"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.
A declaration of independence, the other person has cleared
Understand the perspective, get the directive, and realise our fears
We are simply trying to connect nowadays, but does anybody want to know?
I'm finding it hard, putting feelings into words, another chapter remains unwrote
They say, we are standing firmly in the rain, simply waiting for it to stop
They said that we should build new umbrellas because we are stuck in our own rut
I say, blow away the rain clouds, for the new horizon is crystal clear
Its took sometime, but we’re on the right track - now where do we go from here?
Sick and tired of worthless statements, pissed off with the same old songs
You stuff your moral rule book, of what's allowed, what’s right and wrong
Oh yes, there's those who only criticise yet offer nothing new, solutions? Ideas?
No, just rake up shit what a clever thing to do
We must strive on for what we know is right
We know all too well there's no end in sight
But human nature is still on our side
As the politicians fall into landslide
We’re out on the street, feeling the beat
Of the hearts in anger at the upper crust elite
Who don’t hear us scream or beg for a halt
Or when we weep over what their society aborts
1981-President Reagan and the Pope face assassins’ bullets and escape with their lives. But in Cairo, Sadat dies in a hail of automatic fire, from Brixton to Belfast riots rage and fires burn. The royal wedding of Prince Charles is celebrated. In America, the skies roar as Columbia the first space shuttle blasts off but as winter descends, so does the chilling news of martial law in Poland.
1982-Argentina invades Falklands. Speilberg captures our imaginations. Unemployment rises above three million, and with the threat of cruise missiles, twenty thousand women go to war to safeguard peace. Britain gets its fourth TV station; Princess Diana gives us a royal heir. The IRA bring horror to Hyde Park. Breshnev dies in Russia and Israel invades Lebanon.
1983-As protestors get into their stride at Greenham, Ronald Reagan promises to make Star Wars a frightening reality. Back on earth, the Soviets admit to shooting down a Korean Airliner. Maggie Thatcher triumphs again and America’s first woman astronaut is in space. For Grenada it’s an American invasion.
1984-After twelve weeks the striking miners still battle on and in Brighton the PM and cabinet narrowly escape death as an IRA bomb rips through the Grand Hotel. Yvonne Fletcher is gunned down and her murderer flies away a free man. Rajiv Gandhi fights to save his country after the assassination of his mother. Millions face starvation in Ethiopia.
1985-Mikhail Gorbachev is Soviet leader, while shouts of "scab" greet miners. Unions vote to end the national strike. The Rainbow Warrior of Greenpeace is damaged in New Zealand by two bombs. Live Aid rocks the world for the hungry. A policeman is hacked to death in London. Reagan in Geneva said the world is now a safer place.
1986-Space Shuttle explodes on take off. Swedish PM is shot dead in the street. The pickets clash in Wapping. Reagan bombs Libya (keep your head down). Russian nuclear reactor is ablaze.
1987-Beirut gunmen attack UN. Argentinean President ends arm revolt. Gorbachev makes new offer on arms cuts. Iraqi exocet blasts US Frigate. Thatcher is elected for a third term. In Britain "Spycatcher" is banned, but anyone can buy it in America. A storm hits the Stock Market on Black Monday.
1988-SAS gunmen gun down IRA unit in Gibraltar. Mitterand returns as French President. US war ships shoot down as Iranian Airliner. Bush is elected as US President. Thatcher speaks for Polish freedom. Britain is shocked by two disasters in nine days and Edwina resigns over a storm in an eggcup.
1989-Berlin wall is torn down, freedom sweeps the East. In China, a light of hope in Tiannamen Square is extinguished. In Romania, people fight against the dictator Ceaucescu and with his death they win. For once it seems a hope and good can prevail.
1990-Saddam Hussein invades Kuwait. UN troops leave to face the unknown horrors of modern warfare. Mandela is freed. The Soviet pulls out of Czechoslovakia and Maggie Thatcher resigns.
