"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.
Fuck the rules
I got nothing to lose
Call me a fool
But I got nothing to prove
If life's an ocean
I'm in the deep end
Swimming free from the fears that will drown me
Don't try to catch me if I jump in
And don't try to fix what's not broken
I won't stop, I'm gonna live forever
Burn it off like nothing never mattered
One pill and it takes me higher
Dancing in a ring of fire
Shut my eyes I know it's now or never
Ride or die, I let my heart surrender
Rise up, I was born a fighter
Dancing in a ring of fire
(Dancing in a ring of fire
Dancing in a ring of fire
Dancing in a ring of fire
Dancing in a ring of fire
Ring of fire, ring of fire
Ring of fire, ring of fire)
Dancing in a ring of fire
Ring of fire
Dancing in a ring of fire
Fuck the world
I don't need to be cured
I'll keep my word
I'm gonna walk where the lines burn
If life's an ocean
I'm in the deep end
Swimming free from the fears that will drown me
Don't try to catch me if I jump in
And don't try to fix what's not broken
I won't stop, I'm gonna live forever
Burn it off like nothing never mattered
One pill and it takes me higher
Dancing in a ring of fire
Shut my eyes I know it's now or never
Ride or die, I let my heart surrender
Rise up, I was born a fighter
Dancing in a ring of fire
Dancing in a ring of fire
I got nothing to lose
Call me a fool
But I got nothing to prove
If life's an ocean
I'm in the deep end
Swimming free from the fears that will drown me
Don't try to catch me if I jump in
And don't try to fix what's not broken
I won't stop, I'm gonna live forever
Burn it off like nothing never mattered
One pill and it takes me higher
Dancing in a ring of fire
Shut my eyes I know it's now or never
Ride or die, I let my heart surrender
Rise up, I was born a fighter
Dancing in a ring of fire
(Dancing in a ring of fire
Dancing in a ring of fire
Dancing in a ring of fire
Dancing in a ring of fire
Ring of fire, ring of fire
Ring of fire, ring of fire)
Dancing in a ring of fire
Ring of fire
Dancing in a ring of fire
Fuck the world
I don't need to be cured
I'll keep my word
I'm gonna walk where the lines burn
If life's an ocean
I'm in the deep end
Swimming free from the fears that will drown me
Don't try to catch me if I jump in
And don't try to fix what's not broken
I won't stop, I'm gonna live forever
Burn it off like nothing never mattered
One pill and it takes me higher
Dancing in a ring of fire
Shut my eyes I know it's now or never
Ride or die, I let my heart surrender
Rise up, I was born a fighter
Dancing in a ring of fire
Dancing in a ring of fire
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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"
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,
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.