"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.
Ah ah listen everybody (body), specially you girls (girls)
Is it right to be left alone when the one you love is never home
I love too hard my friends sometimes say
But I believe I believe that a woman should be loved that way
But it hurts me so inside to see you treat me so unkind
Somebody somewhere tell her it ain't fair
Can I get a witness (Can I get a witness)
I want a witness (Can I get a witness)
I want a witness (Can I get a witness)
Somebody (Can I get a witness)
Is it right to be treated so bad when you give her everything you had
Keep on talking in my sleep 'cause I haven't seen my baby all week
Now you kids you all agree is that the way it's supposed to be
Let me hear you, let me hear you say yeah, yeah, yeah
Up early in the morning with her on my mind
Took to find it out all night I been cryin'
But I believe a woman's a man's best friend
I'm gonna stick by hr till the very end
Well she causes so much misery how's a gal supposed to be
Somebody somewhere tell her it ain't right
Can I get a witness, can I get a witness
(Can I get a witness), I want a witness
(Can I get a witness), witness, witness
(Can I get a witness), witness, witness
(Can I get a witness)
Everybody knows especially you girls
That a love can be sad but my beloved's twice as bad
Now you kids do all agree that ain't the way it's supposed to be
Let me hear you, let me hear you say yeah, yeah, yeah
I want a witness (Can I get a witness)
I want a witness (Can I get a witness)
Yeah, I want a witness (Can I get a witness)
Somebody (Can I get a witness)
Is it right to be treated so bad when you give her everything you had
Keep on talking in my sleep 'cause I haven't seen my baby all week
Now you kids you all agree is that the way it's supposed to be
Let me hear you, let me hear you say yeah, yeah, yeah
I want a witness (Can I get a witness)
I want a witness (Can I get a witness)
I want a witness (Can I get a witness)
I want a witness (Can I get a witness)
Witness, witness, yeah, I want a witness
Is it right to be left alone when the one you love is never home
I love too hard my friends sometimes say
But I believe I believe that a woman should be loved that way
But it hurts me so inside to see you treat me so unkind
Somebody somewhere tell her it ain't fair
Can I get a witness (Can I get a witness)
I want a witness (Can I get a witness)
I want a witness (Can I get a witness)
Somebody (Can I get a witness)
Is it right to be treated so bad when you give her everything you had
Keep on talking in my sleep 'cause I haven't seen my baby all week
Now you kids you all agree is that the way it's supposed to be
Let me hear you, let me hear you say yeah, yeah, yeah
Up early in the morning with her on my mind
Took to find it out all night I been cryin'
But I believe a woman's a man's best friend
I'm gonna stick by hr till the very end
Well she causes so much misery how's a gal supposed to be
Somebody somewhere tell her it ain't right
Can I get a witness, can I get a witness
(Can I get a witness), I want a witness
(Can I get a witness), witness, witness
(Can I get a witness), witness, witness
(Can I get a witness)
Everybody knows especially you girls
That a love can be sad but my beloved's twice as bad
Now you kids do all agree that ain't the way it's supposed to be
Let me hear you, let me hear you say yeah, yeah, yeah
I want a witness (Can I get a witness)
I want a witness (Can I get a witness)
Yeah, I want a witness (Can I get a witness)
Somebody (Can I get a witness)
Is it right to be treated so bad when you give her everything you had
Keep on talking in my sleep 'cause I haven't seen my baby all week
Now you kids you all agree is that the way it's supposed to be
Let me hear you, let me hear you say yeah, yeah, yeah
I want a witness (Can I get a witness)
I want a witness (Can I get a witness)
I want a witness (Can I get a witness)
I want a witness (Can I get a witness)
Witness, witness, yeah, I want a witness
Lyrics submitted by SongMeanings
Can I Get a Witness Lyrics as written by Lamont Dozier Edward Jr. Holland
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
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Fast Car
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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"
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This is about bronies. They communicate by stomping.
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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
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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.