"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.
Meet me at the back porch
I'd like to get to know you more
Saw that you're good lookin
And maybe it'll be interesting
Me and my friend Apollo
He said that you're from out of state
But I already knew that though
I felt right away
That you were more like some gypsy lover I knew from some other place
What your sisters do not know
What your sisters they do not know
I can show you some places that are gonna be great
Gimme some love gimme some love
Gimme some love c'mon gimme some love
Stab me with your dagger
I knew way in the light
Went up to my momma
She hates you cuz you're beautiful
I'm locked up in my bedroom
I thought this wound would never heal
I'm bustin out the window though
I got to get away
That you were more like some gypsy lover I knew from some other place
What your sisters do not know
What your sisters they do not know
I can show you some places that are gonna be great
Gimme some love gimme some love
Gimme some love c'mon gimme some love
Ay baby!
I gotta know
Would you sort through all these seeds for me?
Would you cross over the river to find the golden fleece for me?
Would you fill a flask full of that holy water just for me?
Would you go down, down, down, down to the depths of Hades lookin for me?
Cuz you were more like some gypsy lover I knew from some other place
What your sisters do not know
What your sisters they do not know
I can show you some places that are gonna be great
Gimme some love gimme some love
Gimme some love
I'd like to get to know you more
Saw that you're good lookin
And maybe it'll be interesting
Me and my friend Apollo
He said that you're from out of state
But I already knew that though
I felt right away
That you were more like some gypsy lover I knew from some other place
What your sisters do not know
What your sisters they do not know
I can show you some places that are gonna be great
Gimme some love gimme some love
Gimme some love c'mon gimme some love
Stab me with your dagger
I knew way in the light
Went up to my momma
She hates you cuz you're beautiful
I'm locked up in my bedroom
I thought this wound would never heal
I'm bustin out the window though
I got to get away
That you were more like some gypsy lover I knew from some other place
What your sisters do not know
What your sisters they do not know
I can show you some places that are gonna be great
Gimme some love gimme some love
Gimme some love c'mon gimme some love
Ay baby!
I gotta know
Would you sort through all these seeds for me?
Would you cross over the river to find the golden fleece for me?
Would you fill a flask full of that holy water just for me?
Would you go down, down, down, down to the depths of Hades lookin for me?
Cuz you were more like some gypsy lover I knew from some other place
What your sisters do not know
What your sisters they do not know
I can show you some places that are gonna be great
Gimme some love gimme some love
Gimme some love
Lyrics submitted by jexcini
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Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman
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.
Head > Heels
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
“Head > Heels” is a track that aims to capture what it feels like to experience romance that exceeds expectations. Ed Sheeran dedicates his album outro to a lover who has blessed him with a unique experience that he seeks to describe through the song’s nuanced lyrics.
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.
This song is about the story of Cupid and Psyche. Cupids mother is angry that Psyche is so beautiful that mortals are calling her the second coming of Venus. Cupid accidentally scratches himself with an arrow meant to make psyche fall in love with an evil flying sex snake who will impregnate her to eat the newborn children. he falls madly in love with her. He kidnaps her and essentially rapes her until she falls in love with him. Cupid is always under the cover of darkness so as to not reveal his embarrassing identity and let the gods know he has failed his mission. she becomes pregnant. her sisters meanwhile hear that Psyche has been forced in love with an evil sex serpent and tell her to look at her lover/rapist but bring a dagger to kill him when she sees its an evil creature. it turns out to be Cupid, she shocked! she accidentally drops the hot lamp oil on him, searing Cupid. Cupid runs away in a bloody burnt mess. Psyche gets kidnapped by Venus and sent to do horrible things like sorting seeds, crossing a river, getting holy water, going to Hades, all the while always failing at her consistent attempts at suicide. she tries to kill hersolf soooo many times its ridiculous that she keeps failing so many times. Anyways, her sisters find out that Psyche is in a bad situation with venus enslaving her and whatnot. the sisters are insanely jealous and throw themselves off cliffs to be Cupid's "replacements" of sorts for the missing and distressed Psyche. Instead of being saved by Cupid and transported to the place of the gods Cupid allows them to fall to their death. each of the sisters leave behind their families and husbands :( at some point Cupid saves psyche from his mother and she is at some point in the story accidentally stabed with one of Cupids arrows and falls in love with Cupid as well even though he's been raping her on the reg. (I don't know why Cupid didn't just get her with the arrow earlier in the story it would have saved so much ink) they eventualy are married and psyche gets made Immortal. Ta da. Mythology. and now Cupid is a Valentine's day thing. WTF