"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.
Your eyes, they made lies true.
Say anything and I would believe you.
But there were demons, maybe more than a few, so what could we do?
Because in my life there was only asbestos, and Raymond Williams, you always took the best ones.
Now, like failed pedestrian dreams, that's how it seems to me.
Once again, back out on the highway.
Watch the traffic-you know it's a Friday.
And all the seats-belts in all the vans won't change your plans.
You can get by on a few sins, and you can try to make a horse win once,
But you can't put back together what you sever.
The rain comes down and turns your shine back to rust.
Does that mean that you have to sever us?
Someday some shit will come around and reverse the earth, turn your flesh back to dust.
Does that mean that you have to sever us?
Say anything and I would believe you.
But there were demons, maybe more than a few, so what could we do?
Because in my life there was only asbestos, and Raymond Williams, you always took the best ones.
Now, like failed pedestrian dreams, that's how it seems to me.
Once again, back out on the highway.
Watch the traffic-you know it's a Friday.
And all the seats-belts in all the vans won't change your plans.
You can get by on a few sins, and you can try to make a horse win once,
But you can't put back together what you sever.
The rain comes down and turns your shine back to rust.
Does that mean that you have to sever us?
Someday some shit will come around and reverse the earth, turn your flesh back to dust.
Does that mean that you have to sever us?
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Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman
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Silent Planet
Silent Planet
I think much like another song “Anti-Matter” (that's also on the same album as this song), this one is also is inspired by a horrifying van crash the band experienced on Nov 3, 2022. This, much like the other track, sounds like it's an extension what they shared while huddled in the wreckage, as they helped frontman Garrett Russell stem the bleeding from his head wound while he was under the temporary effects of a concussion. The track speaks of where the mind goes at the most desperate & desolate of times, when it just about slips away to all but disconnect itself, and the aftermath.
Gentle Hour
Yo La Tengo
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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,
Magical
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How would you describe the feeling of being in love? For Ed Sheeran, the word is “Magical.” in HIS three-minute album opener, he makes an attempt to capture the beauty and delicacy of true love with words. He describes the magic of it all over a bright Pop song produced by Aaron Dessner.
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Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran shares a short story of reconnecting with an old flame on “American Town.” The track is about a holiday Ed Sheeran spends with his countrywoman who resides in America. The two are back together after a long period apart, and get around to enjoying a bunch of fun activities while rekindling the flames of their romance.
I agree avenged...Karate rocks! This is my favorite song, and it rocks even more live! Go buy the album 595!
i could not live without this band.