"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.
You don't fool me with your tinted eyes and make-up
The firebird hides in shadow when you wake up
Your golden hair is black
Your jeans are tight but your hide is slack
Try it on the company but you don't fool me
Well I'd rather be a man than play my role like you do
I'd rather be a man than sin my soul like you do
I'd rahter be a man than slave the way that you do
I'd rather be a man cause a man don't crawl like you do
You don't fool me with your easy lies and fables
You won't see me in ten buck furs and sables
You sparkle like a snake
The wine is real but the glass if fake
Blame it on the apple tree but you don't fool me
Well I'd rather be a man than play my role like you do
I'd rather be a man than sin my soul like you do
I'd rahter be a man than slave the way that you do
I'd rather be a man cause a man don't crawl like you do
Your golden hair is black
Your jeans are tight but your hide is slack
Try it on the company but you don't fool me
Well I'd rather be a man than play my role like you do
I'd rather be a man than sin my soul like you do
I'd rahter be a man than slave the way that you do
I'd rather be a man cause a man don't crawl like you do
I'd rather be a man cause a man don't crawl like you do
I'd rather be a man cause I wouldn't wanna be like you
The firebird hides in shadow when you wake up
Your golden hair is black
Your jeans are tight but your hide is slack
Try it on the company but you don't fool me
Well I'd rather be a man than play my role like you do
I'd rather be a man than sin my soul like you do
I'd rahter be a man than slave the way that you do
I'd rather be a man cause a man don't crawl like you do
You don't fool me with your easy lies and fables
You won't see me in ten buck furs and sables
You sparkle like a snake
The wine is real but the glass if fake
Blame it on the apple tree but you don't fool me
Well I'd rather be a man than play my role like you do
I'd rather be a man than sin my soul like you do
I'd rahter be a man than slave the way that you do
I'd rather be a man cause a man don't crawl like you do
Your golden hair is black
Your jeans are tight but your hide is slack
Try it on the company but you don't fool me
Well I'd rather be a man than play my role like you do
I'd rather be a man than sin my soul like you do
I'd rahter be a man than slave the way that you do
I'd rather be a man cause a man don't crawl like you do
I'd rather be a man cause a man don't crawl like you do
I'd rather be a man cause I wouldn't wanna be like you
Lyrics submitted by Ice
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Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
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Little Feat
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Overall about difficult moments of disappointment and vulnerability. Having hope and longing, while remaining optimistic for the future. Encourages the belief that with each new morning there is a chance for things to improve.
The chorus offers a glimmer of optimism and a chance at a resolution and redemption in the future.
Captures the rollercoaster of emotions of feeling lost while loving someone who is not there for you, feeling let down and abandoned while waiting for a lover. Lost with no direction, "Now I'm up in the air with the rain in my hair, Nowhere to go, I can go anywhere"
The bridge shows signs of longing and a plea for companionship. The Lyrics express a desire for authentic connection and the importance of Loving someone just as they are. "Just in passing, I'm not asking. That you be anyone but you”
Mountain Song
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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."
No Surprises
Radiohead
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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.
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.
Yep, you read this right - it's a total slam on the fairer sex. Make no mistake, APP weren't pulling any punches here.
But the funny thing is - I think in order to truly understand most APP songs, you have to take them in order, in their entirety. This song (from EVE), is followed by a song written from the perspective of a man in love. A contradiction? Certainly!
I think APP was trying to show the way men and women perceive each other. Although most of the songs on EVE are sung by men, it was an APP first that two of the other songs were sung by women!
This song accuses women of outright lying in their appearance to attract men. It's not wrong, and the truth hurts, but this is what most women do. Men do it too, but the general lack of jewelry, hair care products, or make-up somehow gives men more of a higher-ground moral position, as the writer of this song asserts.
The unfairness of this song is totally evident - if you're a woman. As a man, a few of us will go... 'Yeah! They're trying to trick us!'. But the truth is, women don't dress up for men - that's what men foolishly think - women dress up FOR OTHER WOMEN.
Any 'crawling' that's done by women in this manner is done to maintain their place in the female pecking order. Men do their own bit of 'crawling' - usually to the woman in charge!
I've actually met women that HATE this album because of this song alone - and that's a shame because I think it at least TRIES to represent different viewpoints between the sexes. That's a hard thing to do in less than 45 minutes or so, and maybe APP bit off more than they could of EVE's apple.
I've always been an admirer of this song and I don't really agree with that analysis
I think Alan should have had a woman sing this song. The song would have had a much greater meaning, if it was from the point of view of a woman who, disillusioned with womankind, declares that she would rather be a man. The singer's attitude in fact reflects that of women I have met who prefer to associate with men and pursue male interests.
The line "Blame it on the apple, but you don't fool me" is the most telling verse for me. It suggests that people (both men and women) have used the story of Eve and the apple to determine woman's role in society as temptresses and deceivers. Men have used the story to belittle women and women have used the story to excuse themselves when they tempt and deceive. Also using words like "slave" and "crawl" to describe the women in the song, suggest that the role they willingly play, is demeaning and that they disrespect themselves and "sin their souls".
The firebird hides in shadow when you wake up=-In the historical record, the phoenix "could symbolize renewal in general as well as the sun, time, the empire, metempsychosis, consecration, resurrection, life in the heavenly Paradise, Christ, Mary, virginity, the exceptional man, and certain aspects of Christian life Your golden hair is black You don't fool me with your easy lies and fables=Bible You won't see me in ten buck furs and sables=God The wine is real but the glass is fake=The wine is in a religious prop Blame it on the apple tree but you don't fool me=There you go with the big reveal. Blaming Eve for all the hardships in our lives. She ate the apple, and now we must suffer Alan is calling bullshit on that fable. He's blaming God himself. The album is titled "EVE" and the models are each wearing a chalice. This is a verbal attack at God. How anyone can deduce that this song is about a boy/girl or man/woman relationship is beyond me.
I think you all have it wrong. This song is about a guy that has fallen in love with a prostitute. Take a look at the album cover. The woman in the veil has syphilis sores on her face! He has fallen in love with her, wants her in her entirety, but can't have her all to himself, so he "goes off" and starts criticizing everything negative about her he can possibly think of. Every one of those statements in this song are attempts to degrade her because he feels frustrated that he has to share her...
This is a guy that really needs to take a step back and re-evaluate his relationship and decide whether or not he wants to deal with only ever having part of her.