| Emilíana Torrini – Sunny Road Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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I never realised the meaning of the lasts lines. Where she says to the new guy to come and meet her on the sunny road, it shows she hasn't changed. She left her last guy without finishing it, and now she's going through this same cycle over and over. |
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| Matthew Ryan – Return To Me Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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Couple of mistakes in the lyrics: Verse 1,Line 3: The bars glow blue V2, L4: So I'm wishin', that I could change this V2, L4: That you would open, V4, L1: (I think it should be "In a verse where all is flat". That relates to this being a song, and the depressing mood relates to the "flat" notes. Not too sure. I like this better, but either goes.) V4, L2: You hunkered down and re-lived the past. V4, L6: I'm moving through tar, V4, L7: When we're apart. The title being "Return To Me", it doesn't make sense asking when they're going to split up. The term "tar" is a pun, for the roadworks, relating to the car, and cigarrette tar. It's these cases it is thick and toxic respectively. Moving through something thick means you move slowly. Something toxic hurts you. In other words, he is slowly moving on, but it still hurts. "Open" up and "conversation" go together too, as do the "bar" and the "drink". The homeless drink to overcome pain, and the lovers drink to loosen up. This fits in with the bar idea better than basking in moonlight. You'll notice that things are coupled up in this song, but the words appear in different areas, symbolizing this broken relationship he's in. If you think about it that way, listen to the song again, and you'll see why these lyrics work better with the meaning. I think the underlying plot is overcoming death. It is conveyed as a romantic relationship on top, but clearly about death with the whole "I can't return to you" thing. Well, that's pretty much my 20 cents. :P |
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| Tracy Chapman – Fast Car Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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(Sorry if there is a way to delete an old post. I've been trying to find it but apparently you can't. Here's the longer version of my interpretation if anyone is really bored.) [i][b]You got a fast car I want a ticket to anywhere Maybe we make a deal Maybe together we can get somewhere[/i][/b] The first line of the song is about a "fast car". I believe it's meant to represents wealth and power. The stuff that her and her family don't have. I think it was about her childhood quite some time ago when the African-American community wasn't in the place where it is today. People were struggling to make it through and in some cases race didn't change that. "Ticket". Again, she uses a term which represents transportation. This could be linked to her past, possibly moving from one place to another, but also her ancestry and roots. The Africans orignally didn't really stay put for one, and then later on during the slave trade they were moved forcefully to somewhere they didn't want to go. In terms of the song, though, we know just from there two lines that she's stuck in a place that she can't get out of because of things so trivial. And yet she can't even change them. She just needs to get away. Since she meets this guy in the first verse, it's symbolic in and of itself of a new life. Something she hopes will bring her the happiness she's always dreamed of. It seems like he wants to run away from something too but we don't know what. We just know that they connect and they both want to be together. [i][b]Anyplace is better Starting from zero got nothing to lose Maybe we'll make something But me myself I got nothing to prove[/i][/b] "Starting from zero" She's got nothing where she is. Nothing to hold on to. Nothing to reach to. She's been stuck in brake her whole life and now she thinks she can just go. She's not trying to show anyone that she's found someone. She's not just with him because she wants to prove to herself that she can be with someone if she wants. She doesn't know where this guy will take her but she's just so desperate to get out of the place she's in since, "anyplace is better". [i][b]You got a fast car And I got a plan to get us out of here I been working at the convenience store Managed to save just a little bit of money We won't have to drive too far Just 'cross the border and into the city You and I can both get jobs And finally see what it means to be living[/i][/b] Now she comes back to the "fast car". Which is her way out of the life she's built. This verse is pretty simple in terms of meaning, but it has a lot of power in that it really shows how badly she wants to find a new place to live as soon as she gets the chance. No wasted opportunities. She knows they don't come along often and she's just gotta grab what's infront of her before it disappears. Now we know that he hasn't got a job. So it's not that all she cares about is money and being able to go places. She wants to be free. No matter what the cost is. She just wants to be loved and to be free. She wants to be alive . [i][b]You see my old man's got a problem He live with the bottle that's the way it is He says his body's too old for working I say his body's too young to look like his My mama went off and left him She wanted more from life than he could give I said somebody's got to take care of him So I quit school and that's what I did[/i][/b] Now after all this time she's finally opening up about why she wants to get out of where she is. Basically her father has become so addicted to a false freedom that he's put the lives of the ones he loves on hold and caused them to abandon their dreams. Her mother gets so sick of it that she doesn't wait for someone to come along. She just leaves. Alone. As for her and her father, he's making excuses about not being able to get out of the place HE'S in. Even though she knows it's not the truth, she says otherwise but nothing changes. So she decides to quit school, essentially ruining her life for his. That's where she was at the beginning. Living life one day after another never being happy or even thinking that it's possible. [i][b]You got a fast car But is it fast enough so we can fly away We gotta make a decision We leave tonight or live and die this way[/i][/b] Now she comes back to the get-away car, so to speak. She's starting to come to the realization that some things you just can't