"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.
in the summer that you came
there was something eating everyone
and the sunshine fund was low
we couldn't greet you
with a simple hello
and the watchers of the flood
were busy in their chambers
making sure there was new blood
to sustain their dying veins
but i believed you
no need for further questioning
i'm gonna leave with you
you can teach me all you know
which way will we go now
on our trip to taller windows
i really don't know now
i really don't know
in the winter that you left
there was business as usual
with the same old fears and frustrations
but the word got out
it was really such a pity
but the judges and the saints
and the textbook committee
decided you should be left out
not even mentioned
but i believed you
no need for further questioning
i'm gonna leave with you
you can teach me all you know
which way will we go now
on our trip to taller windows
i really don't know now
i really don't know
there was something eating everyone
and the sunshine fund was low
we couldn't greet you
with a simple hello
and the watchers of the flood
were busy in their chambers
making sure there was new blood
to sustain their dying veins
but i believed you
no need for further questioning
i'm gonna leave with you
you can teach me all you know
which way will we go now
on our trip to taller windows
i really don't know now
i really don't know
in the winter that you left
there was business as usual
with the same old fears and frustrations
but the word got out
it was really such a pity
but the judges and the saints
and the textbook committee
decided you should be left out
not even mentioned
but i believed you
no need for further questioning
i'm gonna leave with you
you can teach me all you know
which way will we go now
on our trip to taller windows
i really don't know now
i really don't know
Lyrics submitted by one hit wonder
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Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
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Ebba Grön
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This is one of my favorite songs. https://fnfgo.io
Mountain Song
Jane's Addiction
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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."
Head > Heels
Ed Sheeran
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“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.
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 it's about some sort of a creative genius in a job who was keeping either a company or a city alive ("the watchers of the flood," "something eating everyone"), and the person became embittered with that group of people because they were parasitic ("making sure there was new blood to sustain their dying veins"). Eventually this person decided to leave because he knew they had nothing more to offer him, and the narrator was one of the few people that saw his worth, thus deciding to leave with him, even if there was no known destination. After the creator left, the higher individuals in the society (judges, saints, textbook committee) decided to pretend he didn't exist and his accomplishments weren't worth acknowledging, even though their lives didn't get better ("same old fears and frustrations").
It seems very "Atlas Shrugged" to me in theme.
@realitysoldier I don't comprehend how anyone could listen to this and ever connect it to Atlas Shrugged in any way. you're being far too literal.