"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.
Oil remove shred and tear radiation vapor
It's the fear so unclear man in motion going nowhere
In our homes stuck in the face spread the word to the populace
Yellow journal yellow journal set the pace feel the rage
Manifestations of a sort so insidious off the point
Simple solution never confusion sport a gun kill a cop
Crazy world of weary thought so receive me had enough
Lock me up lock me up
Rot and assimilate so hot to annihilate
Deviation tonic mess prolonged existence innocence
Is he who speaks isn't weak wheelchair virtue so to speak
Bubonic plague the truth of aids immunity avoid decay
In the trench of pestilence the bible screams announce your faith
Mutterings of death to bring suffocate a newborn thing
Degradation of an age venereal it's all sensation
Protect design the moral plan infallible as propaganda
Completely black with no steps back
Hot to assimilate we'll rot or annihilate
Agony profusely stains the inner thinking of the brain
Accusations clanking chains experiments with the groans of pain
All prefer no one blames the terror in an animal's screams
In cages our future, the answers insane
It's the fear so unclear man in motion going nowhere
In our homes stuck in the face spread the word to the populace
Yellow journal yellow journal set the pace feel the rage
Manifestations of a sort so insidious off the point
Simple solution never confusion sport a gun kill a cop
Crazy world of weary thought so receive me had enough
Lock me up lock me up
Rot and assimilate so hot to annihilate
Deviation tonic mess prolonged existence innocence
Is he who speaks isn't weak wheelchair virtue so to speak
Bubonic plague the truth of aids immunity avoid decay
In the trench of pestilence the bible screams announce your faith
Mutterings of death to bring suffocate a newborn thing
Degradation of an age venereal it's all sensation
Protect design the moral plan infallible as propaganda
Completely black with no steps back
Hot to assimilate we'll rot or annihilate
Agony profusely stains the inner thinking of the brain
Accusations clanking chains experiments with the groans of pain
All prefer no one blames the terror in an animal's screams
In cages our future, the answers insane
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Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman
Mental Istid
Ebba Grön
Ebba Grön
This is one of my favorite songs. https://fnfgo.io
Bron-Y-Aur Stomp
Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin
This is about bronies. They communicate by stomping.
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.
Head > Heels
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
“Head > Heels” is a track that aims to capture what it feels like to experience romance that exceeds expectations. Ed Sheeran dedicates his album outro to a lover who has blessed him with a unique experience that he seeks to describe through the song’s nuanced lyrics.
This song is a prime example by Skinny Puppy is such a kick-ass, talented band. A great, stompy song.