"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 see seaweed on the lawn
There's no point coming here no more
Do you remember way back when?
When weeks sank in the swimming pool
Holidays were cotton wool
Your bald tyre friends, the pelicans, cowboys and indians
Admit it, she was kinda cute
Her panties were your parachute
They found her near the airport, in a crater, near the bend
Where she and I'd walk by the zoo
Not knowing we'd do what all plagues do
I forget her all the time these days and be forgotten too
We're lockstepping in our billions
Lockstepping in our swarms
Lockstepping in the certainty that more need to be born
I was fine but not the whole time, see
I fiddled while Rome stewed
It choked my heart, but spades are spades
My head's here now to tell you
We're lockstepping in our billions
Lockstepping in our swarms
Lockstepping in the certainty that more need to be born
And ain't that just the way things are
Yeah you always went too far
And ain't that just the way things go
Passports please, sir you are next
Do you fly direct or indirect?
As the years bleed off that answer's getting harder to detect
Like all the rare air on the cabin floor
Your in-flight film's a score that should be settled
Once the holster calcifies around your neck
But now it's prefab bars, tax free cigars
Stopovers in Bahrain
And they put horse tranqs in the fuel tanks and the staff are all insane
And we're lockstepping in our billions
Lockstepping in our swarms
Lockstepping in the certainty that more need to be born
I'm like a Lockheed in a thunderhead
An Airbus in the sea
The sky is blue, I am too
Yet everything seems clear
We're lockstepping in our billions
Lockstepping in our swarms
Lockstepping in the certainty that more need to be born
But ain't that just the way things are
Yeah, you always went too far
But ain't that just the way things go
She'd recollect how fucked you were
All matter of a fact
And then defend you, being squeamish about the knife stuck in her back
She only sang the dead bird songs
And now I know them all
It's like I'm shooting at a shadow
That a bomb burned on the wall
And we're lockstepping in our billions
Lockstepping in our swarms
Lockstepping in the certainty that more need to be born
There ain't no making what you're breaking
Nothing left of her to clone
I can't remember how she looked although
I do recall her smile coming down the telephone
But ain't that just the way things are
Yeah, you always went too far
And ain't that just the way things go
Yeah, pretending you don't know
There's no point coming here no more
Do you remember way back when?
When weeks sank in the swimming pool
Holidays were cotton wool
Your bald tyre friends, the pelicans, cowboys and indians
Admit it, she was kinda cute
Her panties were your parachute
They found her near the airport, in a crater, near the bend
Where she and I'd walk by the zoo
Not knowing we'd do what all plagues do
I forget her all the time these days and be forgotten too
We're lockstepping in our billions
Lockstepping in our swarms
Lockstepping in the certainty that more need to be born
I was fine but not the whole time, see
I fiddled while Rome stewed
It choked my heart, but spades are spades
My head's here now to tell you
We're lockstepping in our billions
Lockstepping in our swarms
Lockstepping in the certainty that more need to be born
And ain't that just the way things are
Yeah you always went too far
And ain't that just the way things go
Passports please, sir you are next
Do you fly direct or indirect?
As the years bleed off that answer's getting harder to detect
Like all the rare air on the cabin floor
Your in-flight film's a score that should be settled
Once the holster calcifies around your neck
But now it's prefab bars, tax free cigars
Stopovers in Bahrain
And they put horse tranqs in the fuel tanks and the staff are all insane
And we're lockstepping in our billions
Lockstepping in our swarms
Lockstepping in the certainty that more need to be born
I'm like a Lockheed in a thunderhead
An Airbus in the sea
The sky is blue, I am too
Yet everything seems clear
We're lockstepping in our billions
Lockstepping in our swarms
Lockstepping in the certainty that more need to be born
But ain't that just the way things are
Yeah, you always went too far
But ain't that just the way things go
She'd recollect how fucked you were
All matter of a fact
And then defend you, being squeamish about the knife stuck in her back
She only sang the dead bird songs
And now I know them all
It's like I'm shooting at a shadow
That a bomb burned on the wall
And we're lockstepping in our billions
Lockstepping in our swarms
Lockstepping in the certainty that more need to be born
There ain't no making what you're breaking
Nothing left of her to clone
I can't remember how she looked although
I do recall her smile coming down the telephone
But ain't that just the way things are
Yeah, you always went too far
And ain't that just the way things go
Yeah, pretending you don't know
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Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
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This is about bronies. They communicate by stomping.
