"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.
There's no saving anything
Now we're swallowing the shine of the sun
There's no saving anything
How we swallow the sun
But I won't be no runaway
'Cause I won't run
No, I won't be no runaway
What makes you think I'm enjoying being led to the flood?
We've got another thing coming undone
And it's taking us over
We don't bleed when we don't fight
Go ahead, go ahead, throw your arms in the air tonight
We don't bleed when we don't fight
Go ahead, go ahead, lose our shirts in the fire tonight
What makes you think I'm enjoying being led to the flood?
We got another thing coming undone
But I won't be no runaway
'Cause I won't run
No, I won't be no runaway
'Cause I won't run
No, I won't be no runaway
What makes you think I'm enjoying being led to the flood?
We've got another thing coming undone
And it's taking us over
We don't bleed when we don't fight
Go ahead, go ahead, throw your arms in the air tonight
We don't bleed when we don't fight
Go ahead, go ahead, lose our shirts in the fire tonight
But what makes you think I'm enjoying being led to the flood?
We got another thing coming undone
We got another thing coming undone
And it's taking forever
I'll go braving everything
With you swallowing the shine of the sun
I'll go braving everything
Through the shine of the sun
But I won't be no runaway
'Cause I won't run
No, I won't be no runaway
'Cause I won't run
No, I won't be no runaway
What makes you think I'm enjoying being led to the flood?
We've got another thing coming undone
And it's taking us over
We don't bleed when we don't fight
Go ahead, go ahead, throw your arms in the air tonight
We don't bleed when we don't fight
Go ahead, go ahead, lose our shirts in the fire tonight
But what makes you think I'm enjoying being led to the flood?
We got another thing coming undone
We got another thing coming undone
And it's taking us over
And it's taking forever
Now we're swallowing the shine of the sun
There's no saving anything
How we swallow the sun
But I won't be no runaway
'Cause I won't run
No, I won't be no runaway
What makes you think I'm enjoying being led to the flood?
We've got another thing coming undone
And it's taking us over
We don't bleed when we don't fight
Go ahead, go ahead, throw your arms in the air tonight
We don't bleed when we don't fight
Go ahead, go ahead, lose our shirts in the fire tonight
What makes you think I'm enjoying being led to the flood?
We got another thing coming undone
But I won't be no runaway
'Cause I won't run
No, I won't be no runaway
'Cause I won't run
No, I won't be no runaway
What makes you think I'm enjoying being led to the flood?
We've got another thing coming undone
And it's taking us over
We don't bleed when we don't fight
Go ahead, go ahead, throw your arms in the air tonight
We don't bleed when we don't fight
Go ahead, go ahead, lose our shirts in the fire tonight
But what makes you think I'm enjoying being led to the flood?
We got another thing coming undone
We got another thing coming undone
And it's taking forever
I'll go braving everything
With you swallowing the shine of the sun
I'll go braving everything
Through the shine of the sun
But I won't be no runaway
'Cause I won't run
No, I won't be no runaway
'Cause I won't run
No, I won't be no runaway
What makes you think I'm enjoying being led to the flood?
We've got another thing coming undone
And it's taking us over
We don't bleed when we don't fight
Go ahead, go ahead, throw your arms in the air tonight
We don't bleed when we don't fight
Go ahead, go ahead, lose our shirts in the fire tonight
But what makes you think I'm enjoying being led to the flood?
We got another thing coming undone
We got another thing coming undone
And it's taking us over
And it's taking forever
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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"
Mountain Song
Jane's Addiction
Jane's Addiction
Jane's Addiction vocalist Perry Farrell gives Adam Reader some heartfelt insight into Jane’s Addiction's hard rock manifesto "Mountain Song", which was the second single from their revolutionary album Nothing's Shocking. Mountain song was first recorded in 1986 and appeared on the soundtrack to the film Dudes starring Jon Cryer. The version on Nothing's Shocking was re-recorded in 1988.
"'Mountain Song' was actually about... I hate to say it but... drugs. Climbing this mountain and getting as high as you can, and then coming down that mountain," reveals Farrell. "What it feels to descend from the mountain top... not easy at all. The ascension is tough but exhilarating. Getting down is... it's a real bummer. Drugs is not for everybody obviously. For me, I wanted to experience the heights, and the lows come along with it."
"There's a part - 'Cash in now honey, cash in Miss Smith.' Miss Smith is my Mother; our last name was Smith. Cashing in when she cashed in her life. So... she decided that, to her... at that time, she was desperate. Life wasn't worth it for her, that was her opinion. Some people think, never take your life, and some people find that their life isn't worth living. She was in love with my Dad, and my Dad was not faithful to her, and it broke her heart. She was very desperate and she did something that I know she regrets."
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.
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.
In my opinion, Berninger is lamenting the future of society.
Many people I've talked to feel that we're headed towards a destructive outcome. I really don't think Berninger concedes that there is any hope left at all for mankind. However, I feel that it is a very powerful song emotionally (even if it is about Global Warming), because despite his incredibly ominous foresight, he is determined to see it through.
Also, although I think "No, I won't be no runaway" can implicate a variety of actions. Sometimes I think he's talking about suicide, and some days I think he means going to some dark corner of the world where he won't be reminded of our collective monstrosity.
This is definitely what it's about from his perspective. I'm more of the "it means what it means to you type", but I think Berninger Intended it to be about this.