"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.
Every morning, it's a new surprise
don't know who I am before I roll the dice
the options is the only thing that I decide
you see, I live for the moment now
I never did before, with all and everything I sweap the floor
random I am, I never give a damn about what's gonna happen next
my wife and kids they left me and my job is just a memory
but that's the kind of price you've got to pay
if you're gonna go your own way
solving problems can be done in many ways
I don't care, I don't care, I don't care
I don't care, I don't care, I don't care
I just roll the dice.
Get rid of all the habits now that's the plan
come on and try it and you'll feel grand
the first step is the hardest step to take
imagination is the only brake
just roll the dice and everything will turn out nice
you can be who you want to be
do what you want to do and do it how you like
this is my way of getting through the day
I don't care, I don't care, I don't care
I don't care, I don't care, I don't care
It's okay, cause I just have to pretend
It's okay, cause I just have to pretend
that I am someone else
Woah, Whoah
don't know who I am before I roll the dice
the options is the only thing that I decide
you see, I live for the moment now
I never did before, with all and everything I sweap the floor
random I am, I never give a damn about what's gonna happen next
my wife and kids they left me and my job is just a memory
but that's the kind of price you've got to pay
if you're gonna go your own way
solving problems can be done in many ways
I don't care, I don't care, I don't care
I don't care, I don't care, I don't care
I just roll the dice.
Get rid of all the habits now that's the plan
come on and try it and you'll feel grand
the first step is the hardest step to take
imagination is the only brake
just roll the dice and everything will turn out nice
you can be who you want to be
do what you want to do and do it how you like
this is my way of getting through the day
I don't care, I don't care, I don't care
I don't care, I don't care, I don't care
It's okay, cause I just have to pretend
It's okay, cause I just have to pretend
that I am someone else
Woah, Whoah
Lyrics submitted by black_cow_of_death
Random I Am Lyrics as written by Fredrik Larzon Erik Ohlsson
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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Fast Car
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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.
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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,
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Plastic Bag
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“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.
this song is about Diceliving. A book writern in the earily 70's called "the Dice Man" which is about a guy who starts living his life by the roll of the dice, thats where the line "don't know who I am before I roll the dice, the options is the only thing that I decide". its a really cool book and i was stoked to find the link after loving the song for almost ten years now!!! live by the die!