"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.
Up from the ashes and over the hill
We knew more than we ever will
Back when the days passed by so slow
And now we'll never know
That sense that tomorrow was far away
And our dreams they never fade
We never thought the good times could end
Can we go back to those days - When everything was simple then?
And nothing could ever change
Can we go back to those days - We didn't have a care at all
I wish I could remain - Back in yesterdays
Pictures of another place and time
They seem like scenes from a different life
We didn't notice as the days went past
We knew it couldn't last
But looking back I wouldn't change a thing
The memories shared they'll always stay with me
We never thought the good times would end
We knew more than we ever will
Back when the days passed by so slow
And now we'll never know
That sense that tomorrow was far away
And our dreams they never fade
We never thought the good times could end
Can we go back to those days - When everything was simple then?
And nothing could ever change
Can we go back to those days - We didn't have a care at all
I wish I could remain - Back in yesterdays
Pictures of another place and time
They seem like scenes from a different life
We didn't notice as the days went past
We knew it couldn't last
But looking back I wouldn't change a thing
The memories shared they'll always stay with me
We never thought the good times would end
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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"
Cajun Girl
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”
No Surprises
Radiohead
Radiohead
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.
Amazing
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran tells a story of unsuccessfully trying to feel “Amazing.” This track is about the being weighed down by emotional stress despite valiant attempts to find some positivity in the situation. This track was written by Ed Sheeran from the perspective of his friend. From the track, we see this person fall deeper into the negative thoughts and slide further down the path of mental torment with every lyric.
OOHH YEAH! best pennywise song i've ever heard right here. just great.
This song reminds me of the high school days. When we just had a great time living in our little bubble with no real responsibilities. Dreams sky high and optomistic about the future. My oh my, how things have changed. "I wish I could remain - Back in yesterdays"
I agree with jasonnov118, it reminds me of my high school days.
This song makes me sad actually, I can't listen to it a lot. Heh.
this is indeed their best song...I guess it's about your careless childhood, you've got nothing to worry about. And you think that everything in life is good 'till you get on an age that you start to realise that it ain't all so nice as you thought when you where young. So now you want to go back to "yesterdays" (your childhood)
this song has so much meaning. i think many people can really relate to it. nostalgia.
its awesome.
It actually says this for the second verse: Up from the shadows of our days gone by They seem like scenes from a different life
the song was written after 9-11. the song is about simpler times, before the world got all crazy with war. its about hanging out with friends and laughing. not the crap today is with war and suffering
Its about wanting to relive the good old days. Its that basic? Actually, it can relate to the 9-11 shit and how everything before than seemed perfect, even though it wasn't. Even Pennywise can agree
i guess this song means alot to pretty much anyone who listens to it as many people remmeber the old carefree days of their childhood, even i would like eerything to be like it was before my parents split, and im only 16, so im sure it would mean alot more to older people.