"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.
(Graffiti sky)
(I don't think y'all ready)
(Yo, I don't think y'all ready)
Graffiti decorations under a sky of grey
This constant apprehension still giving me away
The lessons I've forgotten in spite of all I've learned
Now I find myself in question
(Point the finger at me again)
Guilty by association
(Point-point the finger at me again)
I wanna run away
(I wanna run away)
I wanna know the truth
(I wanna know the truth)
I wanna know the answers
(I wanna know the answers)
I wanna shut the door
(And open up my mind)
And open up my mind
(And open up my mind)
Paper bags and angry voices under a sky of grey
This constant apprehension won't seem to go away
All my talk of starting over these words were never true
Now I find myself in question
(Point-point the finger at me again)
Guilty by association
(Point-point the finger at me again)
I wanna run away
(I wanna run away)
I wanna know the truth
(I wanna know the truth)
I wanna know the answers
(I wanna know the answers)
I wanna shut the door
(And open up my mind)
And open up my mind
(And open up my mind)
(Gonna run away, gonna run away)
(Gonna run away, gonna run away)
(Run away, run away, run away)
(Uh, y'all not ready)
(Run away, run away)
Ay yo
I don't think y'all ready for what I'm about to do
Y'all new school dudes ain't even got no clue
How dare you forget about Bam and Zulu?
Kool Herc and Jazzy Jay they paved the way
Let me spit it for y'all who said I wasn't gon' make it
Every time I blaze it, y'all the first to hate it
My team really keen, supreme and stay strong
Got the two series son, they scared to put us on
Can't get with the hybrids, get off your hiatus
Too many of y'all is dyin' for it so I gotta blaze it
Still reppin BK, Brooklyn D and on
Hell fire family alienation
Banging hits in the backyard on a LP song
I'm a little commuter named Phoenix Orion
I wanna run away
(I wanna run away)
I wanna know the truth
(I wanna know the truth)
I wanna know the answers
(I wanna know the answers)
I wanna shut the door
(And open up my mind)
And open up my mind
(And open up my mind)
(I don't think y'all ready)
(Yo, I don't think y'all ready)
Graffiti decorations under a sky of grey
This constant apprehension still giving me away
The lessons I've forgotten in spite of all I've learned
Now I find myself in question
(Point the finger at me again)
Guilty by association
(Point-point the finger at me again)
I wanna run away
(I wanna run away)
I wanna know the truth
(I wanna know the truth)
I wanna know the answers
(I wanna know the answers)
I wanna shut the door
(And open up my mind)
And open up my mind
(And open up my mind)
Paper bags and angry voices under a sky of grey
This constant apprehension won't seem to go away
All my talk of starting over these words were never true
Now I find myself in question
(Point-point the finger at me again)
Guilty by association
(Point-point the finger at me again)
I wanna run away
(I wanna run away)
I wanna know the truth
(I wanna know the truth)
I wanna know the answers
(I wanna know the answers)
I wanna shut the door
(And open up my mind)
And open up my mind
(And open up my mind)
(Gonna run away, gonna run away)
(Gonna run away, gonna run away)
(Run away, run away, run away)
(Uh, y'all not ready)
(Run away, run away)
Ay yo
I don't think y'all ready for what I'm about to do
Y'all new school dudes ain't even got no clue
How dare you forget about Bam and Zulu?
Kool Herc and Jazzy Jay they paved the way
Let me spit it for y'all who said I wasn't gon' make it
Every time I blaze it, y'all the first to hate it
My team really keen, supreme and stay strong
Got the two series son, they scared to put us on
Can't get with the hybrids, get off your hiatus
Too many of y'all is dyin' for it so I gotta blaze it
Still reppin BK, Brooklyn D and on
Hell fire family alienation
Banging hits in the backyard on a LP song
I'm a little commuter named Phoenix Orion
I wanna run away
(I wanna run away)
I wanna know the truth
(I wanna know the truth)
I wanna know the answers
(I wanna know the answers)
I wanna shut the door
(And open up my mind)
And open up my mind
(And open up my mind)
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Fast Car
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This is one of my favorite songs. https://fnfgo.io
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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”
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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,
I love this song, Linkin Park just keeps making good music. LP 4 eva