"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.
Where would you rather be?
Anywhere, anywhere but here
When will the time be right?
Anytime but now
Anywhere, anywhere but here
Anywhere, anywhere but here
On the edge of sleep, I was drifting for half the night
Anxious and restless, pressed down by the darkness
Bound up and wound up so tight
So tight
So many decisions, a million revisions
Caught between darkness and light
Wilderness of mirrors
World of polished steel
Gears and iron chains
Turn the grinding wheel
I run between the shadows
Some are phantoms, some are real
Where would you rather be?
Anywhere, anywhere but here
When will the time be right?
Anytime but now
Where would you rather be?
The doubt and the fear
I know would all disappear
Anywhere but here
Anywhere but here
On the edge of sleep, I heard voices behind the door
The known and the nameless, familiar and faceless
My angels and my demons at war
At war
Which one will lose depends on what I choose
Or maybe which voice I ignore
Wilderness of mirrors
Streets of cold desire
My precious sense of honor
Just a shield of rusty wire
I hold against the chaos
And the cross of holy fire
Where would you rather be?
Anywhere, anywhere but here
When will the time be right?
Anytime but now
Where would you rather be?
The doubt and the fear
I know would all disappear
Anywhere but here
Anywhere but here
Wilderness of mirrors
So easy to deceive
My precious sense of rightness
Is sometimes so naive
So that which I imagine
Is that which I believe
On the edge of sleep, I awoke to a sun so bright
Rested and fearless, cheered by your nearness
I knew which direction was right
Was right
The case had been tried by the jury inside
The choice between darkness and light
The choice between darkness and light
Anywhere, anywhere but here
When will the time be right?
Anytime but now
Anywhere, anywhere but here
Anywhere, anywhere but here
On the edge of sleep, I was drifting for half the night
Anxious and restless, pressed down by the darkness
Bound up and wound up so tight
So tight
So many decisions, a million revisions
Caught between darkness and light
Wilderness of mirrors
World of polished steel
Gears and iron chains
Turn the grinding wheel
I run between the shadows
Some are phantoms, some are real
Where would you rather be?
Anywhere, anywhere but here
When will the time be right?
Anytime but now
Where would you rather be?
The doubt and the fear
I know would all disappear
Anywhere but here
Anywhere but here
On the edge of sleep, I heard voices behind the door
The known and the nameless, familiar and faceless
My angels and my demons at war
At war
Which one will lose depends on what I choose
Or maybe which voice I ignore
Wilderness of mirrors
Streets of cold desire
My precious sense of honor
Just a shield of rusty wire
I hold against the chaos
And the cross of holy fire
Where would you rather be?
Anywhere, anywhere but here
When will the time be right?
Anytime but now
Where would you rather be?
The doubt and the fear
I know would all disappear
Anywhere but here
Anywhere but here
Wilderness of mirrors
So easy to deceive
My precious sense of rightness
Is sometimes so naive
So that which I imagine
Is that which I believe
On the edge of sleep, I awoke to a sun so bright
Rested and fearless, cheered by your nearness
I knew which direction was right
Was right
The case had been tried by the jury inside
The choice between darkness and light
The choice between darkness and light
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Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman
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Little Feat
Little Feat
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”
Dreamwalker
Silent Planet
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.
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,
When We Were Young
Blink-182
Blink-182
This is a sequel to 2001's "Reckless Abandon", and features the band looking back on their clumsy youth fondly.
Its about the mind confused and not trusti g itself because of temptation to do what is considered bad. This is a representation of when emotions become symptomatic and start to cause depersonalization and derealization This song is like a description of a person experiencing a mental breakdown and losing there sense of right and wrong. This song is amazing as it does display the characteristics of so many people that have had what feels like a confusion between emotions making sense or when they start to no longer fit the role that person wants to live in their life.(believing they are good or bad and acting it out making the choice) At the end When the song shows that the person had decided to choose the light over the darkness is like when the symptomatic emotions have gone away and now that person feels the right to actually choose good over bad. The bad having had been clearly a very tempting use of the darkness(the desire to do something bad) but really its just like they battled their thoughts and emotions all night just to be relieved by the over exposure to their own dark and painful feelings. To rationalise those feelings and understand why the person feels how they do is good therapy. And it can make a person go from being completely antisocial to enjoying someone's "nearness"
The double agent is in us all. It is just stuffed down and locked away or it is understood and no longer seems to haunt or continually return bringing controversy and questioning as to what is right or wrong. Accept ur double agent in you and treat it gently. If you try to tell yourself your double agent is wrong.or a.liar it might only get stronger. So be gentle to your mind if you get caught questioning right and.wrong. any anger towards it is fuel to a fire and really there is nothing to fear including fear itself because there is always reasoning in experience. Find the reasoning and the double agent/darkness is lighted and becomes good not bad. If we could understand ourselves better then people would be able to go through these controversial moments much smoother and quicker. Btw the music and rhythms are so good. Makes me happy.