"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.
In time she might see how foolish she was for leaving me
Might take a bruise or two before she longs for my abuse
Running away was easy, I guess, but you left my mind a sloppy mess
Was it so hard to talk about the stuff that I could not figure out?
Woe, woe is me, she took her things and she ran away, woe, woe is me (yea yea yea!)
She says she's feeling so much better
She says the air tastes so much sweeter since she left me
Sometime I might suspect that the cause couldn't be as bad as the effect
Crazy girls which I seem to collect and scribble down notes like a science project
Your argument has no defense, its' a big fat lie built on false pretense
But now I roam from home to work singing songs about you and feeling like a jerk
Woe, woe is me, she took her things and she ran away, woe, woe is me (yea yea yea!)
She says she's feeling so much better (so much better)
She says the air tastes so much sweeter (so much sweeter) since she left me
Since she left me, since she left me, since she left me...
In time she might see how foolish she was for leaving me
Might take a bruise or two before she longs for my abuse
Running away was easy, I guess, but you left my chest a hollowed out mess
Was it so hard to talk about the stuff that I couldn't figure out?
Might take a bruise or two before she longs for my abuse
Running away was easy, I guess, but you left my mind a sloppy mess
Was it so hard to talk about the stuff that I could not figure out?
Woe, woe is me, she took her things and she ran away, woe, woe is me (yea yea yea!)
She says she's feeling so much better
She says the air tastes so much sweeter since she left me
Sometime I might suspect that the cause couldn't be as bad as the effect
Crazy girls which I seem to collect and scribble down notes like a science project
Your argument has no defense, its' a big fat lie built on false pretense
But now I roam from home to work singing songs about you and feeling like a jerk
Woe, woe is me, she took her things and she ran away, woe, woe is me (yea yea yea!)
She says she's feeling so much better (so much better)
She says the air tastes so much sweeter (so much sweeter) since she left me
Since she left me, since she left me, since she left me...
In time she might see how foolish she was for leaving me
Might take a bruise or two before she longs for my abuse
Running away was easy, I guess, but you left my chest a hollowed out mess
Was it so hard to talk about the stuff that I couldn't figure out?
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Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman
Dreamwalker
Silent Planet
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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.
Blue
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“Blue” is a song about a love that is persisting in the discomfort of the person experiencing the emotion. Ed Sheeran reflects on love lost, and although he wishes his former partner find happiness, he cannot but admit his feelings are still very much there. He expresses the realization that he might never find another on this stringed instrumental by Aaron Dessner.
Punchline
Ed Sheeran
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Ed Sheeran sings about missing his former partner and learning important life lessons in the process on “Punchline.” This track tells a story of battling to get rid of emotions for a former lover, whom he now realized might not have loved him the same way. He’s now caught between accepting that fact and learning life lessons from it and going back to beg her for another chance.
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.
hell yeah. even though this is break up song, it is still great to listen to in the car with 4 great friends the windows down and the volume up.