"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.
[Wyclef (Lauryn Hill)]
Yes, Refugee Camp (Yeah, Yeah Refugee Camp uh! Ah!)
Yo, It never stops, what?!
We comin' back! (Murder that boy!)
Ninety seven to two thousand, check it! (Ha! Ha! La!)
[Wyclef]
Jericho sound
No Woman No Cry (We 'bout to set it!)
Yes! Yes! (We 'bout to set it!)
Yo! We 'bout to set it! (L-Boogie, yes yo, what?!)
We 'bout to set it! (We 'bout to set it!)
Yes! We 'bout to set it! (We 'bout to set it!)
[Verse 1: Lauryn Hill]
Yo, L won't take the mark though I swim with sharks
I make the dark see the light
Board the ark for forty nights
Times reveal a broken seal, like a (pause) fiend steal
You for fake, I'm for real, like Jesus Christ's last meal
You make deals with devils
The soul descends infinite levels
Pray to God I see the next, re-scripture in Holy text then
ask to be forgiven for premarital sex
In the same breath I speak with death about the times
and how many joined his army over bullshit rhymes
You see L change the topic, clear as fiber-optics
Make talk about your clothes become microscopic decisions
Young bitches in prison, messing 'round with that life
Thug, drug dealer wife
Consequence cut like a knife, then we learned that
only Jah and God can protect
You know the story, housing projects is purgatory
So, teach the youths they got more rights than Miranda
Tell 'em this whole shit is propaganda! Word!
[Wyclef]
Yo, sound system, you know what I'm sayin'?
Jericho Sound, system!
Turn up your sound, systems!
[Verse 2: Wyclef]
Yo, here he comes down the road
A black Maserati, what up Raheem? (What up? What up? What up?)
He never fought unless necessary
You shot at? He shot back
The whole block felt the bang
Last man to fight with his fists his name was Jackie Chan
Not Charles Brownson
Once you hear the whistle, even Grandmas is stackin' up on old wooden pistols
Nobody's thinking by the time you're done blinking
Cold freezer, so your body won't be stinkin'
Read the will, he left the bills for his daughter Soleil
Last words written just before he got killed
Woman cry (Crying)
Why wasn't I the one?
Not knowing, the omen was her son Damien! (Demonic voice in background)
Father forgive 'em, for they know not what they done
Their meaning of fun is who can draw the quicker gun
Easy with the fizi
Second rate the violence
Those who disagree hear your ashes blow in silence!
[Wyclef]
Yo! Turn up your sound system!
This is the Refugee Camp!
Jericho Sound System!
Know what I'm sayin'?
Te Bass production!
Refugee Camp collaboration!
Turn up your sound system!
Come on! Turn up your boom system!
This is how we do, turn it up, come on!
[Verse 3: Prakazrel]
From the heart of Kingston, to the streets of Brooklyn-Marcy
All the way to the highest peak of any frequency, uh!
Illegal aliens, them all run invasions
Broadcasting all over your radio stations (radio station!)
Mathematics, lead me to believe
there's mysteries in numbers
Lightning and thunder
Enough, ribbons in the sky (ribbon in the sky!)
To make Stevie Wonder
and man it works, to say I come from down under (come from down under!)
The wiz kid got no ride
You frontin' at the bar (you frontin' at the bar!)
You ain't a star
You rolled up in somebody else's car (you rolled up in somebody else's car!)
You know the deal! BMW, Black Man Walking, came home your
Timberlands was talkin'! (uh huh)
(Addressing Jeru) Niggas jealous 'cause the truth I said in Zealots
Well let me tell it, Without Premier you couldn't sell it!
[Lauryn]
Murder that boy!
[Wyclef]
We 'bout to set it, Yes! Yes!
Jericho Sound!
L-Boogie you know what I'm sayin?
We gonna come like Star Wars, you know what I'm saying?
We 'bout to set it!
Nineteen ninety seven to the year two thousand and one!
Ichi-Bang! Even in Japan!
Yo, L you know the flavor!
Battle star galactical!
Who want to battle?! Battle star galactical!
Come on! You know the flavor!
Jericho Allstars
(Something in Creole)
You know what I'm saying? You know, like the V
Remember V, the old show we used to watch that?
Yo, you know what I mean?! We 'bout to set it!
Know what I'm sayin'! We 'bout to take y'all, you know what I'm sayin'?!
Remember Mork & Mindy? We used to sit back, Happy Days
you know what I'm saying? We 'bout to set it, but yo!
Kids ain't playin' that no more, know what I'm sayin'?
Niggas packin' pistols, once you hear the whistle, we 'bout to set it!
You know what I mean? Yo! You know the flavor! You know what I mean?!
Yo man! You know what I'm saying?!
