"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.
Ladies and gentlemen, I want to invite you on a journey
I sincerely hope you are in a mood to travel right now
'Cause we're going back in time
Are you ready?
I wanna take you way back
To when a girl on a mike?s worth
Wasn't determined by the length of her skirt
I mean way back to creativity before MTV, before BET
I mean way back before recycling shit
When the props that you got was for your writing and shit
Let's rewind before the hype when you used to be low key
To be a singer you had to actually know key
I mean way back to before people made a job
Of seeing who's best at impersonating Bob
I mean way back to when you sweat blood on every line
To get one good song didn't cost sixteen ninety nine
To be considered deep you had to actually say stuff
And if it wasn't good, disc jockeys didn't play stuff
I mean way way, Marvin Gaye way back and I pray that you will
Come with me, let us journey past this melody
Give us room to exercise our minds
Take me to another place, another time, better hooks, better rhymes
Stronger lyrics every line, you could even press rewind
Come with me, let us journey past this fallacy
Give us room to exercise our minds
Take you to another place, another time, better hooks, better rhymes
Stronger lyrics every line, you could even press rewind
Well, it?s ironic that the chronic that I smoke
Got me singing shit that's bionic every note
That it?s affecting my judgment is what some people would hope
But I'm not tripping, I'm on a journey, come along now let's float
I used to be excited going to the record store
But these days I stay pacing the floor
Somebody please take me back to when the artistes were poor
'Cause when they made less they gave us so much more
let's take it back to a ballroom, cloudy microphone
Smokey Robinson, Nina Simone
James Brown was still occupying the throne
When the songs weren't sold off videos alone
Way back to when a star attitude wasn't defined
By somebody being rude
To when it was a pleasure definitely not a task
To greet a fan with a smile and sign a damn autograph
I mean way back to before you used to drive the Maybach
You dreamt about a mil but never made that
When you made some shit that we could play back
I mean way back to a whole ?nother time
Further back than your granddad?s hairline
I mean way back, won't you say that you will
Come with me, let us journey past this melody
Give us room to exercise our minds
Take me to another place, another time, better hooks, better rhymes
Stronger lyrics every line, you could even press rewind
Come with me, let us journey past this fallacy
Give us room to exercise our minds
Take you to another place, another time, better hooks, better rhymes
Stronger lyrics every line, you could even press rewind
And it came to pass in the glorious days of charts
That the music hailed and we danced to it
And threw a party but in our hearts we knew the musicians failed
And then came along brothers, Napster and Aimster
And though they were definitely wrong I think it's worse
To be forced to buy a whole bullshit album
Just to get that one good song , can I get an Amen
Come with me, let us journey past this melody
Give us room to exercise our minds
Take it to another place, another time, better hooks, better rhymes
Stronger lyrics every line, you could even press rewind
Come with me, let us journey past this fallacy
Give us room to exercise our minds
Take it to another place, another time, better hooks, better rhymes
Stronger lyrics every line, you could even press rewind
I sincerely hope you are in a mood to travel right now
'Cause we're going back in time
Are you ready?
I wanna take you way back
To when a girl on a mike?s worth
Wasn't determined by the length of her skirt
I mean way back to creativity before MTV, before BET
I mean way back before recycling shit
When the props that you got was for your writing and shit
Let's rewind before the hype when you used to be low key
To be a singer you had to actually know key
I mean way back to before people made a job
Of seeing who's best at impersonating Bob
I mean way back to when you sweat blood on every line
To get one good song didn't cost sixteen ninety nine
To be considered deep you had to actually say stuff
And if it wasn't good, disc jockeys didn't play stuff
I mean way way, Marvin Gaye way back and I pray that you will
Come with me, let us journey past this melody
Give us room to exercise our minds
Take me to another place, another time, better hooks, better rhymes
Stronger lyrics every line, you could even press rewind
Come with me, let us journey past this fallacy
Give us room to exercise our minds
Take you to another place, another time, better hooks, better rhymes
Stronger lyrics every line, you could even press rewind
Well, it?s ironic that the chronic that I smoke
Got me singing shit that's bionic every note
That it?s affecting my judgment is what some people would hope
But I'm not tripping, I'm on a journey, come along now let's float
I used to be excited going to the record store
But these days I stay pacing the floor
Somebody please take me back to when the artistes were poor
'Cause when they made less they gave us so much more
let's take it back to a ballroom, cloudy microphone
Smokey Robinson, Nina Simone
James Brown was still occupying the throne
When the songs weren't sold off videos alone
Way back to when a star attitude wasn't defined
By somebody being rude
To when it was a pleasure definitely not a task
To greet a fan with a smile and sign a damn autograph
I mean way back to before you used to drive the Maybach
You dreamt about a mil but never made that
When you made some shit that we could play back
I mean way back to a whole ?nother time
Further back than your granddad?s hairline
I mean way back, won't you say that you will
Come with me, let us journey past this melody
Give us room to exercise our minds
Take me to another place, another time, better hooks, better rhymes
Stronger lyrics every line, you could even press rewind
Come with me, let us journey past this fallacy
Give us room to exercise our minds
Take you to another place, another time, better hooks, better rhymes
Stronger lyrics every line, you could even press rewind
And it came to pass in the glorious days of charts
That the music hailed and we danced to it
And threw a party but in our hearts we knew the musicians failed
And then came along brothers, Napster and Aimster
And though they were definitely wrong I think it's worse
To be forced to buy a whole bullshit album
Just to get that one good song , can I get an Amen
Come with me, let us journey past this melody
Give us room to exercise our minds
Take it to another place, another time, better hooks, better rhymes
Stronger lyrics every line, you could even press rewind
Come with me, let us journey past this fallacy
Give us room to exercise our minds
Take it to another place, another time, better hooks, better rhymes
Stronger lyrics every line, you could even press rewind
Lyrics submitted by SongMeanings
Way Back Lyrics as written by Vivienne Stephenson Andrew Henton
Lyrics © Royalty Network
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
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Lord Huron
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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"
Mountain Song
Jane's Addiction
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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."
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.
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.