"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.
[Sean sings:]
Maybe I'm a cornbread straight motherfucker
Maybe I'm a worn out featherless hen
Maybe I'm a cornbread straight motherfucker
Maybe I'm a worn out featherless hen
Or maybe I'm just picking seed from the wrong one and
[Both sing:]
I'm a cornbread
Can I meet you?
Can I meet you?
Can I meet you?
I'm a cornbread
Can I meet you?
Can I meet you?
Can I meet you?
No?
[Sean sings:]
La dada da da-da da
(Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh)
La dada da da-da da
(Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh)
Maybe I'm a one horse town motherfucker
Maybe I'm used up worn out man
Maybe I'm a one horse town motherfucker
Maybe I'm used up worn out man
Or maybe I'm just barking up the wrong tree and
[Both sing:]
I'm a cornbread
Can I meet you?
Can I meet you?
Can I meet you?
I'm a cornbread
Can I meet you?
Can I meet you?
Can I meet you?
I'm a cornbread
Can I meet you?
Can I meet you?
Can I meet you?
I'm a cornbread
Can I meet you?
Can I meet you?
Can I meet you?
[Sean sings:]
You spend all your life
Dicking at, dicking away at the wrong life
You're a traitor!
(Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh)
You're a traitor!
(Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh)
You spend all your time
Dicking at, dicking away at the wrong life
You're a traitor!
(Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh)
You're a traitor!
(Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh)
[Both sing:]
Maybe I'm a spineless
weak-kneed
yellow bellied he she
Maybe I'm an undercover deadbeat
Suffering cold feet
Maybe I'm a spineless
weak-kneed
yellow bellied he she
Maybe I'm an undercover deadbeat
Suffering cold feet
Or maybe I'm just shooting with the wrong gun and
[Both sing:]
I'm a cornbread
Can I meet you?
Can I meet you?
Can I meet you?
I'm a cornbread
Can I meet you?
Can I meet you?
Can I meet you?
I'm a cornbread
Can I meet you?
Can I meet you?
Can I meet you?
I'm a cornbread
Can I meet you?
Can I meet you?
Can I meet you?
Oh
I'm a cornbread
Can I meet you?
Can I meet you?
Can I meet you?
Oh
I'm a cornbread
Can I meet you?
Can I meet you?
Can I meet you?
Oh
I'm a cornbread
Can I meet you?
Can I meet you?
Can I meet you?
Oh
I'm a cornbread
Can I meet you?
Can I meet you?
Can I meet you?
No
Maybe I'm a cornbread straight motherfucker
Maybe I'm a worn out featherless hen
Maybe I'm a cornbread straight motherfucker
Maybe I'm a worn out featherless hen
Or maybe I'm just picking seed from the wrong one and
[Both sing:]
I'm a cornbread
Can I meet you?
Can I meet you?
Can I meet you?
I'm a cornbread
Can I meet you?
Can I meet you?
Can I meet you?
No?
[Sean sings:]
La dada da da-da da
(Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh)
La dada da da-da da
(Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh)
Maybe I'm a one horse town motherfucker
Maybe I'm used up worn out man
Maybe I'm a one horse town motherfucker
Maybe I'm used up worn out man
Or maybe I'm just barking up the wrong tree and
[Both sing:]
I'm a cornbread
Can I meet you?
Can I meet you?
Can I meet you?
I'm a cornbread
Can I meet you?
Can I meet you?
Can I meet you?
I'm a cornbread
Can I meet you?
Can I meet you?
Can I meet you?
I'm a cornbread
Can I meet you?
Can I meet you?
Can I meet you?
[Sean sings:]
You spend all your life
Dicking at, dicking away at the wrong life
You're a traitor!
(Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh)
You're a traitor!
(Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh)
You spend all your time
Dicking at, dicking away at the wrong life
You're a traitor!
(Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh)
You're a traitor!
(Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh)
[Both sing:]
Maybe I'm a spineless
weak-kneed
yellow bellied he she
Maybe I'm an undercover deadbeat
Suffering cold feet
Maybe I'm a spineless
weak-kneed
yellow bellied he she
Maybe I'm an undercover deadbeat
Suffering cold feet
Or maybe I'm just shooting with the wrong gun and
[Both sing:]
I'm a cornbread
Can I meet you?
