"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.
Strange like skin
That I believe in
It stretches over bone
And smells like honey on the wind
All so strange
I can't remember
Where the heartache ends
And the fever it begins
Scenes of Mary Magdalena
Shakes her lover's bones
At all the demons in the window
All so strange
The dreams that haunt my bed
The heartache swells
And quickens near the end
And then slows down
It slows down
'Till I shut down
And I won't try to run
Strange like skin
That I believe in
It leakss out of the phone
And spills like honey
From the window
Warm and strange
I can't remember
How the hearbreak mends
When the fever it remains
And I'm so down
So down... (5X)
And I lay down
And I won't try to run...
That I believe in
It stretches over bone
And smells like honey on the wind
All so strange
I can't remember
Where the heartache ends
And the fever it begins
Scenes of Mary Magdalena
Shakes her lover's bones
At all the demons in the window
All so strange
The dreams that haunt my bed
The heartache swells
And quickens near the end
And then slows down
It slows down
'Till I shut down
And I won't try to run
Strange like skin
That I believe in
It leakss out of the phone
And spills like honey
From the window
Warm and strange
I can't remember
How the hearbreak mends
When the fever it remains
And I'm so down
So down... (5X)
And I lay down
And I won't try to run...
Lyrics submitted by OwnPersonalDemon, edited by Anton Luczywek
Fevered Lyrics as written by John Davenport Eddie Cooley
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
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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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Same ideas expressed in Fitter, Happier are expressed in this song. We're told to strive for some sort of ideal life, which includes getting a good job, being kind to everyone, finding a partner, getting married, having a couple kids, living in a quiet neighborhood in a nice big house, etc. But in Fitter, Happier the narrator(?) realizes that it's incredibly robotic to live this life. People are being used by those in power "like a pig in a cage on antibiotics"--being pacified with things like new phones and cool gadgets and houses while being sucked dry. On No Surprises, the narrator is realizing how this life is killing him slowly. In the video, his helmet is slowly filling up with water, drowning him. But he's so complacent with it. This is a good summary of the song. This boring, "perfect" life foisted upon us by some higher powers (not spiritual, but political, economic, etc. politicians and businessmen, perhaps) is not the way to live. But there is seemingly no way out but death. He'd rather die peacefully right now than live in this cage. While our lives are often shielded, we're in our own protective bubbles, or protective helmets like the one Thom wears, if we look a little harder we can see all the corruption, lies, manipulation, etc. that is going on in the world, often run by huge yet nearly invisible organizations, corporations, and 'leaders'. It's a very hopeless song because it reflects real life.
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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.
Drugs and heartbreak. A close realationship, one ruining it with their optional curse(addiction to drugs) feeling the need for more, not realizing they are hurting the other person, it eventually hits them every now & then that the person is hurt, but they go on to continue drug usage, experiencing temporary relief, but through the drugs, subconciously his mind shows him through his delusions symbols of what is happening between him & his other half(Mary Magdalene, lovers bones-whats left of him-, demons in the window-drugs-) & through his intoxication & instability nothing seems real, except for the memory of what he is doing to the person, while the drugs continue the confusing sinsations he is expieriencing. the person later tries to comfort their suffering friend. being too messed up there is nothing to be done, his heartbreak is not mended, this cycle of drug abuse continues, miserating.
in a sick morbid kinda way i think that this song is about sex -"the heartache swells and quickens near the end" kinda like an O...its just a really sad song, and he has a beautiful voice.
yes i think its more death and memory of life , but i don't know, i agree he does have a beautiful voice, you never know perhaps it could be about memory of sex (just a suggestion),but still i think it could be moments before death..."til i'm shot down, i'll drown "i need to think about it more. it is a sad song though. and a good one at that
These lyrics are pretty wrong, according to their official site it goes:
Strange like skin That I believe in It stretches over bone And smells like honey on the wind All so strange I can't remember Where the heartache ends And the fever it begins
Scenes of Mary Magdalene Who shakes her lover's bones At all the demons in the window All so strange The dreams that haunt my bed The heart-rate swells And quickens near the end
And then slows down It slows down And I lay down And I wont try to run
Strange like skin That I believe in It leaks out of the phone And spills like honey From the window Warm and strange I can't remember How the heartbreak mends When the fever it remains
And I'm so down So down So down And I lay down And I wont try to run
I think this song's summed up in the lines: "I can't remember Where the heartache ends And the fever it begins" and "And I'm so down" I think the fever he's talking about and what the chorus is all about is depression, and he doesn't know how much of his depression is his heartache for a lost lover or the illness itself. I don't think it's about sex really, more him lying at home on his bed feeling like crap, not recovering from a girlfriend who left him. This fits in with other songs like Still In Love Song.
I suppose it might also be about drug use like heroin or something, to try and get over his heartache. He talks about his heart rate changing and lying down and all that sensual stuff in the verses.
One of my favorite songs ever. It makes me think of letting someone back into your life who's hurt you. (He speaks of his adoration, but also of his heartache) You try letting them back in but you can't get over the pain they've caused.
one of my favorite songs too
i thing that is a really sad song, but i agree with polythenepam, the song has something about sex.
i truly love this song is completely perfect. Has something so magic..... i can't explain it
Love
i think it's about trying to forget someone or something through sex, like an escape. it might be drugs, except for the reference to mary magdalene, who was supposed to have been a prostitute.
i thought maybe he had a bulimic girlfriend because the mention of honey, bones and fevers (honey is used to induce vomiting, fevers referring to making herself sick) and "smells like honey on the wind" was possibly her breath. im probably really, really wrong though.