"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 declared you would be three inches taller
You only became what we made you
Thought you were chasing a destiny calling
You only earned what we gave you
You fell and cried as our people were starving
Now you know that we blame you
You tried to walk on the trail we were carving
Now you know that we framed you
I'm the guy in the sky
Flying high flashing eyes
No surprise I told lies
I'm the punk in the gutter
I'm the new president
But I grew and I bent
Don't you know, don't it show?
I'm the punk with the stutter
My my my my my my
Generation (generation, generation)
We tried to speak between lines of oration
You could only repeat what we told you
Your axe belongs to a dying nation
They don't know that we own you
You're watching movies trying to find the feelers
You only see what we show you
We're the slaves of the phony leaders
Breathe the air we have blown you
I'm the guy in the sky
Flying high flashing eyes
No surprise I told lies
I'm the punk in the gutter
Woo, I'm the new president
And I grew and I bent
Don't you know, don't it show?
I'm the punk with the stutter
My my my my my my my my
Generation, my, my, my, my, my, my generation
I have to be careful not to preach
I can't pretend that I can teach
And yet I lived your future out
By pounding stages like a clown
And on the dance floor broken glass
The bloody faces slowly pass
The numbered seats in empty rows
It all belongs to me you know
Okay
You declared you would be three inches taller
You only became what we made you
Thought you were chasing a destiny calling
You only earned what we gave you
You fell and cried as our people were starving
Now you know that we blame you
You tried to walk on the trail we were carving
Now you know that we framed you
I'm the guy in the sky
Flying high flashing eyes
No surprise I told lies
I'm the punk in the gutter
Woo, I'm the new president
And I grew and I bent
Don't you know, don't it show?
I'm the punk with the stutter
My my my my my my my my
Generation, my, my, my, my, my, my generation
You only became what we made you
Thought you were chasing a destiny calling
You only earned what we gave you
You fell and cried as our people were starving
Now you know that we blame you
You tried to walk on the trail we were carving
Now you know that we framed you
I'm the guy in the sky
Flying high flashing eyes
No surprise I told lies
I'm the punk in the gutter
I'm the new president
But I grew and I bent
Don't you know, don't it show?
I'm the punk with the stutter
My my my my my my
Generation (generation, generation)
We tried to speak between lines of oration
You could only repeat what we told you
Your axe belongs to a dying nation
They don't know that we own you
You're watching movies trying to find the feelers
You only see what we show you
We're the slaves of the phony leaders
Breathe the air we have blown you
I'm the guy in the sky
Flying high flashing eyes
No surprise I told lies
I'm the punk in the gutter
Woo, I'm the new president
And I grew and I bent
Don't you know, don't it show?
I'm the punk with the stutter
My my my my my my my my
Generation, my, my, my, my, my, my generation
I have to be careful not to preach
I can't pretend that I can teach
And yet I lived your future out
By pounding stages like a clown
And on the dance floor broken glass
The bloody faces slowly pass
The numbered seats in empty rows
It all belongs to me you know
Okay
You declared you would be three inches taller
You only became what we made you
Thought you were chasing a destiny calling
You only earned what we gave you
You fell and cried as our people were starving
Now you know that we blame you
You tried to walk on the trail we were carving
Now you know that we framed you
I'm the guy in the sky
Flying high flashing eyes
No surprise I told lies
I'm the punk in the gutter
Woo, I'm the new president
And I grew and I bent
Don't you know, don't it show?
I'm the punk with the stutter
My my my my my my my my
Generation, my, my, my, my, my, my generation
Lyrics submitted by Chris_Gough, edited by Prisonmike, IndrayudhRoy
The Punk and the Godfather Lyrics as written by Pete Townshend
Lyrics © Spirit Music Group, Abkco Music Inc.
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman
The Night We Met
Lord Huron
Lord Huron
This is a hauntingly beautiful song about introspection, specifically about looking back at a relationship that started bad and ended so poorly, that the narrator wants to go back to the very beginning and tell himself to not even travel down that road. I believe that the relationship started poorly because of the lines:
"Take me back to the night we met:When the night was full of terrors: And your eyes were filled with tears: When you had not touched me yet"
So, the first night was not a great start, but the narrator pursued the relationship and eventually both overcame the rough start to fall in love with each other:
"I had all and then most of you"
Like many relationships that turn sour, it was not a quick decline, but a gradual one where the narrator and their partner fall out of love and gradually grow apart
"Some and now none of you"
Losing someone who was once everything in your world, who you could confide in, tell your secrets to, share all the most intimate parts of your life, to being strangers with that person is probably one of the most painful experiences a person can go through. So Painful, the narrator wants to go back in time and tell himself to not even pursue the relationship.
This was the perfect song for "13 Reasons Why"
Bron-Y-Aur Stomp
Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin
This is about bronies. They communicate by stomping.
Mountain Song
Jane's Addiction
Jane's Addiction
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."
Gentle Hour
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,
Quadrophenia came out in 1973 some years, some years before the punk rock movement took off. Although "punk rock" was in use in some music magazines to refer to underground music scenes, the term 'punk' would normally mean a low-life or a rebel.
Despite this, the song really does feel like some sort of confrontation between a late-70's punk rocker and either Townshend or Daltrey. However, in the context of the Quadrophenia rock opera, it's about Jimmy meeting the Who. He meets his musical idols and they don't live up to his expectations - or get on with him. He tries to catch them at the stage door and they are rude to him. It's one of the many things that makes Jimmy disillusioned with the 'mod' lifestyle.
The song is sung from two POVs. The 'punk' sings the verses. The 'godfather' sings the chorus ("I'm the guy in the sky...") and the bridge. What's slightly confusing is that the godfather is claiming to be "the punk with the stutter".
The punk complains that the godfather isn't living up to what he claims to be. He accuses him of being out of touch with and ungrateful towards his fans. He bitterly suggestions the godfather is on the way out, as part of a "dying nation". It's an angry rant from a younger generation to the old, just like the song 'My Generation' - which is referenced. It's hard to hear, but the words "M-m-m-my g-g-g-generation" are heard in the breakdowns, processed heavily by a synthesiser.
The godfather replies by saying that he might "tell lies" and be a bit out of touch, due to all the fame and status of being "the new president". But he still insists he's a rebel at heart, which is why he reminds that he is "the punk with the stutter" (i.e. the famous stuttering vocals of 'My Generation'). In the bridge he's then more open and modest. He tells the punk that "I've lived your future out" and that he's had a wild and destructive lifestyle of his own, and it's not quite over.
@JohnAPrestwick ...or, "punk" can mean a guy who takes it up the ass...