"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.
Yeah nigga, drop the top on your muthafuckin' ride
This how we do it on the West Coast baby
Rollin' down the Four O Five
Gettin' high
White boys done wrecked their shit
Tryin' to check my ride
I ain't being bootsy
Crusin' in a Six-o Impala
Drivin' like I'm in a Hooptee
Car full of ballin' caps
Keep yo hand on the strap
And take all the craps
Niggas know my steel-lo, all legit
But I'm drapped like a nigga movin' kilo
Shit don't stop
'cause I can make that ass drop
Make the front pop
And hit the three wheel motion
All day
Hit the freeway
Take it easy, uh
Let's slide
And pick-up some hoochies
Ride right back to the movies
High talking back to the screen drinkin' liquor
Havin' big dreams of gettin' richer, I'm livin' that
Thug Life, y'all know the rules
Gotta do whatcha gotta do, stay true, yeah
Thug Life, y'all know the rules
Gotta do whatcha gotta do, stay true, uh
Thug Life, y'all know the rules
Gotta do whatcha gotta do, stay true, yeah
Thug Life, y'all know the rules
Gotta do whatcha gotta do, stay true
Big Stretch represent the real nigga
Flex, Live squad and this muthafucker catch wreck
Thug Life, sharp as a roughneck
Shakin' the dice, we roll long, ain't nothin' nice
So the vice wanna follow us around
Got 'em runnin' as we clown through the town
Another one, had to throw another gun
Don't need another case, you can see it on my face son
But I ain't fallin' yet
And I gotta give a shout to where my ball is at Mophreme
Tell 'em why the hoes dream
Gettin' high off a nigga like a dope fiend
'cause I'm non-stop, and I'm always hustlin'
Twenty four seven, ain't nothin' buck
But when a young G's flippin' keys for a livin'
Try to make a mill off the time I'm givin'
Trippin', mad, I'm crazy, can't nobody fade me
And I been goin' insane lately
And everybody tryin' ta hold me back
I'm about to snap
You better move back
You know I led a
Thug Life, y'all know the rules
Gotta do whatcha gotta do, stay true
Thug Life, y'all know the rules
Gotta do whatcha gotta do, stay true
Thug Life, y'all know the rules
Gotta do whatcha gotta do, stay true
Thug Life, y'all know the rules
Gotta do whatcha gotta do, stay true
Man, I don't worry about the Five-O
If they start 'cause it's all about survival
Just stay smart, keep your mind on your bank roll
Always stay ahead of these stank hoes these days
It's an all out rat race
And look at me just caught another cat case
That makes three
My lawyers getting cash up the ass
Don't even ask, why I'm buck wild?
Don't smile, don't laugh
To the young G's comin' up, peep game
Don't let the money make you change or act strange
Stay broke, it's all in together now
Keep pumping loud till the crowd bring the top down
Is that Tupac Thug Life ? Hell yeah
Try to dirty up my name but it's still here
Which way do I turn?
I'm strapped
Lost in the storm
I can't turn back with that
Thug Life, y'all know the rules
Gotta do whatcha gotta do, stay true
Thug Life, y'all know the rules
Gotta do whatcha gotta do, stay true
Thug Life, y'all know the rules
Gotta do whatcha gotta do, stay true
Thug Life, y'all know the rules
Gotta do whatcha gotta do, stay true
This how we do it on the West Coast baby
Rollin' down the Four O Five
Gettin' high
White boys done wrecked their shit
Tryin' to check my ride
I ain't being bootsy
Crusin' in a Six-o Impala
Drivin' like I'm in a Hooptee
Car full of ballin' caps
Keep yo hand on the strap
And take all the craps
Niggas know my steel-lo, all legit
But I'm drapped like a nigga movin' kilo
Shit don't stop
'cause I can make that ass drop
Make the front pop
And hit the three wheel motion
All day
Hit the freeway
Take it easy, uh
Let's slide
And pick-up some hoochies
Ride right back to the movies
High talking back to the screen drinkin' liquor
Havin' big dreams of gettin' richer, I'm livin' that
Thug Life, y'all know the rules
Gotta do whatcha gotta do, stay true, yeah
Thug Life, y'all know the rules
Gotta do whatcha gotta do, stay true, uh
Thug Life, y'all know the rules
Gotta do whatcha gotta do, stay true, yeah
Thug Life, y'all know the rules
Gotta do whatcha gotta do, stay true
Big Stretch represent the real nigga
Flex, Live squad and this muthafucker catch wreck
Thug Life, sharp as a roughneck
Shakin' the dice, we roll long, ain't nothin' nice
So the vice wanna follow us around
Got 'em runnin' as we clown through the town
Another one, had to throw another gun
Don't need another case, you can see it on my face son
But I ain't fallin' yet
And I gotta give a shout to where my ball is at Mophreme
Tell 'em why the hoes dream
Gettin' high off a nigga like a dope fiend
'cause I'm non-stop, and I'm always hustlin'
Twenty four seven, ain't nothin' buck
But when a young G's flippin' keys for a livin'
Try to make a mill off the time I'm givin'
Trippin', mad, I'm crazy, can't nobody fade me
And I been goin' insane lately
And everybody tryin' ta hold me back
I'm about to snap
You better move back
You know I led a
Thug Life, y'all know the rules
Gotta do whatcha gotta do, stay true
Thug Life, y'all know the rules
Gotta do whatcha gotta do, stay true
Thug Life, y'all know the rules
Gotta do whatcha gotta do, stay true
Thug Life, y'all know the rules
Gotta do whatcha gotta do, stay true
Man, I don't worry about the Five-O
If they start 'cause it's all about survival
Just stay smart, keep your mind on your bank roll
Always stay ahead of these stank hoes these days
It's an all out rat race
And look at me just caught another cat case
That makes three
My lawyers getting cash up the ass
Don't even ask, why I'm buck wild?
Don't smile, don't laugh
To the young G's comin' up, peep game
Don't let the money make you change or act strange
Stay broke, it's all in together now
Keep pumping loud till the crowd bring the top down
Is that Tupac Thug Life ? Hell yeah
Try to dirty up my name but it's still here
Which way do I turn?
I'm strapped
Lost in the storm
I can't turn back with that
Thug Life, y'all know the rules
Gotta do whatcha gotta do, stay true
Thug Life, y'all know the rules
Gotta do whatcha gotta do, stay true
Thug Life, y'all know the rules
Gotta do whatcha gotta do, stay true
Thug Life, y'all know the rules
Gotta do whatcha gotta do, stay true
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Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
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Dreamwalker
Silent Planet
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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.
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."
When We Were Young
Blink-182
Blink-182
This is a sequel to 2001's "Reckless Abandon", and features the band looking back on their clumsy youth fondly.
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.