Can I meet you?
Can I meet you?
I'm a cornbread
Can I meet you?
Can I meet you?
Can I meet you?
I'm a cornbread
Can I meet you?
Can I meet you?
Can I meet you?
I'm a cornbread
Can I meet you?
Can I meet you?
Can I meet you?
Oh
I'm a cornbread
Can I meet you?
Can I meet you?
Can I meet you?
Oh
I'm a cornbread
Can I meet you?
Can I meet you?
Can I meet you?
Oh
I'm a cornbread
Can I meet you?
Can I meet you?
Can I meet you?
Oh
I'm a cornbread
Can I meet you?
Can I meet you?
Can I meet you?
No
Lyrics submitted by BWeiss5421
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Fast Car
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The chorus offers a glimmer of optimism and a chance at a resolution and redemption in the future.
Captures the rollercoaster of emotions of feeling lost while loving someone who is not there for you, feeling let down and abandoned while waiting for a lover. Lost with no direction, "Now I'm up in the air with the rain in my hair, Nowhere to go, I can go anywhere"
The bridge shows signs of longing and a plea for companionship. The Lyrics express a desire for authentic connection and the importance of Loving someone just as they are. "Just in passing, I'm not asking. That you be anyone but you”
Gentle Hour
Yo La Tengo
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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,
American Town
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran shares a short story of reconnecting with an old flame on “American Town.” The track is about a holiday Ed Sheeran spends with his countrywoman who resides in America. The two are back together after a long period apart, and get around to enjoying a bunch of fun activities while rekindling the flames of their romance.
Plastic Bag
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
“Plastic Bag” is a song about searching for an escape from personal problems and hoping to find it in the lively atmosphere of a Saturday night party. Ed Sheeran tells the story of his friend and the myriad of troubles he is going through. Unable to find any solutions, this friend seeks a last resort in a party and the vanity that comes with it.
“I overthink and have trouble sleepin’ / All purpose gone and don’t have a reason / And there’s no doctor to stop this bleedin’ / So I left home and jumped in the deep end,” Ed Sheeran sings in verse one. He continues by adding that this person is feeling the weight of having disappointed his father and doesn’t have any friends to rely on in this difficult moment. In the second verse, Ed sings about the role of grief in his friend’s plight and his dwindling faith in prayer. “Saturday night is givin’ me a reason to rely on the strobe lights / The lifeline of a promise in a shot glass, and I’ll take that / If you’re givin’ out love from a plastic bag,” Ed sings on the chorus, as his friend turns to new vices in hopes of feeling better.
What the hell is this supposed to mean?
Then, your a TRAITOR!. hahha!
I don't know, but it suites the end of the album ridiculously well. I will say that "hand" should instead be "featherless hen"
This entire album speaks mainly to keep battling against strife and I believe this song would work into that idea. This song in particular reminds me of Flea from the RHCP singing his lil diddy "Pea" off of One Hot Minute. I really like how blunt they are when they sing it. So what is a corn-bred/cornbread? I would say a redneck hick that don't give a sh#t!
Weirdest song lyrics I've ever heard, but epic at the same time. <3 this band.
I think this is about an argument/verbal fight with someone close ( a wife/ gf, a parent) who is either very angry with him or looks down on him. This other person is the one leveling all the insults (cornbread straight MFer, worn out featherless hen, one horse town MFer, used up worn out man, spinless yellow bellied he she, undercover deadbeat). He is expressing doubt ( either verbally or to himself) about any hope of reconciliation at the end of each verse ("Or maybe I'm just[:] picking seed from the wrong one, barking up the wrong tree, shooting with the wrong gun"). The bridge ( "you spend all your time dicking at . . . the wrong life/ you're a traitor!") is him lashing out in retaliation to the insults. He manages to recompose himself and get back to his main question "Can I meet you?" The final answer is of course "No." This leads us to conclude that his suspicions that he was " barking up the wrong tree" are correct.
Pretty sure this one is about a dude conflicted about leaving Midwest small town culture for something else.\n\nThe lyrics are definitely weird but it makes sense if you reread them again with that mindset.