"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.
This your only grace
The art of conversation
Regarding common sense
As merely an infliction
Divided we stand
Maybe you're content
Relying on religion
You steal without consent
Just consummates my theory
Divided we stand
Regardless we'll fall
How subtle the words
We've come to know
Divided we stand
Determined to fall
Just like this hollow world
That sleeps inside of me
Divided we stand
The art of conversation
Regarding common sense
As merely an infliction
Divided we stand
Maybe you're content
Relying on religion
You steal without consent
Just consummates my theory
Divided we stand
Regardless we'll fall
How subtle the words
We've come to know
Divided we stand
Determined to fall
Just like this hollow world
That sleeps inside of me
Divided we stand
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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"
Mental Istid
Ebba Grön
Ebba Grön
This is one of my favorite songs. https://fnfgo.io
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,
Page
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
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.
Like many songs by Paradise Lost, this one expresses a pessimist's view of the world and a negative bias towards religion.
"This your only grace The art of conversation Regarding common sense As merely an infliction"
The only redeeming quality of humankind is our ability to communicate, but in spite of this logic and reason are often seen as problematic while irrational beliefs are revered.
"Maybe you're content Relying on religion You steal without consent Just consummates my theory"
Those who devote their lives to religion contribute little to the betterment of mankind while benefiting from the achievements of rational individuals. This observation confirms the protagonist's fears that mankind/society will not last.
"Divided we'll stand Regardless we'll fall How subtle the words we've come to know"
We (mankind) stand for many things, but we are not united and thus are doomed to fall. Our downfall has been described/foretold in detail many times through stories with which we are familiar.
"Divided we stand Determined to fall Just like this hollow world that sleeps inside of me"
Through our beliefs and actions we work towards our own downfall, not destined through fate, but determined by our own doing. This observation is analogous to the protagonist's own life which he sees as meaningless and knows will eventually end. The purpose of life is to end.
the song is about mankind's ability to speak and interact with other people. anyway we still stand "divided" meaning everyone stands alone in life. we may be able to talk to other people and make friends but still they will never fully understand you and you will never fully understand them.