For the birds who prey I pray that someone else will get here first.
If I'm not alone, I'll be alright
Just take these bones and bring them back to life.
So I'll ask one thing, just one thing
Of you
Don't ever turn me loose,
So I'll ask one thing, Just one thing,
Of you,
Don't ever turn me loose
Don't ever turn me loose
Don't ever turn me loose
Even when I turn my back
Lyrics submitted by Junai0, edited by xxxJayxxx, ben.iselin
Sahara Lyrics as written by Matthew Thiessen
Lyrics © Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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Fast Car
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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,
When We Were Young
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This is a sequel to 2001's "Reckless Abandon", and features the band looking back on their clumsy youth fondly.
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Ed Sheeran tells a story of unsuccessfully trying to feel “Amazing.” This track is about the being weighed down by emotional stress despite valiant attempts to find some positivity in the situation. This track was written by Ed Sheeran from the perspective of his friend. From the track, we see this person fall deeper into the negative thoughts and slide further down the path of mental torment with every lyric.
Plastic Bag
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“Plastic Bag” is a song about searching for an escape from personal problems and hoping to find it in the lively atmosphere of a Saturday night party. Ed Sheeran tells the story of his friend and the myriad of troubles he is going through. Unable to find any solutions, this friend seeks a last resort in a party and the vanity that comes with it.
“I overthink and have trouble sleepin’ / All purpose gone and don’t have a reason / And there’s no doctor to stop this bleedin’ / So I left home and jumped in the deep end,” Ed Sheeran sings in verse one. He continues by adding that this person is feeling the weight of having disappointed his father and doesn’t have any friends to rely on in this difficult moment. In the second verse, Ed sings about the role of grief in his friend’s plight and his dwindling faith in prayer. “Saturday night is givin’ me a reason to rely on the strobe lights / The lifeline of a promise in a shot glass, and I’ll take that / If you’re givin’ out love from a plastic bag,” Ed sings on the chorus, as his friend turns to new vices in hopes of feeling better.
There are two puns in this song: lion=lying, and pride meaning a group of lions and pride meaning the opposite of humility. This song is about loneliness and regret. He's separated from the one he loves, recklessly ran away, and is suffering. He realises he's made a mistake, and he's begging his loved one not to let him go, but fight for the relationship even when he himself has given up ("even when I turn my back"). The whole thing (Sahara) is a metaphor that's building up to the two following songs: Oasis and Savannah.