"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.
Vicious one how ever did you find me?
Time is wasted, words are cheap
Now it seems that we are not crazy
And lovers sow what lovers reap
Nothing now can ever come between us
As we hide and watch the city burn
There is much that I still want to tell you
But now is not the time to speak of love
(Oh oh) beckoning to me
(Oh oh) more than memory
(Oh oh) words are useless here
(Oh oh) until you are near
Live in fear I cannot be your savior
There is no violence in your heart
Warriors are both time and patience
But you and I are worlds apart
We all, we all, we all saw the light
We are, we are, we are first and right
Nothing now can ever come between us
As we hide and watch the city burn
There is much that I still want to tell you
But now is not the time to speak of love
(Oh oh) beckoning to me
(Oh oh) more than memory
(Oh oh) words are useless here
(Oh oh) until you are near
(Oh oh) beckoning to me
(Oh oh) more than memory
(Oh oh) words are useless here
(Oh oh) until you are near
Until you are near
Time is wasted, words are cheap
Now it seems that we are not crazy
And lovers sow what lovers reap
Nothing now can ever come between us
As we hide and watch the city burn
There is much that I still want to tell you
But now is not the time to speak of love
(Oh oh) beckoning to me
(Oh oh) more than memory
(Oh oh) words are useless here
(Oh oh) until you are near
Live in fear I cannot be your savior
There is no violence in your heart
Warriors are both time and patience
But you and I are worlds apart
We all, we all, we all saw the light
We are, we are, we are first and right
Nothing now can ever come between us
As we hide and watch the city burn
There is much that I still want to tell you
But now is not the time to speak of love
(Oh oh) beckoning to me
(Oh oh) more than memory
(Oh oh) words are useless here
(Oh oh) until you are near
(Oh oh) beckoning to me
(Oh oh) more than memory
(Oh oh) words are useless here
(Oh oh) until you are near
Until you are near
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Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman
The Night We Met
Lord Huron
Lord Huron
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"
Dreamwalker
Silent Planet
Silent Planet
I think much like another song “Anti-Matter” (that's also on the same album as this song), this one is also is inspired by a horrifying van crash the band experienced on Nov 3, 2022. This, much like the other track, sounds like it's an extension what they shared while huddled in the wreckage, as they helped frontman Garrett Russell stem the bleeding from his head wound while he was under the temporary effects of a concussion. The track speaks of where the mind goes at the most desperate & desolate of times, when it just about slips away to all but disconnect itself, and the aftermath.
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,
This song makes me think of a pair of survivors of some disaster who find themselves in a world where they need to rely on each-other to survive, but which also leaves no room for real relationships. There's no space for words, since they now have to fight against something much bigger than either of them.
"Vicious one how ever did you find me?"
She's speaking here to the person responsible for the disaster.
"Now it seems that we are not crazy And lovers sow what lovers reap"
Maybe her and her lover predicted the disaster, and so their 'harvest' is their survival. (many other interpretations here).
"Nothing now can ever come between us As we hide and watch the city burn"
They know that from here on out, they'll need to rely on each-other completely, and have each-other's backs.
"There is much that I still want to tell you But now is not the time to speak of love"
But they know that the world they now live in leaves no space for normal relationships.
"Live in fear I cannot be your savior There is no violence in your heart"
But she also thinks of her companion as less prepared than her in some way; as someone who will either have to learn violence, or who will need help surviving beyond what she can provide.
"Warriors are both time and patience But you and I are worlds apart"
The bit about warriors is from Tolstoy. I think she's saying that she is a warrior and her companion is not? Unsure.
"We all, we all, we all saw the light We are, we are, we are first and right"
I think here, she's saying that they now know to put each-other first, and that their survival is something of a righteous cause.
Anyhow, just the images that this song makes me think of.