"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.
You were the one,
You were my everything
Never apart,
No one in-between
Then one day,
When you went your own way
You felt justified,
And I was mortified
But today
You are just a picture
And a thousand memories
Is all I take with me
'cause your smile
Is just too much to see
You're just a thousand memories
Fantasies, broken dreams
Reveries, sordid histories
Following my heart,
Laden with reaction,
Without calibration or design
Committed to a trial,
A life of understanding
Can't somebody show a sign to you?
For me, to see if you only knew
That you were the one
Cause a picture is worth
One thousand memories
You were my everything
Never apart,
No one in-between
Then one day,
When you went your own way
You felt justified,
And I was mortified
But today
You are just a picture
And a thousand memories
Is all I take with me
'cause your smile
Is just too much to see
You're just a thousand memories
Fantasies, broken dreams
Reveries, sordid histories
Following my heart,
Laden with reaction,
Without calibration or design
Committed to a trial,
A life of understanding
Can't somebody show a sign to you?
For me, to see if you only knew
That you were the one
Cause a picture is worth
One thousand memories
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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"
No Surprises
Radiohead
Radiohead
Same ideas expressed in Fitter, Happier are expressed in this song. We're told to strive for some sort of ideal life, which includes getting a good job, being kind to everyone, finding a partner, getting married, having a couple kids, living in a quiet neighborhood in a nice big house, etc. But in Fitter, Happier the narrator(?) realizes that it's incredibly robotic to live this life. People are being used by those in power "like a pig in a cage on antibiotics"--being pacified with things like new phones and cool gadgets and houses while being sucked dry. On No Surprises, the narrator is realizing how this life is killing him slowly. In the video, his helmet is slowly filling up with water, drowning him. But he's so complacent with it. This is a good summary of the song. This boring, "perfect" life foisted upon us by some higher powers (not spiritual, but political, economic, etc. politicians and businessmen, perhaps) is not the way to live. But there is seemingly no way out but death. He'd rather die peacefully right now than live in this cage. While our lives are often shielded, we're in our own protective bubbles, or protective helmets like the one Thom wears, if we look a little harder we can see all the corruption, lies, manipulation, etc. that is going on in the world, often run by huge yet nearly invisible organizations, corporations, and 'leaders'. It's a very hopeless song because it reflects real life.
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.
American Town
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran shares a short story of reconnecting with an old flame on “American Town.” The track is about a holiday Ed Sheeran spends with his countrywoman who resides in America. The two are back together after a long period apart, and get around to enjoying a bunch of fun activities while rekindling the flames of their romance.
Love the melody and the lyrics/meaning. If they had 100 songs like these, then it would suck. But BR is definatly not a band about hearts being broken. So this is a nice little tune to me.
this is one hella a song
yeah welll i think this song is very good and well so is bad religion there so fucking cool
This is a cool song, I'm not too hot on the melody though...the words are pretty cool, just about this gal leaves this guy and he is devastated, and now that she's gone all he has left of her are memories, which in the end are all we really have of anybody...sniff, it's so sad....
This is a song about unrequited love, something that all of us fear in a relationship, whether it be our first love, or our 30th. Thinking that all of your love is not returned, it's a sense of insecurity in the deepest sense. That's what I think it's all about. The singer loved "her" too much, and she just couldn't return it.
I heard this song was about a specific relationship that one of the band had with someone...can't remember who though now.
Madcappunk, i'd have to differ with you on the melody, i think it's great!
probly greg coming out to someone of his past. or about a relationship and how pictures are worth alot i guess
Around this time Greg Graffin was going through a very messy divorce, this song is about his ex-wife. If you listen to his solo album, American Lesion, there's a lot of this type of stuff.
American Lesion is a work of pure genius if no one has it yet you won't regret it.
Yes it is a great album, Some sad songs about heartbreak and some about redemption. Sounds very human and vulnerable.
Greg, you know I love you, but, what the fuck were you thinking when you wrote this? How cliche and boring. I HATE THIS SONG.