"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 lipstick, his collar
Don't bother, angel
I know exactly what goes on
When everything you'll get is everything that you've wanted, princess
(Well, which would you prefer?)
My finger on the trigger, or
(Me face down, down across your floor?)
Me face down, dead across your floor
(Me face down, down across your floor)
Well, just so long as this thing's loaded
And will you tell all your friends
You've got your gun to my head?
This all was only wishful thinking
This all was only wishful thinking
And will you tell all your friends
You've got your gun to my head?
This all was only wishful thinking
This all was only wishful thinking
Let's go
Don't bother trying to explain, angel
I know exactly what goes on when you're on, and
How 'bout I'm outside of your window?
(Well, how 'bout I'm outside of your window)
Watching him keep the details covered
You're such a sucker for a sweet talker, yeah
(You're such a sucker)
And will you tell all your friends
You've got your gun to my head?
This all was only wishful thinking
This all was only wishful thinking
And will you tell all your friends (the only thing)
You've got your gun to my head? (I regret)
This all was only wishful thinking (is that I)
This all was only wishful thinking (I never let you hold me back)
Hoping for the best just hoping nothing happens
A thousand clever lines unread on clever napkins
I will never ask if you don't ever tell me
I know you well enough to know you'll never love me
Hoping for the best just hoping nothing happens (why can't I feel anything)
A thousand clever lines unread on clever napkins
I will never ask if you don't ever tell me (from anyone other than you?)
I know you well enough to know you'll never love me
Hoping for the best just hoping nothing happens (why can't I feel anything)
A thousand clever lines unread on clever napkins
I will never ask if you don't ever tell me (from anyone other than you?)
I know you well enough to know
And all of this was all your fault
And all of this
(It makes things worse)
I stay wrecked and jealous for this
For this simple reason I
Just need to keep you in mind
As something larger than life
I stay wrecked and jealous for this (she'll destroy us all before she's through)
For this simple reason I
Just need to keep you in mind (and find a way to blame somebody else)
As something larger than life
I stay wrecked and jealous for this (she'll destroy us all before she's through)
For this simple reason I
Just need to keep you in mind (and find a way to blame somebody else)
As something larger than life
Don't bother, angel
I know exactly what goes on
When everything you'll get is everything that you've wanted, princess
(Well, which would you prefer?)
My finger on the trigger, or
(Me face down, down across your floor?)
Me face down, dead across your floor
(Me face down, down across your floor)
Well, just so long as this thing's loaded
And will you tell all your friends
You've got your gun to my head?
This all was only wishful thinking
This all was only wishful thinking
And will you tell all your friends
You've got your gun to my head?
This all was only wishful thinking
This all was only wishful thinking
Let's go
Don't bother trying to explain, angel
I know exactly what goes on when you're on, and
How 'bout I'm outside of your window?
(Well, how 'bout I'm outside of your window)
Watching him keep the details covered
You're such a sucker for a sweet talker, yeah
(You're such a sucker)
And will you tell all your friends
You've got your gun to my head?
This all was only wishful thinking
This all was only wishful thinking
And will you tell all your friends (the only thing)
You've got your gun to my head? (I regret)
This all was only wishful thinking (is that I)
This all was only wishful thinking (I never let you hold me back)
Hoping for the best just hoping nothing happens
A thousand clever lines unread on clever napkins
I will never ask if you don't ever tell me
I know you well enough to know you'll never love me
Hoping for the best just hoping nothing happens (why can't I feel anything)
A thousand clever lines unread on clever napkins
I will never ask if you don't ever tell me (from anyone other than you?)
I know you well enough to know you'll never love me
Hoping for the best just hoping nothing happens (why can't I feel anything)
A thousand clever lines unread on clever napkins
I will never ask if you don't ever tell me (from anyone other than you?)
I know you well enough to know
And all of this was all your fault
And all of this
(It makes things worse)
I stay wrecked and jealous for this
For this simple reason I
Just need to keep you in mind
As something larger than life
I stay wrecked and jealous for this (she'll destroy us all before she's through)
For this simple reason I
Just need to keep you in mind (and find a way to blame somebody else)
As something larger than life
I stay wrecked and jealous for this (she'll destroy us all before she's through)
For this simple reason I
Just need to keep you in mind (and find a way to blame somebody else)
As something larger than life
Lyrics submitted by BrandNew1208
Cute Without the 'E' (Cut from the Team) Lyrics as written by Adam Lazzara Shaun Cooper
Lyrics © CONCORD MUSIC PUBLISHING LLC, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
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This is one of my favorite songs. https://fnfgo.io
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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.
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Yo La Tengo
Yo La Tengo
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,
No Surprises
Radiohead
Radiohead
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.
taking back sunday is amazing