"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.
Bangin' this bolo tight on this solo flight
Can't fight alone
Funk tha track my verbs fly like tha
Family stone
Tha pen devils set that stage for tha
War at home
Locked wit out a wage ya standin' in tha drop
Zone
The clockers born startin' at an empty plate
Momma's torn hands cover her sunken face
We hungry but them belly full
The structure is set ya neva change it with a
Ballot pull
In tha ruins there's a network for tha toxic
Rock
Shool yard ta precinct, suburb ta
Project block
Bosses broke south for new flesh and
A factory floor
The remains left chained to the
Powder war
Can't waste a day when the night brings
A hearse
So make a move an plead the fifth 'cuse ya
Can't plead the first
Can't waste a day when the night brings
A hearse
So now I'm rollin' down rodeo wit a
Shot gun these people ain't seen a
Brown skin man since their grandparents bought
One
Bare witness to tha sickest shot while suckas
Get romantic
They gonna send us campin' like they did my man
Fred Hampton
Still we're lampin' still clockin' dirt for our
Sweat
A ballots dead so bullets what I get
A thousand years you had the tools
We should be taken 'em
Fuck tha g ride I want the machines that are
Makin' em
Our target straight wit a room full of armed
Pawn to
Off tha kings out tha west side at dawn
The rungs torn from the ladder can't reach the
Tumor
One God, one market, one truth, one consumer
Just a quiet peaceful dance
For things we will never have
Can't fight alone
Funk tha track my verbs fly like tha
Family stone
Tha pen devils set that stage for tha
War at home
Locked wit out a wage ya standin' in tha drop
Zone
The clockers born startin' at an empty plate
Momma's torn hands cover her sunken face
We hungry but them belly full
The structure is set ya neva change it with a
Ballot pull
In tha ruins there's a network for tha toxic
Rock
Shool yard ta precinct, suburb ta
Project block
Bosses broke south for new flesh and
A factory floor
The remains left chained to the
Powder war
Can't waste a day when the night brings
A hearse
So make a move an plead the fifth 'cuse ya
Can't plead the first
Can't waste a day when the night brings
A hearse
So now I'm rollin' down rodeo wit a
Shot gun these people ain't seen a
Brown skin man since their grandparents bought
One
Bare witness to tha sickest shot while suckas
Get romantic
They gonna send us campin' like they did my man
Fred Hampton
Still we're lampin' still clockin' dirt for our
Sweat
A ballots dead so bullets what I get
A thousand years you had the tools
We should be taken 'em
Fuck tha g ride I want the machines that are
Makin' em
Our target straight wit a room full of armed
Pawn to
Off tha kings out tha west side at dawn
The rungs torn from the ladder can't reach the
Tumor
One God, one market, one truth, one consumer
Just a quiet peaceful dance
For things we will never have
Lyrics submitted by piesupreme
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Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman
Gentle Hour
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,
When We Were Young
Blink-182
Blink-182
This is a sequel to 2001's "Reckless Abandon", and features the band looking back on their clumsy youth fondly.
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.
Just A Little Lovin'
Dusty Springfield
Dusty Springfield
I don't think it's necessarily about sex. It's about wanting to start the day with some love and affection. Maybe a warm cuddle. I'm not alone in interpreting it that way! For example:
"'Just a Little Lovin’ is a timeless country song originally recorded by Eddy Arnold in 1954. The song, written by Eddie Miller and Jimmy Campbell, explores the delicate nuances of love and showcases Arnold’s emotive vocals. It delves into the universal theme of love and how even the smallest gesture of affection can have a profound impact on our lives." https://oldtimemusic.com/the-meaning-behind-the-song-just-a-little-lovin-by-eddy-arnold/
Rodeo is one of the richest streets in Beverly Hills... all the upscale shops and such... (and it is the right song, they just missed a couple lines). The song is mostly about the difference between the millionares that shop on the street and the poor that make the stuff...