"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.
Words: Kantner, Slick, Balin, Blackman
Music: Kantner
The summer was dry like your nose when you've been behind coke for a day and a
Season
We sail out into the grasshopper night and we seek the righteous poison
Sunday morning in speedway, why'know the people come around for a reason
Sunday MORNIN Sunday MORNIN
The land is green and you make it grow, go to the forest and move
The sound of thundering electrical energy calls us to the park in the noon
C'mon anybody-now fill my pipe * to the park * to the forest and move
When I feel you coming round me - ridin in the sun
Goin home move your mind toward Mars and then beyond
Genesis is not the answer to what we had before
I we altogether in you
You know I remember the 23rd of November
In the abyss of Chicago you can see the barbed wire - pigs around a lot of
Nothin
The witch hunters wail and they bark and they wheeze and they try to turn us
Into their poison
You know - a starship circlin in the sky - it ought to be ready by 1990
They'll be buildin it up in the air even since 1980
People with a clever plan can assume the role of the mighty
And HIJACK THE STARSHIP
Carry 7000 people past the sun
And our babes'll wander naked through the cities of the universe
C'mon
Free minds, free bodies, free dope, free music
The day is on its way the day is ours
You breathe out You breathe in
And the glow of the machine'll get you on
Moving slow, don't feel the changes
Gracefully growing - as wild as we can be
Only the sun knows what we really need to know
Only the sun holds the secret
And more than human can we be
Cause human's truly locked
To this planetary circle
You gotta ride said the Doktor of space
I have lived here once before
The lites in the night are a village of stars
Of stars that I have explored
Beyond the idea of beyond the void
And beyond that and more
Parallel lines in this village of stars
Will lead you to the second door
Time won't wait for the Doktor of space from the city of the sun to come
WHERE DO YOU GO FROM HERE
CHAOS OR COMMUNITY
CAN'T YOU SEE - ON THIS AND FUTURE SUNDAYS
7000 Gypsies swirlin together
Offering to the sun in the name of the weather
Gonna Hijack - HIJACK THE STARSHIP
Music: Kantner
The summer was dry like your nose when you've been behind coke for a day and a
Season
We sail out into the grasshopper night and we seek the righteous poison
Sunday morning in speedway, why'know the people come around for a reason
Sunday MORNIN Sunday MORNIN
The land is green and you make it grow, go to the forest and move
The sound of thundering electrical energy calls us to the park in the noon
C'mon anybody-now fill my pipe * to the park * to the forest and move
When I feel you coming round me - ridin in the sun
Goin home move your mind toward Mars and then beyond
Genesis is not the answer to what we had before
I we altogether in you
You know I remember the 23rd of November
In the abyss of Chicago you can see the barbed wire - pigs around a lot of
Nothin
The witch hunters wail and they bark and they wheeze and they try to turn us
Into their poison
You know - a starship circlin in the sky - it ought to be ready by 1990
They'll be buildin it up in the air even since 1980
People with a clever plan can assume the role of the mighty
And HIJACK THE STARSHIP
Carry 7000 people past the sun
And our babes'll wander naked through the cities of the universe
C'mon
Free minds, free bodies, free dope, free music
The day is on its way the day is ours
You breathe out You breathe in
And the glow of the machine'll get you on
Moving slow, don't feel the changes
Gracefully growing - as wild as we can be
Only the sun knows what we really need to know
Only the sun holds the secret
And more than human can we be
Cause human's truly locked
To this planetary circle
You gotta ride said the Doktor of space
I have lived here once before
The lites in the night are a village of stars
Of stars that I have explored
Beyond the idea of beyond the void
And beyond that and more
Parallel lines in this village of stars
Will lead you to the second door
Time won't wait for the Doktor of space from the city of the sun to come
WHERE DO YOU GO FROM HERE
CHAOS OR COMMUNITY
CAN'T YOU SEE - ON THIS AND FUTURE SUNDAYS
7000 Gypsies swirlin together
Offering to the sun in the name of the weather
Gonna Hijack - HIJACK THE STARSHIP
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Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
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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,
When We Were Young
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This is a sequel to 2001's "Reckless Abandon", and features the band looking back on their clumsy youth fondly.
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Ed Sheeran sings about missing his former partner and learning important life lessons in the process on “Punchline.” This track tells a story of battling to get rid of emotions for a former lover, whom he now realized might not have loved him the same way. He’s now caught between accepting that fact and learning life lessons from it and going back to beg her for another chance.
American Town
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Ed Sheeran shares a short story of reconnecting with an old flame on “American Town.” The track is about a holiday Ed Sheeran spends with his countrywoman who resides in America. The two are back together after a long period apart, and get around to enjoying a bunch of fun activities while rekindling the flames of their romance.
The song was a science fiction story (nominated for a Hugo Award) so it wasn't meant to be taken literally. Yes, it was naive idealsim but utopias usually are unrealistic, but again, it was a work of fiction for one's entertainment and a great piece of work nonetheless.
I believe Orson Scott Card said this was the greatest science fiction album ever.
And why the reference to the 23rd of November? Even the 24th would make a little sense since Ruby's killing of the Patsy was an early clue of the conspiracy. But the 23rd?
These lyrics are from the album 'Blows Against The Empire', which was a psychedelic-concept-album in 1970 featuring members of The Jefferson Airplane, Crosby Stills Nash, and The Grateful Dead. It is a dated piece from the Flower-Power-Hippy-Era, about a group of Hippies who hijack a starship to escape The Establishment and live free in outer space. Not only did we NOT have a starship by 1980 or 1990, but NASA recently shelved its plans for a 'space-plane' that was to be the successor to the space-shuttle. Submitted by: Johnny D via amiright.com btw amazing song can't believe there isn't any comments yet?
An epic story from the mind of Mr. Kantner.
"The witch hunters wail and they bark and they wheeze and they try to turn us onto their poison" This line needs a correction (As sung at least) S/B The witch hunters wail and they bark and they wheeze and they try to TUNE us INTO their poison
What a great, underrated album by the brilliant Paul Kantner. I believe they had agreed that the first 3 among the 7000 gypsies who would board the Starship were Kantner, Garcia and Crosby. Love the classic Airplane with Jorma, but this tune and Garcia's work on Starship and others is so sweet.