"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.
Someone told me you'd be here
Whispering these familiar things
Talking to my little pet, smoking the same old cigarettes
I would have laughed
I saw you last in summertime
You said you hated long goodbyes
You said, "There's nothing to explain, in every life a little rain"
Etcetera
And a long-forgotten fairytale is in your eyes again
And I'm caught inside a dream world where the colors are too intense
And nothing is making sense
There's a floating town of ire down in a mist of mystery
There's an old enchanted castle and the princess there is me
Decked-out like a Christmas tree
I guess you've had your little joke
But I have lost my sense of humor
My medication's wearing off, for it's just not strong enough
To cover this
Then you kissed me like before
I found myself wanting more
And you tell that little lie that kept me hypnotized
Another kiss
And a long-forgotten fairytale is in your eyes again
And I'm caught inside a dream world where the colors are too intense
And nothing is making sense
There's a floating town of ire down in a mist of mystery
There's an old enchanted castle and the princess there is me
Decked-out like a Christmas tree
If somebody told me I'd succumb
If someone said I'd be so dumb
After all the sleepless nights, when I turned on all the lights
I would have hit them
But I have turned the other cheek
My voice trembles, my knees are weak
And you beat me once again
And I know what happens then
You raise the ante
And a long-forgotten fairytale is in your eyes again
And I'm caught inside a dream world where the colors are too intense
And nothing is making sense
Whispering these familiar things
Talking to my little pet, smoking the same old cigarettes
I would have laughed
I saw you last in summertime
You said you hated long goodbyes
You said, "There's nothing to explain, in every life a little rain"
Etcetera
And a long-forgotten fairytale is in your eyes again
And I'm caught inside a dream world where the colors are too intense
And nothing is making sense
There's a floating town of ire down in a mist of mystery
There's an old enchanted castle and the princess there is me
Decked-out like a Christmas tree
I guess you've had your little joke
But I have lost my sense of humor
My medication's wearing off, for it's just not strong enough
To cover this
Then you kissed me like before
I found myself wanting more
And you tell that little lie that kept me hypnotized
Another kiss
And a long-forgotten fairytale is in your eyes again
And I'm caught inside a dream world where the colors are too intense
And nothing is making sense
There's a floating town of ire down in a mist of mystery
There's an old enchanted castle and the princess there is me
Decked-out like a Christmas tree
If somebody told me I'd succumb
If someone said I'd be so dumb
After all the sleepless nights, when I turned on all the lights
I would have hit them
But I have turned the other cheek
My voice trembles, my knees are weak
And you beat me once again
And I know what happens then
You raise the ante
And a long-forgotten fairytale is in your eyes again
And I'm caught inside a dream world where the colors are too intense
And nothing is making sense
Lyrics submitted by Anne Arbour, edited by goodbyemisery
Long-Forgotten Fairytale Lyrics as written by Stephen Raymond Merritt
Lyrics © ROUGH TRADE PUBLISHING
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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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,
I Can't Go To Sleep
Wu-Tang Clan
Wu-Tang Clan
This song is written as the perspective of the boys in the street, as a whole, and what path they are going to choose as they get older and grow into men. (This is why the music video takes place in an orphanage.) The seen, and unseen collective suffering is imbedded in the boys’ mind, consciously or subconsciously, and is haunting them. Which path will the boys choose? Issac Hayes is the voice of reason, maybe God, the angel on his shoulder, or the voice of his forefathers from beyond the grave who can see the big picture and are pleading with the boys not to continue the violence and pattern of killing their brothers, but to rise above. The most beautiful song and has so many levels. Racism towards African Americans in America would not exist if everyone sat down and listened to this song and understood the history behind the words. The power, fear, pleading in RZA and Ghostface voices are genuine and powerful. Issac Hayes’ strong voice makes the perfect strong father figure, who is possibly from beyond the grave.
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.
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.
to me it's about a person who dropped you like a hot potato, and he or she comes crawling back in through the crack in the door of your life and weeds their way back into your heart, in spite of those long lonely nights laying in the wreckage of what they left behind.
sometimes you get weak and take the person back, but you learn your lesson eventually...because that kind of person never seems to change for the better. they recognize the power they can have over you and they use it well.
one of my favorite sm tunes.
This is a hilarious song, the imagery is just fantastic. I see it as being a reignited relationship that the protagonist never thought he'd return to, in which his partner has the power to lie or convince him of all this ridiculous shit that he really shouldn't be falling for. I've felt this way before. The metaphor that his partner is so powerful that they are capable of imagining him in a princess dress, in a fairytale, etc. is pretty funny.
This songis brilliant. I heard this song before knnowing Meritt was gay and just thought 'I must be going insane, but I can swear he's singing about a man'. It's so cool the way he can talk about a man without actually using any words specifically.I mean, I read the lyrics and tried to imagine it about a woman, but it sounded so wrong in my head. Prolly because it sounded so right the other way around. Beautiful song, so much feeling disguised, it's almost painful. How he makes everything sound so unimportant...
love it
one of the greater ones. I think he was trying to call back the great ghosts of 80's new wave. It worked.
the magnetic fields seem to have written the soundtrack to my life. amazing.
"In every life a little rain" is an allusion to the Ink Spots song "Into Each Life Some Rain Must Fall"
Also, I love all the S&M punning: "pets", "decked out", "beat me once again". Merritt is brilliant.
great beat