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Overall about difficult moments of disappointment and vulnerability. Having hope and longing, while remaining optimistic for the future. Encourages the belief that with each new morning there is a chance for things to improve.
The chorus offers a glimmer of optimism and a chance at a resolution and redemption in the future.
Captures the rollercoaster of emotions of feeling lost while loving someone who is not there for you, feeling let down and abandoned while waiting for a lover. Lost with no direction, "Now I'm up in the air with the rain in my hair, Nowhere to go, I can go anywhere"
The bridge shows signs of longing and a plea for companionship. The Lyrics express a desire for authentic connection and the importance of Loving someone just as they are. "Just in passing, I'm not asking. That you be anyone but you”
Holiday
Bee Gees
Bee Gees
@[Diderik:33655] "Your a holiday!" Was a popular term used in the 50s/60s to compliment someone on their all around. For example, not only are they beautiful, but they are fun and kind too ... just an all around "holiday".
I think your first comment is closer to being accurate. The singer/song writers state "Millions of eyes can see, yet why am i so blind!? When the someone else is me, its unkind its unkind". I believe hes referring to the girl toying with him and using him. He wants something deeper with her, thats why he allows himself to be as a puppet (even though for her fun and games) as long as it makes her happy. But he knows deep down that she doesnt really want to be serious with him and thats what makes him.
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.
I get a feeling from this song that I experienced back when things were turning to shit in my life. Listening to it reminded me of what I used to be like. I went through years of hard times and no one around me cared, even the doctor would make me feel like i wasted her time. things of course got worse. The result was that I went into a state of extreme self-abandonment, which isolated myself from important people in my life even more. I became my own worst enemy, hating myself for not being acceptable. In the singer's voice is a sound of painful memory or something unforgiveable or unforgettable. I also think there's a neediness in the words, like their asking for confirmation of the truth.
@Expojais There's definitely a neediness in there I agree and again I feel like I'm at that point in my life... I recently saw The Drones live, incredibly powerful band. They sadly didn't play anything off of I See Seaweed.
I read an interview on Fasterlouder with Gareth Liddiard, where he said “I see seaweed” is a reference to the rising sea level
I love how this song stretches between fading memories of halcyon childhood spent summer days, the continued spiral we seem to be on, rising sea levels, overpopulation and some kind of relationship the narrator had with a woman that is long dead and gone; possibly murdered. It's a very dark and rich narrative...
Lockstepping is a close single filed march, I think this line is kind of comparing the earth's billions to drones or soldiers and "in the certainty that more need to be born" is skepticism towards overpopulation.
Passports please...
Maybe refers to the unholy misery of frequent flights, I think this verse hints at the disintegration of a person due to too much time spent traveling. One of Liddiard's solo songs deals with similar themes.
Lockheed Martin is an aerospace, security and defence company, the line could be a nod to a flight in 1985 that crashed after flying into a microburst - the plane was a Lockheed TriStar I believe. Airbus SAS is a manufacturing division, possibly be referring to the French Airbus that crashed into the Atlantic Ocean, sorry I can't remember what year.
I saw The Drones on their most recent tour in Spain with the most intelligent and beautiful woman I have ever had the pleasure of spending time with... and I forget her all the time these days and be forgotten too... if only. They are definitely a band worth seeing live, I think I'll be seeing them for years to come.
"The whole thing is a love song, sort of. Dread. “I see seaweed” is a reference to the sea level rising, but I’m not saying [scared], “Ooh, climate change!” I’m not jumping on a soapbox or anything. I didn’t want a lot of it to be direct. You know when you have a dream – it doesn’t make sense, but it doesn’t mean that the dream doesn’t move you in a certain way, or disturb you. Even though it doesn’t work in any linear, rational way, or even in a metaphorical way. There’s something in it that’s pushing your buttons. This song is like that. Fear of flying is a deep dread, of something flying in demise … there’s a lot of flying in my dreams. The line, “Shooting at a shadow that a bomb blew on a wall” is when you’re trying to make your point – after it’s already been made in an aggressive way."