"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.
Credit cards, sealed lifts and covert sanitation, processed meat and a national waste disposal system:
The scale of deception begs the question what it is we're burying.
Cosmetics, contact lenses and plastic surgery:
Bulk orders for yet more imperial finery.
Double-glazing for phasing out suspicions that this is really happening.
It seems this season the cool kids are sporting white canes and braille zines.
And when i close my eyes am I invisible?
An embarrassed smile and you assume that I'm being rhetorical.
But if I don't see it die, this animal is invincible.
I won't catch your eyes tonight,
I will stutter my way through naked poverty until I'm across the street (safe).
I justified giving my eyes to Stevie Wonder with some spiel about a sense of wonder to discover,
But I was hiding under cover of the excuse of helplessness.
I fell in line with the cool kids and spared my eyes instead of change.
I just called to say that someone moved my furniture around,
And so i fell down,
And I hatched a plan here sprawled on the ground.
So hey, what do you say,
We pack our things and call it a day.
Some come round,
Let's lose that frown,
And you and I will leave this town behind.
The scale of deception begs the question what it is we're burying.
Cosmetics, contact lenses and plastic surgery:
Bulk orders for yet more imperial finery.
Double-glazing for phasing out suspicions that this is really happening.
It seems this season the cool kids are sporting white canes and braille zines.
And when i close my eyes am I invisible?
An embarrassed smile and you assume that I'm being rhetorical.
But if I don't see it die, this animal is invincible.
I won't catch your eyes tonight,
I will stutter my way through naked poverty until I'm across the street (safe).
I justified giving my eyes to Stevie Wonder with some spiel about a sense of wonder to discover,
But I was hiding under cover of the excuse of helplessness.
I fell in line with the cool kids and spared my eyes instead of change.
I just called to say that someone moved my furniture around,
And so i fell down,
And I hatched a plan here sprawled on the ground.
So hey, what do you say,
We pack our things and call it a day.
Some come round,
Let's lose that frown,
And you and I will leave this town behind.
Lyrics submitted by Harry_Manback
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Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman
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,
I Can't Go To Sleep
Wu-Tang Clan
Wu-Tang Clan
This song is written as the perspective of the boys in the street, as a whole, and what path they are going to choose as they get older and grow into men. (This is why the music video takes place in an orphanage.) The seen, and unseen collective suffering is imbedded in the boys’ mind, consciously or subconsciously, and is haunting them. Which path will the boys choose? Issac Hayes is the voice of reason, maybe God, the angel on his shoulder, or the voice of his forefathers from beyond the grave who can see the big picture and are pleading with the boys not to continue the violence and pattern of killing their brothers, but to rise above. The most beautiful song and has so many levels. Racism towards African Americans in America would not exist if everyone sat down and listened to this song and understood the history behind the words. The power, fear, pleading in RZA and Ghostface voices are genuine and powerful. Issac Hayes’ strong voice makes the perfect strong father figure, who is possibly from beyond the grave.
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.
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.
"the song is supposed to say something about wilfully not seeing things. all the stuff listed at the beginning are things that seem to me to be deliberate obfuscations. credit cards (yr not really spending money) sealed lifts (yr not really moving up and down) covert sanitation (likewise) processed meat, national waste disposal system... etc. you get the picture. it pisses me off when people don't call a spade a spade, basically. thus also "i will stutter my way through naked poverty until i'm across the street, safe." oh, and there's a bit about my old dog in there too - he used to think that if his eyes were shut, no one could see him, so he'd steal food with his eyes closed."
that's what frank said on the message board.