"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.
Colleen, now that you're eighteen
You think you've got it figured out
But you can't help feeling caught
Somewhere in between
How to glue together pieces of your daydream schemes
Keep them all from falling apart
It's not as hard as it seems
You can run away to Mexico
Join a caravan of banditos
Hit the skids and call it home
You can make a mess but can you make it on your own
Colleen, the outcast rebel queen
I know you just can't help yourself
It's not your fault
No one likes a know it all
So take it from me
Tonight nobody tells you what you need
You've got to learn it on your own
It's the only way you're gonna know anything
You can run away to Mexico
Join a caravan of banditos
Hit the skids and call it home
You dig a grave or pan for gold
The hours are pretty flexible
Drop off the grid, say adios
You can make a mess but can you make it on your own
Colleen may be the right
Looks to remember the time
When a deadly senorita
Terrorized the unsuspecting countryside
Colleen, no one rides for free
Long roads go on
Good times will always feel too short
At least there's always plenty more to see
You can run away to Mexico
Join a caravan of banditos
Hit the skids and call it home
You dig a grave or pan for gold
The hours are pretty flexible
Drop off the grid, say adios
You can make a mess but can you make it on your own
You can make a mess but can you make it on your own
On your own
You think you've got it figured out
But you can't help feeling caught
Somewhere in between
How to glue together pieces of your daydream schemes
Keep them all from falling apart
It's not as hard as it seems
You can run away to Mexico
Join a caravan of banditos
Hit the skids and call it home
You can make a mess but can you make it on your own
Colleen, the outcast rebel queen
I know you just can't help yourself
It's not your fault
No one likes a know it all
So take it from me
Tonight nobody tells you what you need
You've got to learn it on your own
It's the only way you're gonna know anything
You can run away to Mexico
Join a caravan of banditos
Hit the skids and call it home
You dig a grave or pan for gold
The hours are pretty flexible
Drop off the grid, say adios
You can make a mess but can you make it on your own
Colleen may be the right
Looks to remember the time
When a deadly senorita
Terrorized the unsuspecting countryside
Colleen, no one rides for free
Long roads go on
Good times will always feel too short
At least there's always plenty more to see
You can run away to Mexico
Join a caravan of banditos
Hit the skids and call it home
You dig a grave or pan for gold
The hours are pretty flexible
Drop off the grid, say adios
You can make a mess but can you make it on your own
You can make a mess but can you make it on your own
On your own
Lyrics submitted by eltroyo11
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Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
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Dreamwalker
Silent Planet
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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.
When We Were Young
Blink-182
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This is a sequel to 2001's "Reckless Abandon", and features the band looking back on their clumsy youth fondly.
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.
Blue
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
“Blue” is a song about a love that is persisting in the discomfort of the person experiencing the emotion. Ed Sheeran reflects on love lost, and although he wishes his former partner find happiness, he cannot but admit his feelings are still very much there. He expresses the realization that he might never find another on this stringed instrumental by Aaron Dessner.
This is the first time I've ever found a song with my name as the title. And I adore it. This song rocks, and so does Treaty of Paris.
haha that is how i found this song, i was searching colleen in song titles looking for a song with my name in it. I had never heard of this song before, only colleen by ted leo and the pharmacists which i find a bit annoying, yea?