"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.
The only thing she told
Me bout this sick sad
World,
Is once she caught me
Cheating she said she
Would never be my girl
So to myself I'd be
As strong as a lion
You'd have to shoot me
Down before I ever stop
Tryin'
She says I know a
Little of that somethin'
I say, hey, that's
Better than nothin'
I know I know
Got miscommunication
But we ain't stoppin' til
We hear it from the
Station
Like yeah, yeah
Oh oh yeah yeah yeah
Oh oh yeah yeah
Ooh I've been waiting for
This lovin' girl
I miss the love the
Love the love the love
The love
That we used to know
Used to know
I miss the love the
Love the love the love
The love
That's we used to show
Used to show
I miss the love the
Love the love the love
The love
That we used to know
Used to know
I miss the love the
Love the love the love
The love that we used
To have used to have
But not no more
There was summer lovin'
In the air
Some of the best times
That I ever had and
Ever shared
It was just you and me
Sittin' on the sand
Baby sippin' Hennessy
Dancin' hand n hand
Listenin' to what the
DJs playin' for you and
Me
And we ain't stoppin' til
We hear it from the
Station
Like yeah, yeah
Oh oh yeah yeah yeah
Oh oh yeah yeah
Ooh I've been waiting for
This lovin' girl
I miss the love the
Love the love the love
The love
That we used to know
Used to know
I miss the love the
Love the love the love
The love
That we used to show
Used to show
I miss the love the
Love the love the love
The love
That we used to know
Used to know
I miss the love the
Love the love the love
The love that we used
To have used to have
But not no more
Step aside, you're only
Using me
And I believed your
Lies
Step aside, you're only
Using me and I believed
Your lies
How it used to be
Between you and me
How it used to be
I'm just missin' as I
Bust
I miss the love the
Love the love the love
The love
That we used to know
Used to know
I miss the love the
Love the love the love
The love
That's we used to show
Used to show
I miss the love the
Love the love the love
The love
That we used to know
Used to know
I miss the love the
Love the love the love
The love that we used
To have used to have
But not more
Used to have
Used to have
But not more
But not more
But not more
What we used to have
Not more
Not more
Not more
Me bout this sick sad
World,
Is once she caught me
Cheating she said she
Would never be my girl
So to myself I'd be
As strong as a lion
You'd have to shoot me
Down before I ever stop
Tryin'
She says I know a
Little of that somethin'
I say, hey, that's
Better than nothin'
I know I know
Got miscommunication
But we ain't stoppin' til
We hear it from the
Station
Like yeah, yeah
Oh oh yeah yeah yeah
Oh oh yeah yeah
Ooh I've been waiting for
This lovin' girl
I miss the love the
Love the love the love
The love
That we used to know
Used to know
I miss the love the
Love the love the love
The love
That's we used to show
Used to show
I miss the love the
Love the love the love
The love
That we used to know
Used to know
I miss the love the
Love the love the love
The love that we used
To have used to have
But not no more
There was summer lovin'
In the air
Some of the best times
That I ever had and
Ever shared
It was just you and me
Sittin' on the sand
Baby sippin' Hennessy
Dancin' hand n hand
Listenin' to what the
DJs playin' for you and
Me
And we ain't stoppin' til
We hear it from the
Station
Like yeah, yeah
Oh oh yeah yeah yeah
Oh oh yeah yeah
Ooh I've been waiting for
This lovin' girl
I miss the love the
Love the love the love
The love
That we used to know
Used to know
I miss the love the
Love the love the love
The love
That we used to show
Used to show
I miss the love the
Love the love the love
The love
That we used to know
Used to know
I miss the love the
Love the love the love
The love that we used
To have used to have
But not no more
Step aside, you're only
Using me
And I believed your
Lies
Step aside, you're only
Using me and I believed
Your lies
How it used to be
Between you and me
How it used to be
I'm just missin' as I
Bust
I miss the love the
Love the love the love
The love
That we used to know
Used to know
I miss the love the
Love the love the love
The love
That's we used to show
Used to show
I miss the love the
Love the love the love
The love
That we used to know
Used to know
I miss the love the
Love the love the love
The love that we used
To have used to have
But not more
Used to have
Used to have
But not more
But not more
But not more
What we used to have
Not more
Not more
Not more
Lyrics submitted by JohnnyLurg
Lovers Rock Lyrics as written by Eric Wilson Bud Graugh
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
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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,
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.