"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.
I'm sorry, mother I'm sorry, I let you down
Well, these days I'm fine
No these days I tend to lie
I'll take the West train, just by the side of Amsterdam
Just by my left brain, just by the side of the Tin man
I'm sorry, brother I'm sorry, I let cha down
Well, these days you're fine
No these days you tend to lie
You'll take the West train, just by the side of Amsterdam
Just by your left brain, just by the side of the Tin man
Your time will come if you wait for it, if you wait for it
It's hard, believe me I've tried
But I keep coming up short
I'm sorry, lover You're sorry, I bring you down
Well, these days I try and these days I tend to lie
Kinda thought I was a mystery and then I thought I wasn't meant to be
You said yourself fantastically, "Congratulations you were all alone"
Your time will come if you wait for it, if you wait for it
It's hard, believe me I've tried
Your time will come if you wait for it, if you wait for it
It's hard, believe me I've tried
But the rain won't fall for the both of us
The sun won't shine on the both of us
Believe me when I say, that I wouldn't have it any other way
Your time will come if you wait for it, if you wait for it
It's hard, believe me I've tried
But I won't wait much longer 'cause these walls they're crashing down
And I won't wait much longer 'cause these walls they're crashing down
And I keep coming up short
Well, these days I'm fine
No these days I tend to lie
I'll take the West train, just by the side of Amsterdam
Just by my left brain, just by the side of the Tin man
I'm sorry, brother I'm sorry, I let cha down
Well, these days you're fine
No these days you tend to lie
You'll take the West train, just by the side of Amsterdam
Just by your left brain, just by the side of the Tin man
Your time will come if you wait for it, if you wait for it
It's hard, believe me I've tried
But I keep coming up short
I'm sorry, lover You're sorry, I bring you down
Well, these days I try and these days I tend to lie
Kinda thought I was a mystery and then I thought I wasn't meant to be
You said yourself fantastically, "Congratulations you were all alone"
Your time will come if you wait for it, if you wait for it
It's hard, believe me I've tried
Your time will come if you wait for it, if you wait for it
It's hard, believe me I've tried
But the rain won't fall for the both of us
The sun won't shine on the both of us
Believe me when I say, that I wouldn't have it any other way
Your time will come if you wait for it, if you wait for it
It's hard, believe me I've tried
But I won't wait much longer 'cause these walls they're crashing down
And I won't wait much longer 'cause these walls they're crashing down
And I keep coming up short
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Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman
Mountain Song
Jane's Addiction
Jane's Addiction
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."
Mountain Song
Jane's Addiction
Jane's Addiction
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."
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,
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.
To be blunt, I think its a song about depression and suicide.
DEPRESSION He's repeatedly apologizing to the people he mentions
Saying he's 'let them down' and when he mentions his lover he says he 'brings them down'
'But rain won't fall for the both of us, the sun won't shine on the both of us' he's basically saying that only one will make it through the depression and that it wouldn't be him, but that he 'wouldn't have it any other way'
'These days I'm fine, well these days I tend to lie' he's not fine, he's putting on a brave face, although in the brother verse the brother has noticed that he isn't OK
now, this is all fine and good for the depression aspect, but depression doesn't make a suicide.
SUICIDE 'Your time will come if you wait for it, if you wait for it It's hard, believe me I've tried But I keep coming up short'
your time is referring to death... death will come if you wait for it, but it's hard to wit for it, he's tried, but he came out short. and he keeps coming out short, referring to the fact that he's failed in some way to wait for his time, to wait for death.
I thought I wasn't meant to be, he thought he wasn't meant to be alive, if he was talking about a relationship he would have said WE weren't meant to be, but he said I wasn't meant to be.
Once again, apologizing and letting people down
'But I won't wait much longer cause these walls they're crashing down', the depression has become to much
I think he might have finally succeeded in his suicide, because the last words are that he came up short, the song is like his suicide note.