"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.
The telephone is ringing, disconnect the line
The tension is building but I'm alright, yeah I'm alright
And the stars are colliding
So you might as well, oh might as well
Let me go
The television is burning, I set it on fire
But the wheels, they keep turning, but I'm fine, yeah I'm fine
What about the questions we have
Locked up inside?
Somewhere, somehow
We've been denied
Hand in hand we walk, blind
Pretending, defending while our souls are tied
It's only the third hour, my conscience subsides
But something will remind me that you lied, yeah you lied
What about the consequences?
This can't be right
Somewhere, somehow
We've been denied
Hand in hand we walk, blind
Pretending, defending while our souls are tied
What about
What about
Sometime ago, I know
Somebody go
Somewhere, somehow
Somewhere, somehow
We've been denied
Hand in hand we walk, blind
Pretending, defending while our souls are tied
tied
No, no, no
Oh no, we been denied
Oh oh no
Oh no, we been denied
No, no, no
No, no, no
(No, no, no) no we been denied
No, no, no
The tension is building but I'm alright, yeah I'm alright
And the stars are colliding
So you might as well, oh might as well
Let me go
The television is burning, I set it on fire
But the wheels, they keep turning, but I'm fine, yeah I'm fine
What about the questions we have
Locked up inside?
Somewhere, somehow
We've been denied
Hand in hand we walk, blind
Pretending, defending while our souls are tied
It's only the third hour, my conscience subsides
But something will remind me that you lied, yeah you lied
What about the consequences?
This can't be right
Somewhere, somehow
We've been denied
Hand in hand we walk, blind
Pretending, defending while our souls are tied
What about
What about
Sometime ago, I know
Somebody go
Somewhere, somehow
Somewhere, somehow
We've been denied
Hand in hand we walk, blind
Pretending, defending while our souls are tied
tied
No, no, no
Oh no, we been denied
Oh oh no
Oh no, we been denied
No, no, no
No, no, no
(No, no, no) no we been denied
No, no, no
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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,
Punchline
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran sings about missing his former partner and learning important life lessons in the process on “Punchline.” This track tells a story of battling to get rid of emotions for a former lover, whom he now realized might not have loved him the same way. He’s now caught between accepting that fact and learning life lessons from it and going back to beg her for another chance.
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.
Plastic Bag
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
“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.
I think this is one of the best songs on Naveed, and one of my favorite by OLP.
This song is great.. Like a lot of OLPs songs, I think it's about today and how everyone is wasting their lives.
This may sound like it's coming from out in left field, but it may be about religion. It seems like its someone trying to understand why things could go wrong so often and so badly if there was a God that was in control and guiding it with a "divine" plan. So much doesn't make sence and he's saying that either something has been misinterpreted in how we view God, or he has become fed up with us and our ways to the point that he doesn't care anymore enough to try to guide us at all.
I hope that I didn't offend anyone, thats just what I hear when I listen to this song. In any case, this is a really good and strong song.
This is one of my fav OLP songs, and I agree that it definitely has to do with the futility of living in the modern world (especially with the references to the destruction of phones and tv's) and the desire to escape and find something with meaning. Technology and advancements promised us knowledge and answers but rather it has tried to stifle out minds. While our "wheels keep turning" they (society/technology/God, what have you) have denied us what our minds most desire: understanding.
Also, I like Bobgreg's interpretation of the song as being linked to religion. I'd never really looked at it that way before but now I definitely see religious connections. With our "souls tied" to a religion that has not lived up to its promises of answering "questions, locked up inside", we feel like blind followers who've been lied to our whole lives.
...but that's just what I think. Great song.
Can't wait till the new album at the end of the month.
I think the song is about a breakup. The guy turns off the phone lines so his ex can't call him, and simply sits around, bemoaning his fate. He thinks, and angrily destorys the TV. With that and the phone, he's eliminated a lot of the possible contact with the outside world . He thinks about how the times they spent together were a lie, and it was all fake. He and she both did wrong things in the relationship, and it was bound to fail.
However, I also like this version, which is a bit more fantastic- I think of it as a guy, who has kidnapped someone. He cuts off the phone line and TV so that no one will think they're where they are.He feels so much tension, and just keeps thinking about what he did. But the lyrics don't match that version so well :D
id say its about religion and how we are raised to believe a certain ideal way of life. and we lie to ourselves that we actually belive it when in reality its impossible for any two people to have the exact same outlook on life. we tell oursleves that "im fine yeah im fine" but "the wheels keep on turning" and we keep havin our own i deas but were being denied that chance to express them because someone told us this is how its gonna be
first of all, the line is: hand in hand we walk blind. not behind.
this song has always been a favorite of mine by OLP. it has meant many different things to me depeneding on the situation. it has been about break ups, and it has been about fucked up polititions and the government - who lie and keep things from us. I guess sometimes that can go for the girlfriends too.
It's about religion holding humanity back. This is very clear if you look at the lyrics for the song before it was recorded, back when it was a demo. This and Neon Crossing were both attacks on religion as something which is backwards.
This may sound wild as no one else has offered up this particular guess but I was actually wondering if it may be describing a domestic dispute that got so out of hand that it led to fatality. The disconnection of the phone lines and burning the TV could be him attempting to cut off all communication while he figures out what to do next. The last little bit about the third hour, subsiding conscience and lying may be him forgiving himself in his own mind, putting the blame upon the victim by saying that she did something to deserve this. This was the first thought that came to my mind but all of the other explanations above sound like good ones as well. Unlike RileyLewis, I have never seen the original lyric and so he has insight that I don't have. Anyway, just thought I'd throw this possibility out there as wild as it may sound.