escape. And, even if she can, maybe he's not meant to be the one she escapes it with. But she was just so desperate to get life started that she couldn't even see whether it was true love or not. Or, she just didn't care. Now she's got to to take the risk that it takes her to a better place. Anyway, she just needs to leave now before it's too late and opportunity passes her by. [b][i]So remember when we were young driving in your car The speed so fast I felt like I was drunk City lights lay out before us And your arm felt nice wrapped 'round my shoulder And I had a feeling that I belonged And I had feeling I could be someone, be someone, be someone[/i][/b] So, they leave the place and it seems that all the pieces of her life are falling into place and it couldn't get better. She's put all the things that held her down behind her. [i][b]You got a fast car And we go cruising to entertain ourselves You still ain't got a job And I work in the market as a checkout girl I know things will get better You'll find work and I'll get promoted We'll move out of the shelter Buy a big house and live in the suburbs[/i][/b] But now things aren't turning out as they seem. She's back to working for anything trying to make the living she got so excited about. But she's still got hope. [i][b]So remember when we were young driving in your car The speed so fast I felt like I was drunk City lights lay out before us And your arm felt nice wrapped 'round my shoulder And I had a feeling that I belonged And I had feeling I could be someone, be someone, be someone[/i][/b] The repetition of this part is suggestive that she keeps holding on the memories now. Even though she got what she thought she wanted, it turned out that it wasn't really all that she hoped it could be. But now things have changed and just has to accept because, really, what else can she do? [i][/b]You got a fast car And I got a job that pays all our bills You stay out drinking late at the bar See more of your friends than you do of your kids I'd always hoped for better Thought maybe together you and me would find it I got no plans I ain't going nowhere So take your fast car and keep on driving[/i] [/b] Now that things have settles down, the routine life she used to lead has now switched over to the one she loved. He's becoming desperate to change and he's turning to alcohol as a quick escape from the problems in his life, and, inadvertantly, he's shutting out his kids. This could give us a clue as to why her father started drinking in the beginning. Anyway, by the last line she seems like she's angry at him for doing this to them. [i][b]So remember when we were young driving in your car The speed so fast I felt like I was drunk City lights lay out before us And your arm felt nice wrapped 'round my shoulder And I had a feeling that I belonged And I had feeling I could be someone, be someone, be someone[/i][/b] But then she remembers how things used to be and what they had and unlike her mother who just left things when it got tough, and unlike her father who just turned away from his responsibilities, she can see the other side of things and is understanding as to why he's doing the things he does. [i][b]You got a fast car But is it fast enough so you can fly away You gotta make a decision You leave tonight or live and die this way[/i][/b] In the end comes my favourite part of the song by far. The lyrics change from "We leave tonight or live and die this way" to "You leave tonight or live and die this way" She knows that she's holding him back from the life he's always wanted and she doesn't want to cause the pain that she felt before so she just tells him to go before it's too late for him. I think it's a great song because she is able to tell a story about the lessons life has to teach and it's so personal to her and yet it's so easy to connect to. It's great because you see that there are two sides to things and that sometimes no matter how badly we want things, they're just not meant to be. It's like I said somewhere before: "I believe quite strongly that what was meant to happen to us will find us. And the things that we weren't meant to do, no matter how much we wanted them, won't happen. Everything happens for a reason. Shit happens because if it didn't we wouldn't learn not to do the same things next time." To conclude; at face value, the song is about poverty. Simple as that. But if you look into it you can see that there's so much more to it than just poverty. It's about life. The hopes and dreams that people have and the preconceptions we make about them. It teaches you that there's more than just what you see at face-value. There are actions and there are consequences. There are dreams and there are regrets. We put masks on the things we don't want to deal with because we fail to see that there's more to them than what we don't like. We live and we learn so that, hopefully, the next time we face our personal demons we know how to fight them. |
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| Tracy Chapman – Fast Car Lyrics | 18 years ago |
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This is such a sad song. It really makes you think. I love how it's a story and a song at the same time and incorporates so much about her personal life and yet is so relatable. As to the meaning: I believe that at first, she's just living her routine life, one day after the next, after the next. And she meets someone that she feels she can connect with and can take her away to a place where she can break free of the barriers around her. She keeps trying to get him to take her away to a better place but isn't honest about it. Then, she decides to tell him the truth about why she wants to leave: The memories she has in the place about her father holding back the dreams of the people around him. But she felt like she couldn't do anything about it. Until she met him. Anyway, she struggles to make things work because she's so desperate to have something close to love that she can't see, or just doesn't care if it's real love or not. In the end, she becomes her maker. She's holding back the man she "loved" but she can see it unlike her father and tells her that he has to go before it's too late and he becomes so tangled up in web of life. The lyrics here aren't completely accurate but it should change from "We leave tonight or live an' die this way." to "You leave tonight or live an' die this way." Anyway, to sum up I think it's about how we get so caught up in stuff we fail to see the real side of it. Or that there actually is another side at all. |
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