"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.
Bended knee
Nine years old
Waitin' for
Just one word!
I was thinkin' of all the things
My daddy told me of
Sin and salvation and
Manhood and dignity
All that time
In the dark
Just one word
Backslider!
I remember the day I stepped
Into the water
My daddy held me in his hands
And pushed my head under
And said
Son I am
So proud.
Just one word
Backslider!
Well I opened my eyes
And my daddy held me in his hands
I looked up through the water
And thought I saw Jesus, and then
Well I threw up my hands!
And I heard, Amen!
And I prayed, sweet Jesus
Don't let me become a backslider!
Nine years old
Waitin' for
Just one word!
I was thinkin' of all the things
My daddy told me of
Sin and salvation and
Manhood and dignity
All that time
In the dark
Just one word
Backslider!
I remember the day I stepped
Into the water
My daddy held me in his hands
And pushed my head under
And said
Son I am
So proud.
Just one word
Backslider!
Well I opened my eyes
And my daddy held me in his hands
I looked up through the water
And thought I saw Jesus, and then
Well I threw up my hands!
And I heard, Amen!
And I prayed, sweet Jesus
Don't let me become a backslider!
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Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
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This is one of my favorite songs. https://fnfgo.io
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Overall about difficult moments of disappointment and vulnerability. Having hope and longing, while remaining optimistic for the future. Encourages the belief that with each new morning there is a chance for things to improve.
The chorus offers a glimmer of optimism and a chance at a resolution and redemption in the future.
Captures the rollercoaster of emotions of feeling lost while loving someone who is not there for you, feeling let down and abandoned while waiting for a lover. Lost with no direction, "Now I'm up in the air with the rain in my hair, Nowhere to go, I can go anywhere"
The bridge shows signs of longing and a plea for companionship. The Lyrics express a desire for authentic connection and the importance of Loving someone just as they are. "Just in passing, I'm not asking. That you be anyone but you”
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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.
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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,
I agree with arctic tundra but I'd like to add that for me it sounds like fear. Fear to being that backslider. And with that fear instilled into you, you'll try anything to not be one. Being brought up in an ultra christian home, my whole life was church and god and christ and all that. As a joined a cultish organization, that fear intensified until I could see that it controlled my whole life. I'm not longer a christian but I think I can understand those that literally feel the fear of death every minute of their lives if they don't do what they're told. One of my faves for sure.