"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, I wanna tell you, is the Trenchtown experience
All the way from Trenchtown, Jamaica
Bob Marley and the Wailers, come on!
One good thing about music, when it hits you feel no pain
One good thing about music, when it hits you feel no pain
So hit me with music, hit me with music now, yeah
Hit me with music, hit me with music now, got to say
(Trenchtown rock) I say don't watch that
(Trenchtown rock) big fish or sprat
(Trenchtown rock) you reap what you sow
(Trenchtown rock) and everyone know now
(Trenchtown rock) don't turn your back
(Trenchtown rock) give the slum a try
(Trenchtown rock) never let the children cry
(Trenchtown rock) 'cause you got to tell Jah-Jah why you're
(Grooving) Kingston 12
(Grooving) Kingston 12
(Grooving) whoa, whoa, whoa, it's Kingston 12
(Grooving) it's Kingston 12
No want you fe galang so
No want you fe galang so
You want come cold I up
But you can't come cold I up
'Cause I'm grooving, yes I'm grooving
I say one good thing, one good thing
When it hits you feel no pain
One good thing about music
When it hits you feel no pain
So hit me with music
Hit me with music now
Hit me with music, hit me with music, now look at that
(Trenchtown rock) I say don't watch that
(Trenchtown rock) if you big fish or sprat
(Trenchtown rock) you reap what you sow
(Trenchtown rock) and everyone know now
(Trenchtown rock) don't turn your back
(Trenchtown rock) give the slum a try
(Trenchtown rock) never let the children cry
(Trenchtown rock) 'cause you got to tell Jah-Jah why you're
(Grooving, grooving)
(Grooving, grooving)
No want you fe galang so
No want you fe galang so
Want come cold I up
But you can't come cold I up
'Cause I'm grooving, lord, I'm grooving
I say one good thing, one good thing
When it hits you feel no pain
One good thing about music
When it hits you feel no pain
So hit me with music
Hit me with music now
Hit me with music
Brutalize me with music
It's Trenchtown rock
It's Trenchtown rock
It's Trenchtown rock
It's Trenchtown rock
It's Trenchtown rock
It's Trenchtown rock
It's Trenchtown rock
It's Trenchtown rock
All the way from Trenchtown, Jamaica
Bob Marley and the Wailers, come on!
One good thing about music, when it hits you feel no pain
One good thing about music, when it hits you feel no pain
So hit me with music, hit me with music now, yeah
Hit me with music, hit me with music now, got to say
(Trenchtown rock) I say don't watch that
(Trenchtown rock) big fish or sprat
(Trenchtown rock) you reap what you sow
(Trenchtown rock) and everyone know now
(Trenchtown rock) don't turn your back
(Trenchtown rock) give the slum a try
(Trenchtown rock) never let the children cry
(Trenchtown rock) 'cause you got to tell Jah-Jah why you're
(Grooving) Kingston 12
(Grooving) Kingston 12
(Grooving) whoa, whoa, whoa, it's Kingston 12
(Grooving) it's Kingston 12
No want you fe galang so
No want you fe galang so
You want come cold I up
But you can't come cold I up
'Cause I'm grooving, yes I'm grooving
I say one good thing, one good thing
When it hits you feel no pain
One good thing about music
When it hits you feel no pain
So hit me with music
Hit me with music now
Hit me with music, hit me with music, now look at that
(Trenchtown rock) I say don't watch that
(Trenchtown rock) if you big fish or sprat
(Trenchtown rock) you reap what you sow
(Trenchtown rock) and everyone know now
(Trenchtown rock) don't turn your back
(Trenchtown rock) give the slum a try
(Trenchtown rock) never let the children cry
(Trenchtown rock) 'cause you got to tell Jah-Jah why you're
(Grooving, grooving)
(Grooving, grooving)
No want you fe galang so
No want you fe galang so
Want come cold I up
But you can't come cold I up
'Cause I'm grooving, lord, I'm grooving
I say one good thing, one good thing
When it hits you feel no pain
One good thing about music
When it hits you feel no pain
So hit me with music
Hit me with music now
Hit me with music
Brutalize me with music
It's Trenchtown rock
It's Trenchtown rock
It's Trenchtown rock
It's Trenchtown rock
It's Trenchtown rock
It's Trenchtown rock
It's Trenchtown rock
It's Trenchtown rock
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Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
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Ebba Grön
Ebba Grön
This is one of my favorite songs. https://fnfgo.io
Cajun Girl
Little Feat
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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”
Mountain Song
Jane's Addiction
Jane's Addiction
Jane's Addiction vocalist Perry Farrell gives Adam Reader some heartfelt insight into Jane’s Addiction's hard rock manifesto "Mountain Song", which was the second single from their revolutionary album Nothing's Shocking. Mountain song was first recorded in 1986 and appeared on the soundtrack to the film Dudes starring Jon Cryer. The version on Nothing's Shocking was re-recorded in 1988.
"'Mountain Song' was actually about... I hate to say it but... drugs. Climbing this mountain and getting as high as you can, and then coming down that mountain," reveals Farrell. "What it feels to descend from the mountain top... not easy at all. The ascension is tough but exhilarating. Getting down is... it's a real bummer. Drugs is not for everybody obviously. For me, I wanted to experience the heights, and the lows come along with it."
"There's a part - 'Cash in now honey, cash in Miss Smith.' Miss Smith is my Mother; our last name was Smith. Cashing in when she cashed in her life. So... she decided that, to her... at that time, she was desperate. Life wasn't worth it for her, that was her opinion. Some people think, never take your life, and some people find that their life isn't worth living. She was in love with my Dad, and my Dad was not faithful to her, and it broke her heart. She was very desperate and she did something that I know she regrets."
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.
Bob Marley is a REAL role model, his spirit, it just transcends time and really hits you. I adore this song, just having a good time, forgetting the hard times and getting lost in the music. This song is definitive in its lyrics and sound of what music is all about.