1991-The waiting is over, the Gulf explodes never has such a powerful force been unleashed against one nation. The bombardment against Iraq is relentless, the end comes quickly. As the victorious survivors celebrate, for some the battle against grief is just beginning. Yellow Ribbons are everywhere with the release of John McCarthy; it seems at last the world is changing for the better. Terry Waite’s smile inspires millions and in Russia Yelstein replaces Gorbachev. In Yugoslavia civil war rages. Robert Maxwell makes the biggest splash and the IRA bomb Downing Street.
Conflict after conflict. Now it’s just the bare bones of what we are
A vicious circle in an open ended struggle
Life goes on as if all around is not relevant
As we look through closed eyes we try and understand
If we had a view, what would it show?
We’re stuck in a room that has no view
And so are you ... or are you? Well are you?
Understand the perspective, get the directive, and realise our fears
We are simply trying to connect nowadays, but does anybody want to know?
I'm finding it hard, putting feelings into words, another chapter remains unwrote
They say, we are standing firmly in the rain, simply waiting for it to stop
They said that we should build new umbrellas because we are stuck in our own rut
I say, blow away the rain clouds, for the new horizon is crystal clear
Its took sometime, but we’re on the right track - now where do we go from here?
Sick and tired of worthless statements, pissed off with the same old songs
You stuff your moral rule book, of what's allowed, what’s right and wrong
Oh yes, there's those who only criticise yet offer nothing new, solutions? Ideas?
No, just rake up shit what a clever thing to do
We must strive on for what we know is right
We know all too well there's no end in sight
But human nature is still on our side
As the politicians fall into landslide
We’re out on the street, feeling the beat
Of the hearts in anger at the upper crust elite
Who don’t hear us scream or beg for a halt
Or when we weep over what their society aborts
1981-President Reagan and the Pope face assassins’ bullets and escape with their lives. But in Cairo, Sadat dies in a hail of automatic fire, from Brixton to Belfast riots rage and fires burn. The royal wedding of Prince Charles is celebrated. In America, the skies roar as Columbia the first space shuttle blasts off but as winter descends, so does the chilling news of martial law in Poland.
1982-Argentina invades Falklands. Speilberg captures our imaginations. Unemployment rises above three million, and with the threat of cruise missiles, twenty thousand women go to war to safeguard peace. Britain gets its fourth TV station; Princess Diana gives us a royal heir. The IRA bring horror to Hyde Park. Breshnev dies in Russia and Israel invades Lebanon.
1983-As protestors get into their stride at Greenham, Ronald Reagan promises to make Star Wars a frightening reality. Back on earth, the Soviets admit to shooting down a Korean Airliner. Maggie Thatcher triumphs again and America’s first woman astronaut is in space. For Grenada it’s an American invasion.
1984-After twelve weeks the striking miners still battle on and in Brighton the PM and cabinet narrowly escape death as an IRA bomb rips through the Grand Hotel. Yvonne Fletcher is gunned down and her murderer flies away a free man. Rajiv Gandhi fights to save his country after the assassination of his mother. Millions face starvation in Ethiopia.
1985-Mikhail Gorbachev is Soviet leader, while shouts of "scab" greet miners. Unions vote to end the national strike. The Rainbow Warrior of Greenpeace is damaged in New Zealand by two bombs. Live Aid rocks the world for the hungry. A policeman is hacked to death in London. Reagan in Geneva said the world is now a safer place.
1986-Space Shuttle explodes on take off. Swedish PM is shot dead in the street. The pickets clash in Wapping. Reagan bombs Libya (keep your head down). Russian nuclear reactor is ablaze.
1987-Beirut gunmen attack UN. Argentinean President ends arm revolt. Gorbachev makes new offer on arms cuts. Iraqi exocet blasts US Frigate. Thatcher is elected for a third term. In Britain "Spycatcher" is banned, but anyone can buy it in America. A storm hits the Stock Market on Black Monday.