Good Times, J.J
Yes, Refugee Camp (Yeah, Yeah Refugee Camp uh! Ah!)
Yo, It never stops, what?!
We comin' back! (Murder that boy!)
Ninety seven to two thousand, check it! (Ha! Ha! La!)
[Wyclef]
Jericho sound
No Woman No Cry (We 'bout to set it!)
Yes! Yes! (We 'bout to set it!)
Yo! We 'bout to set it! (L-Boogie, yes yo, what?!)
We 'bout to set it! (We 'bout to set it!)
Yes! We 'bout to set it! (We 'bout to set it!)
[Verse 1: Lauryn Hill]
Yo, L won't take the mark though I swim with sharks
I make the dark see the light
Board the ark for forty nights
Times reveal a broken seal, like a (pause) fiend steal
You for fake, I'm for real, like Jesus Christ's last meal
You make deals with devils
The soul descends infinite levels
Pray to God I see the next, re-scripture in Holy text then
ask to be forgiven for premarital sex
In the same breath I speak with death about the times
and how many joined his army over bullshit rhymes
You see L change the topic, clear as fiber-optics
Make talk about your clothes become microscopic decisions
Young bitches in prison, messing 'round with that life
Thug, drug dealer wife
Consequence cut like a knife, then we learned that
only Jah and God can protect
You know the story, housing projects is purgatory
So, teach the youths they got more rights than Miranda
Tell 'em this whole shit is propaganda! Word!
[Wyclef]
Yo, sound system, you know what I'm sayin'?
Jericho Sound, system!
Turn up your sound, systems!
[Verse 2: Wyclef]
Yo, here he comes down the road
A black Maserati, what up Raheem? (What up? What up? What up?)
He never fought unless necessary
You shot at? He shot back
The whole block felt the bang
Last man to fight with his fists his name was Jackie Chan
Not Charles Brownson
Once you hear the whistle, even Grandmas is stackin' up on old wooden pistols
Nobody's thinking by the time you're done blinking
Cold freezer, so your body won't be stinkin'
Read the will, he left the bills for his daughter Soleil
Last words written just before he got killed
Woman cry (Crying)
Why wasn't I the one?
Not knowing, the omen was her son Damien! (Demonic voice in background)
Father forgive 'em, for they know not what they done
Their meaning of fun is who can draw the quicker gun
Easy with the fizi
Second rate the violence
Those who disagree hear your ashes blow in silence!
[Wyclef]
Yo! Turn up your sound system!
This is the Refugee Camp!
Jericho Sound System!
Know what I'm sayin'?
Te Bass production!
Refugee Camp collaboration!
Turn up your sound system!
Come on! Turn up your boom system!
This is how we do, turn it up, come on!
[Verse 3: Prakazrel]
From the heart of Kingston, to the streets of Brooklyn-Marcy
All the way to the highest peak of any frequency, uh!
Illegal aliens, them all run invasions
Broadcasting all over your radio stations (radio station!)
Mathematics, lead me to believe
there's mysteries in numbers
Lightning and thunder
Enough, ribbons in the sky (ribbon in the sky!)
To make Stevie Wonder
and man it works, to say I come from down under (come from down under!)
The wiz kid got no ride
You frontin' at the bar (you frontin' at the bar!)
You ain't a star
You rolled up in somebody else's car (you rolled up in somebody else's car!)
You know the deal! BMW, Black Man Walking, came home your
Timberlands was talkin'! (uh huh)
(Addressing Jeru) Niggas jealous 'cause the truth I said in Zealots
Well let me tell it, Without Premier you couldn't sell it!
[Lauryn]
Murder that boy!
[Wyclef]
We 'bout to set it, Yes! Yes!
Jericho Sound!
L-Boogie you know what I'm sayin?
We gonna come like Star Wars, you know what I'm saying?
We 'bout to set it!
Nineteen ninety seven to the year two thousand and one!
Ichi-Bang! Even in Japan!
Yo, L you know the flavor!
Battle star galactical!
Who want to battle?! Battle star galactical!
Come on! You know the flavor!
Jericho Allstars
(Something in Creole)
You know what I'm saying? You know, like the V
Remember V, the old show we used to watch that?
Yo, you know what I mean?! We 'bout to set it!
Know what I'm sayin'! We 'bout to take y'all, you know what I'm sayin'?!
Remember Mork & Mindy? We used to sit back, Happy Days
you know what I'm saying? We 'bout to set it, but yo!
Kids ain't playin' that no more, know what I'm sayin'?
Niggas packin' pistols, once you hear the whistle, we 'bout to set it!
You know what I mean? Yo! You know the flavor! You know what I mean?!
Yo man! You know what I'm saying?!
Good Times, J.J
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Fast Car
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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"
Mental Istid
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This is one of my favorite songs. https://fnfgo.io
Mountain Song
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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.