"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.
Down the street you can hear her scream
You're a disgrace as she slams the door
in his drunken face
And now he stands outside
and all the neighbors start to gossip and drool
He cries oh girl you must be mad
What happened to the sweet love you and me had
Against the door he leans and start a scene
and his tears fall and burn the garden green
And so castles made of sand
fall in the sea
eventually
A little Indian brave who before he was ten
played wargames in the woods with his Indian friends
And he built a dream that when he grew up
he would be a fearless warrior Indian chief
Many moons past and more the dream grew strong
until tomorrow he would sing his first war song
and fight his first battle
but something went wrong
surprise attack killed him in his sleep that night
And so castles made of sand
fall in the sea
eventually
There was a young girl
whose heart was a frown
'cause she was crippled for life
and she couldn't speak a sound
and she wished and prayed
she could stop livin'
so she decide to die
She drew her wheelchair to the edge of the shore
and to her legs she smiled
You won't hurt me no more
But then a sight she'd never seen made her jump and say
Look a golden winged ship is passing my way
And it really didn't have to stop
It just kept on going
And so castles made of sand
slips into the sea
eventually
You're a disgrace as she slams the door
in his drunken face
And now he stands outside
and all the neighbors start to gossip and drool
He cries oh girl you must be mad
What happened to the sweet love you and me had
Against the door he leans and start a scene
and his tears fall and burn the garden green
And so castles made of sand
fall in the sea
eventually
A little Indian brave who before he was ten
played wargames in the woods with his Indian friends
And he built a dream that when he grew up
he would be a fearless warrior Indian chief
Many moons past and more the dream grew strong
until tomorrow he would sing his first war song
and fight his first battle
but something went wrong
surprise attack killed him in his sleep that night
And so castles made of sand
fall in the sea
eventually
There was a young girl
whose heart was a frown
'cause she was crippled for life
and she couldn't speak a sound
and she wished and prayed
she could stop livin'
so she decide to die
She drew her wheelchair to the edge of the shore
and to her legs she smiled
You won't hurt me no more
But then a sight she'd never seen made her jump and say
Look a golden winged ship is passing my way
And it really didn't have to stop
It just kept on going
And so castles made of sand
slips into the sea
eventually
Lyrics submitted by shadowcml, edited by Mellow_Harsher
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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
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,
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Ed Sheeran sings about missing his former partner and learning important life lessons in the process on “Punchline.” This track tells a story of battling to get rid of emotions for a former lover, whom he now realized might not have loved him the same way. He’s now caught between accepting that fact and learning life lessons from it and going back to beg her for another chance.
Page
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There aren’t many things that’ll hurt more than giving love a chance against your better judgement only to have your heart crushed yet again. Ed Sheeran tells such a story on “Page.” On this track, he is devastated to have lost his lover and even more saddened by the feeling that he may never move on from this.
i've heard the Hendrix version and it's a great song, haven't hear this one yet.