"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 was feeling a little bizarre
The day that I buried my family car
In the scrap metal wrecking yard
And I've said so many goodbyes
In the twenty-five years that I've been alive
And I don't know why this one was so hard
And every time I go back to my apartment
All I wanna do is get stoned (whoa, oh, oh)
And I'm sick and tired of blacking out on my carpet
And waking up all on my own, so I brought you home
You started falling apart
Six months after you moved in
And I should have known from the start
That things would be different
It's not something that I can fix
If I could do anything, you know I would
If this fucking vacation would come to an end
Maybe then you'd be normal again
Last week, when I went back to my apartment
You were looking so stoned (whoa, oh, oh)
The day after Christmas, you acted so different
Just wanted to be on your own
So I bought you medicine, went to the vet and
Cashed all of my savings and loans (who, oh, oh)
But it was too late, you were letting go
Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, oh, oh
Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, oh, oh
(Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, oh, oh)
And nothing I say will make it okay
You just sleep in the heat and repeat
You're wasting away (whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, oh, oh)
And nothing I do is gonna save you
I'm trying my best, but you can't even
Look at me or talk to me or tell me what's happening to you
Yesterday, I went back to my apartment
To see how you've been holding up (whoa, oh, oh)
You hadn't been eating, I thought you were sleeping, but
You're not waking up
And I want you to know that I'd spend every bit of my
Pitiful savings and loans (whoa, oh, oh)
Just to see you again
But I know I won't
The day that I buried my family car
In the scrap metal wrecking yard
And I've said so many goodbyes
In the twenty-five years that I've been alive
And I don't know why this one was so hard
And every time I go back to my apartment
All I wanna do is get stoned (whoa, oh, oh)
And I'm sick and tired of blacking out on my carpet
And waking up all on my own, so I brought you home
You started falling apart
Six months after you moved in
And I should have known from the start
That things would be different
It's not something that I can fix
If I could do anything, you know I would
If this fucking vacation would come to an end
Maybe then you'd be normal again
Last week, when I went back to my apartment
You were looking so stoned (whoa, oh, oh)
The day after Christmas, you acted so different
Just wanted to be on your own
So I bought you medicine, went to the vet and
Cashed all of my savings and loans (who, oh, oh)
But it was too late, you were letting go
Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, oh, oh
Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, oh, oh
(Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, oh, oh)
And nothing I say will make it okay
You just sleep in the heat and repeat
You're wasting away (whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, oh, oh)
And nothing I do is gonna save you
I'm trying my best, but you can't even
Look at me or talk to me or tell me what's happening to you
Yesterday, I went back to my apartment
To see how you've been holding up (whoa, oh, oh)
You hadn't been eating, I thought you were sleeping, but
You're not waking up
And I want you to know that I'd spend every bit of my
Pitiful savings and loans (whoa, oh, oh)
Just to see you again
But I know I won't
Lyrics submitted by getthoselyricsright
Sleep in the Heat Lyrics as written by Nestor Volodymyr Chumack Stefan Patrick Babcock
Lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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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.
Just A Little Lovin'
Dusty Springfield
Dusty Springfield
I don't think it's necessarily about sex. It's about wanting to start the day with some love and affection. Maybe a warm cuddle. I'm not alone in interpreting it that way! For example:
"'Just a Little Lovin’ is a timeless country song originally recorded by Eddy Arnold in 1954. The song, written by Eddie Miller and Jimmy Campbell, explores the delicate nuances of love and showcases Arnold’s emotive vocals. It delves into the universal theme of love and how even the smallest gesture of affection can have a profound impact on our lives." https://oldtimemusic.com/the-meaning-behind-the-song-just-a-little-lovin-by-eddy-arnold/
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.
BUT I KNOW I WON'T!
Frontman Stefan Babcock’s explains:
This song is about my baby chameleon. Her name is Norman. If you’re a fan of the first record, you might have seen the ‘Mabu’ video, where I drive my family car in a demolition derby. We rented a bunch of reptiles for the video, because, reptiles are cool as shit. We had a snake and some turtles and some goldfish, and we also got a baby chameleon. That day was really emotional for me. After the derby, we had a funeral for my mangled car (watch the video, you’ll understand). While I was saying goodbye, my heart was breaking, and I was holding this little chameleon. I looked down, and she was just staring up at me with these huge, adorable eyes, and I loved her right away. She was filling the car-sized hole in my heart. I named her Norman and took her home that night. Norman was the best. She hunted crickets and hung out in this cool terrarium me and my roommates built for her, and she was super friendly. But one day, she got really sick. I took her to a special reptile hospital, where they told me she had a tongue infection, and would need to have it amputated. The procedure was going to cost $1000 (pretty much every dollar in my bank account), but money didn’t matter. I loved Norman and she was my responsibility. After the surgery, Norman was different. Chameleons rely on their tongues to eat and drink and hunt. For weeks, my roommates and I tried to teach her to do those things without a tongue. She just couldn’t figure it out. She got frustrated. And at a certain point, she stopped trying. She wouldn’t eat. She slept all day. She slowly lost her will to live, and that was the end of it. I miss Norman a lot. I think about her every day. I really really liked her. I hope she liked me too.
fasterlouder.junkee.com/pups-track-by-track-guide-to-their-new-album-the-dream-is-over/863214
@ahlmann This story is so bittersweet, man. Thanks for sharing this. I had no idea.
@ahlmann this is a great story behind an epic tune! Pathetic Use of Potential ftw!
@ahlmann it's 3 am and I'm crying about a chameleon, fuck.