1988-SAS gunmen gun down IRA unit in Gibraltar. Mitterand returns as French President. US war ships shoot down as Iranian Airliner. Bush is elected as US President. Thatcher speaks for Polish freedom. Britain is shocked by two disasters in nine days and Edwina resigns over a storm in an eggcup.
1989-Berlin wall is torn down, freedom sweeps the East. In China, a light of hope in Tiannamen Square is extinguished. In Romania, people fight against the dictator Ceaucescu and with his death they win. For once it seems a hope and good can prevail.
1990-Saddam Hussein invades Kuwait. UN troops leave to face the unknown horrors of modern warfare. Mandela is freed. The Soviet pulls out of Czechoslovakia and Maggie Thatcher resigns.
1991-The waiting is over, the Gulf explodes never has such a powerful force been unleashed against one nation. The bombardment against Iraq is relentless, the end comes quickly. As the victorious survivors celebrate, for some the battle against grief is just beginning. Yellow Ribbons are everywhere with the release of John McCarthy; it seems at last the world is changing for the better. Terry Waite’s smile inspires millions and in Russia Yelstein replaces Gorbachev. In Yugoslavia civil war rages. Robert Maxwell makes the biggest splash and the IRA bomb Downing Street.
Conflict after conflict. Now it’s just the bare bones of what we are
A vicious circle in an open ended struggle
Life goes on as if all around is not relevant
As we look through closed eyes we try and understand
If we had a view, what would it show?
We’re stuck in a room that has no view
And so are you ... or are you? Well are you?
Lyrics submitted by dragonflower44
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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"
Bron-Y-Aur Stomp
Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin
This is about bronies. They communicate by stomping.
Mountain Song
Jane's Addiction
Jane's Addiction
Jane's Addiction vocalist Perry Farrell gives Adam Reader some heartfelt insight into Jane’s Addiction's hard rock manifesto "Mountain Song", which was the second single from their revolutionary album Nothing's Shocking. Mountain song was first recorded in 1986 and appeared on the soundtrack to the film Dudes starring Jon Cryer. The version on Nothing's Shocking was re-recorded in 1988.
"'Mountain Song' was actually about... I hate to say it but... drugs. Climbing this mountain and getting as high as you can, and then coming down that mountain," reveals Farrell. "What it feels to descend from the mountain top... not easy at all. The ascension is tough but exhilarating. Getting down is... it's a real bummer. Drugs is not for everybody obviously. For me, I wanted to experience the heights, and the lows come along with it."
"There's a part - 'Cash in now honey, cash in Miss Smith.' Miss Smith is my Mother; our last name was Smith. Cashing in when she cashed in her life. So... she decided that, to her... at that time, she was desperate. Life wasn't worth it for her, that was her opinion. Some people think, never take your life, and some people find that their life isn't worth living. She was in love with my Dad, and my Dad was not faithful to her, and it broke her heart. She was very desperate and she did something that I know she regrets."
Plastic Bag
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
“Plastic Bag” is a song about searching for an escape from personal problems and hoping to find it in the lively atmosphere of a Saturday night party. Ed Sheeran tells the story of his friend and the myriad of troubles he is going through. Unable to find any solutions, this friend seeks a last resort in a party and the vanity that comes with it.
“I overthink and have trouble sleepin’ / All purpose gone and don’t have a reason / And there’s no doctor to stop this bleedin’ / So I left home and jumped in the deep end,” Ed Sheeran sings in verse one. He continues by adding that this person is feeling the weight of having disappointed his father and doesn’t have any friends to rely on in this difficult moment. In the second verse, Ed sings about the role of grief in his friend’s plight and his dwindling faith in prayer. “Saturday night is givin’ me a reason to rely on the strobe lights / The lifeline of a promise in a shot glass, and I’ll take that / If you’re givin’ out love from a plastic bag,” Ed sings on the chorus, as his friend turns to new vices in hopes of feeling better.