"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 got too drunk at your wedding and my voice got loud and I said some
creepy things and I staggered around and even though your best man
had to kick me out it was a pretty good time either way. It seems a
fight broke out and an old man was yelling, cuz no one was buying all
the bullshit he was selling and he threw all his keepsakes on the
ground and walked away, cursing hard to bring back yesterday
And the dying ain't gonna stop just because you walk away.
And you can cry for everything that you've lost but you ain't never gonna bring
back these days.
I hate the Mondays and the Fridays cuz they always define the
endless march of pushing ruthlessly to the light. Well, if I'm gonna be
dying then I'm gonna get high and scream until I'm not feeling the pain.
Let's burn a bridge for the fuck of it and kill this night with
some beers down at the pits, with whiskey lips and we'll try to
love for the moment and forget for the night that life doesn't
usually feel great.
Where we gonna go now that everything's shut down? I can't
go home, so where do you wanna go now? Let's bring it back
around to where everybody's singin' that the dying ain't gonna
stop just because you walk away. And you can cry for
everything that you've lost but you ain't never gonna bring
back these days. You ain't never gonna bring back these days.
creepy things and I staggered around and even though your best man
had to kick me out it was a pretty good time either way. It seems a
fight broke out and an old man was yelling, cuz no one was buying all
the bullshit he was selling and he threw all his keepsakes on the
ground and walked away, cursing hard to bring back yesterday
And the dying ain't gonna stop just because you walk away.
And you can cry for everything that you've lost but you ain't never gonna bring
back these days.
I hate the Mondays and the Fridays cuz they always define the
endless march of pushing ruthlessly to the light. Well, if I'm gonna be
dying then I'm gonna get high and scream until I'm not feeling the pain.
Let's burn a bridge for the fuck of it and kill this night with
some beers down at the pits, with whiskey lips and we'll try to
love for the moment and forget for the night that life doesn't
usually feel great.
Where we gonna go now that everything's shut down? I can't
go home, so where do you wanna go now? Let's bring it back
around to where everybody's singin' that the dying ain't gonna
stop just because you walk away. And you can cry for
everything that you've lost but you ain't never gonna bring
back these days. You ain't never gonna bring back these days.
Lyrics submitted by distilledwater
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Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman
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Hayalperest
Hayalperest
This song seemingly tackles the methods of deception those who manipulate others use to get victims to follow their demands, as well as diverting attention away from important issues. They'll also use it as a means to convince people to hate or kill others by pretending acts of terrorism were committed by the enemy when the acts themselves were done by the masters of control to promote discrimination and hate. It also reinforces the idea that these manipulative forces operate in various locations, infiltrating everyday life without detection, and propagate any and everywhere.
In general, it highlights the danger of hidden agendas, manipulation, and distraction, serving as a critique of those who exploit chaos and confusion to control and gain power, depicting a cautionary tale against falling into their traps. It encourages us to question the narratives presented to us and remain vigilant against manipulation in various parts of society.
I Can't Go To Sleep
Wu-Tang Clan
Wu-Tang Clan
This song is written as the perspective of the boys in the street, as a whole, and what path they are going to choose as they get older and grow into men. (This is why the music video takes place in an orphanage.) The seen, and unseen collective suffering is imbedded in the boys’ mind, consciously or subconsciously, and is haunting them. Which path will the boys choose? Issac Hayes is the voice of reason, maybe God, the angel on his shoulder, or the voice of his forefathers from beyond the grave who can see the big picture and are pleading with the boys not to continue the violence and pattern of killing their brothers, but to rise above. The most beautiful song and has so many levels. Racism towards African Americans in America would not exist if everyone sat down and listened to this song and understood the history behind the words. The power, fear, pleading in RZA and Ghostface voices are genuine and powerful. Issac Hayes’ strong voice makes the perfect strong father figure, who is possibly from beyond the grave.
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.
Amazing
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
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.
Brendan explained the meaning of this song in his blog (badsandwichchronicles.blogspot.com) on 10-26-09: Okay. Well, to me, the song is about the desperation that people succumb to in order to cling to their youth and the general despair and malaise that informs their desperation when faced with the irrevocable truth of fading glory. Whether it’s an aging skank sucking wangs to keep her name out there or some old washed up dinosaur rocker becoming impotently enraged at his sudden irrelevance and picking fights with people he doesn’t know for no reason in hopes of staying in the public eye, or whether it’s me, trying to behave like I did when I was twenty one, even though I’m thirty three with a kid and all sorts of bruises and aches and I can no longer hang like I used to, or nader, shirtless and picking fights at a wedding. That’s the demon, right?. The specter of youth and the inevitability of coming face to face with its disappearance and your perceived subsequent irrelevance no matter how hard you try to ignore it. It’s a tough thing to look in the mirror and see. That’s what that song is about to me. The demons of youth and the trappings of adolescent personalities and how those things don’t necessarily make for adult personalities and also, and perhaps most importantly, this song is about how even when that shit fades, there’s still time and room and a place to look over at someone across the room and just absolutely fall in love, for the first time or all over again. How there are still nights of amazing whiskey shots and laughter and kisses and fights and sure, shit’s not the same, but it shouldn’t be. Change is important and you gotta change. Without it, you’re no better than that pathetic cokehead buddy of yours that still lives in his parents house. You gotta look ahead, no matter how hard it is to never look back. I saw this slideshow on the internet a while ago, of a guy who took a picture of his face every day for five years. It really highlighted the brutality and unflinchingness of the passage of time. The completely reckless disregard that time has on the bodies and spirits that it inevitably ravages. That movie was a huge inspiration for this song. Of course, it’s all up to personal interpretation, so I’ll leave it to you guys to make your own opinions