"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.
When I was small
My mama told me (my mama told me)
Whatever you want to be (whatever you wanna be)
You can do it (you can do it boosie)
Aiight
I said aiight mama
I'ma do it
Look
I send this out to everybody wit dreams
Who trynna chase they dreams, by any means
You might wanna be a lawyer, a doctor
Whatever
Do whatever you want
You can do it if you put yo mind to it
Talkin' rap stars, trap stars
If you work hard
You can be the best at what you do
and that's a fact boy
I know you from the hood
shit don't look good
But that don't mean you can't make it out
Get a nice house
Keep ya head up
Never say you can't do it
Love yourself if you feel nobody loves you
You can be bigger then jigga
Have your own cologne
Money like Oprah Winfrey and Raven Samone
You keep shooting that ball
You keep getting tall
You might be headed to the NBA, any day
Gotta pray to God to guide you homie
So hit yo knees
If you believe then you can achieve
Take the game from me
Boosie Bad Azz
Chorus:
Since an itty bitty kiddy
I've been chasn' my dreams
I dreamed this on my desk
Back in middle school (2x)
Since an itty bitty kiddy
I've been chasn' my dreams
I'ma be all I can be by any means
Say that
Since an itty bitty kiddy
I've been chasn' my dreams
I dreamed this on my desk
Back in middle school
Middle School (kill da world)
Boosie lets ride
High School (McKinley High)
Handful of rocks
17 years old I was the man on the block
Fat knots two at the bottom four at the top
18 I was ready (hustle)
19 ready
20 in a beamer living the movie belly
for real I aint no wanna-be
bitch I'm a gonna-be
told my son you can be better then me if you wanna-be
got ya mind made up and it can happen
I told the principle every time I got paddled
That one day I'll be rich wit alotta nice cars
He told me shut up
You gone be behind bars!
And you can be a star
And never ever quit
If he aint doing nothing
He don't need to tell you shit
Say that
When I was 5 my mama
Looked at her son and
Told me boy you gone
Break hearts cause you to cute for just one
My mama told me (my mama told me)
Whatever you want to be (whatever you wanna be)
You can do it (you can do it boosie)
Aiight
I said aiight mama
I'ma do it
Look
I send this out to everybody wit dreams
Who trynna chase they dreams, by any means
You might wanna be a lawyer, a doctor
Whatever
Do whatever you want
You can do it if you put yo mind to it
Talkin' rap stars, trap stars
If you work hard
You can be the best at what you do
and that's a fact boy
I know you from the hood
shit don't look good
But that don't mean you can't make it out
Get a nice house
Keep ya head up
Never say you can't do it
Love yourself if you feel nobody loves you
You can be bigger then jigga
Have your own cologne
Money like Oprah Winfrey and Raven Samone
You keep shooting that ball
You keep getting tall
You might be headed to the NBA, any day
Gotta pray to God to guide you homie
So hit yo knees
If you believe then you can achieve
Take the game from me
Boosie Bad Azz
Chorus:
Since an itty bitty kiddy
I've been chasn' my dreams
I dreamed this on my desk
Back in middle school (2x)
Since an itty bitty kiddy
I've been chasn' my dreams
I'ma be all I can be by any means
Say that
Since an itty bitty kiddy
I've been chasn' my dreams
I dreamed this on my desk
Back in middle school
Middle School (kill da world)
Boosie lets ride
High School (McKinley High)
Handful of rocks
17 years old I was the man on the block
Fat knots two at the bottom four at the top
18 I was ready (hustle)
19 ready
20 in a beamer living the movie belly
for real I aint no wanna-be
bitch I'm a gonna-be
told my son you can be better then me if you wanna-be
got ya mind made up and it can happen
I told the principle every time I got paddled
That one day I'll be rich wit alotta nice cars
He told me shut up
You gone be behind bars!
And you can be a star
And never ever quit
If he aint doing nothing
He don't need to tell you shit
Say that
When I was 5 my mama
Looked at her son and
Told me boy you gone
Break hearts cause you to cute for just one
Lyrics submitted by redstarr513
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Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
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Lord Huron
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"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"
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.
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.
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.