"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.
A list of things that should be said
now weighs a forest on your tongue
and all your virtues safely kept
in vaseline have slipped bygone.
Put it on the vast choir sings
let the Broncos run wild again
wipe it off that purgatory grin
because it's all too convincing.
Show me that it's easy
say that you are in need of me
don't talk of the costs
with a mouthful of wasps
time is up so let them all fly
up in the sky.
Yes, I was taught among your kind
by drilling tunnels towards the core
in through the multi detailed mind
where rich and simple is at war.
Put it on the choir sings
let the Broncos run wild again
wipe it off that diabolic grin
'cause it's so contrived
and it frightens me.
Show me that you're easy
say that you believe in me
don't act out your frost
with a mouthful of wasps
time is up so them all fly
up in the sky.
Behind those weary eyes
some broken story hides
I need to know
and you have to show
before it strikes its roots and strangles everything.
now weighs a forest on your tongue
and all your virtues safely kept
in vaseline have slipped bygone.
Put it on the vast choir sings
let the Broncos run wild again
wipe it off that purgatory grin
because it's all too convincing.
Show me that it's easy
say that you are in need of me
don't talk of the costs
with a mouthful of wasps
time is up so let them all fly
up in the sky.
Yes, I was taught among your kind
by drilling tunnels towards the core
in through the multi detailed mind
where rich and simple is at war.
Put it on the choir sings
let the Broncos run wild again
wipe it off that diabolic grin
'cause it's so contrived
and it frightens me.
Show me that you're easy
say that you believe in me
don't act out your frost
with a mouthful of wasps
time is up so them all fly
up in the sky.
Behind those weary eyes
some broken story hides
I need to know
and you have to show
before it strikes its roots and strangles everything.
Lyrics submitted by rocketb
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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,
Page
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
There aren’t many things that’ll hurt more than giving love a chance against your better judgement only to have your heart crushed yet again. Ed Sheeran tells such a story on “Page.” On this track, he is devastated to have lost his lover and even more saddened by the feeling that he may never move on from this.
For me:
The mouthful of wasps are all the contained guilt that made our lives harder. Concealing and hiding our mistakes / sins / lies so on the surface we think we are still immaculate.
All these things weigh a forest on your tongue when you should speak. While you pretend having your virtues safely kept you know that in reality they are long gone.
Put it on the vast choir is like a virtual crowd of singers helping you say all those sins under the surface, once released from all those useless guilty feelings (fake purgatory grin) you can run wildly again like broncos wherever you just feel like you should be going.
"The Show me that it's easy" part is the relation to anything that your soul truly loved but has forsaken because of all the guilt amassed. It's time to dump all that guilt and start over again.
"Yes I was taught among your kind" is my favorite part (sounding reminds me of Muse a lot) It's a pretty diverse to interpret part, it could mean a lot of things.
For me it's like: You can try to analyze the things/world/people in detail, no matter how deep you drill into the reasons (into the core) you will find opposing things: qualities/particles/forces/waves interacting (rich and simple at war). So in the end regular analysis has it's own limitations. If you really want to make progress in understanding the universe you will have to think in a brand new way accepting things that might seem nonsense firstly. So this part is about how faith complements rationality.
It brings us again to the vast choir, this time the grin is diabolic and you act on your frost instead of talking the costs. This is a slight exaggeration, as conscience has lost it's power so you don't anymore look for excuses (talk of the costs) but you are on your frosts, you became ignorant and your grin became diabloic.
The last part It is time say that broken story with your tongue, there is no vast choir helping you getting rid of those mouthful of wasps, you have to do it, and if you don't do it in time then those roots will keep you down forever keeping you down becoming a prisoner of your own guilt.
I like root-forest connection between the first and last few lines forming a nice frame for the song, if you don't get rid of that list of things that should be said then the roots will strangle everything.
@FreeBorN That is a bit of an overinterpretation. It is about people not being honest and sincere, and holding back on what should be said to avoid misunderstandings. Time is up, let the wasps in your mouth fly up in the sky = I don't want any more lies, tell me what you're holding back or it's over between us.
I liked a lot the song, just listen to it today. I can't wait to hear the full album.
BTW so quickly.
I believe this song to be about for a moment at least stop caring about anything and just enjoying the moment. The whole Trespassers album is amazing