"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.
This is my right, a right given by god
To live a free life, to live in freedom
We talkin' about freedom
Talkin' bout freedom
I will fight, for the right
To live in freedom
Anyone, who wants to take it away
Will have to answer, cause this is my right
We talkin' about freedom
Talkin' bout freedom
I will fight, for the right
To live in freedom, ah yeah, c'mon now
You talkin' about freedom
Were talkin' bout freedom
I will fight, for the right
To live in freedom
Everybody talkin' bout freedom
Talkin' bout freedom
I will fight, for the right
To live in freedom
To live a free life, to live in freedom
We talkin' about freedom
Talkin' bout freedom
I will fight, for the right
To live in freedom
Anyone, who wants to take it away
Will have to answer, cause this is my right
We talkin' about freedom
Talkin' bout freedom
I will fight, for the right
To live in freedom, ah yeah, c'mon now
You talkin' about freedom
Were talkin' bout freedom
I will fight, for the right
To live in freedom
Everybody talkin' bout freedom
Talkin' bout freedom
I will fight, for the right
To live in freedom
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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,
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.
American Town
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran shares a short story of reconnecting with an old flame on “American Town.” The track is about a holiday Ed Sheeran spends with his countrywoman who resides in America. The two are back together after a long period apart, and get around to enjoying a bunch of fun activities while rekindling the flames of their romance.
Page
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
There aren’t many things that’ll hurt more than giving love a chance against your better judgement only to have your heart crushed yet again. Ed Sheeran tells such a story on “Page.” On this track, he is devastated to have lost his lover and even more saddened by the feeling that he may never move on from this.
this song is simple but catchy and i love it! paul was awesome to write this and be there for us during 9-11. macca rules!!
i just went to see the McCartney concert a few days ago. it was AWESOME!!! totally great concert
All I remember when I hear this is Paul singing this at Super bowl 36.
Ha ha ha this song sux. And to think this guy used to be the frontman for the most famous rock band.
I like to think that McCartney tried to write an absolutely atrocious cliche-ridden song as if to say "in the free world, I can poison your ears with this aural cancer, we need some authoritarian action guys." But yes. I know I'm deluding myself.
Anyway, the meaning is "hey guys, doesn't freedom rock?" And thats about it.
It's great that Paul wanted to raise people's spirits after 9/11, and for the time he had to write it, this song isn't terrible. It isn't great however, and it certainly doesn't deserve to make any sort of greatest hits collection. The lyrics are, quite frankly, rather stupid. But I've got to give the guy a break. Most rock & rollers wouldn't even think of doing something like this. Macca did. So he does deserve some credit.
"Freedom" is a song written and recorded by Paul McCartney in response to the September 11 attacks in 2001. McCartney was in New York City at the time of the attacks, and actually witnessed the destruction while sitting in a plane, which was parked on the tarmac at New York's John F. Kennedy Airport
McCartney, who said the attacks affected him emotionally, wrote the song the day after the attack. In the song, the narrator declares freedom to be a "right given by God" that he will "fight for." The lyrics were thus in seeming contradiction with the antiwar sentiment associated with McCartney's former act, The Beatles.But at The Concert for New York City where he first played the song live, McCartney explained to the crowd, "It's about freedom. That's one thing these people don't understand. That's worth fighting for.In a later interview McCartney commented, "to me it's a 'We Shall Overcome.' That's sort of how I wrote it. It's like, 'Hey, I've got freedom, I'm an immigrant coming to America, give me your huddled masses.' And that's what it means to me, is, 'Don't mess with my rights, buddy. Because I'm now free.'"In mentioning God in his lyrics, McCartney joined former Beatles bandmates John Lennon and George Harrison in writing a song referencing God.