"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.
They built this whole neighborhood out of wood, out of wood.
I guess I'll still be around when they burn, burn it down.
I will be standing around when they burn it down.
Here in the Museum of Idiots.
Honey, I'm there when you need me, please believe me, please believe me.
I'll still be right where you left me, if you manage to forget me.
Where we met is where you may forget.
Here in the Museum of Idiots.
If you and I had any brains, we wouldn't be in this place.
Chop me up into pieces if it pleases, if it pleases.
And when the chopping is through, every piece will say, "I love you."
Every piece of me will say "I love you."
Here in the Museum of Idiots.
Every piece of me will say "I love you, you you"
Here in the Museum of Idiots.
I guess I'll still be around when they burn, burn it down.
I will be standing around when they burn it down.
Here in the Museum of Idiots.
Honey, I'm there when you need me, please believe me, please believe me.
I'll still be right where you left me, if you manage to forget me.
Where we met is where you may forget.
Here in the Museum of Idiots.
If you and I had any brains, we wouldn't be in this place.
Chop me up into pieces if it pleases, if it pleases.
And when the chopping is through, every piece will say, "I love you."
Every piece of me will say "I love you."
Here in the Museum of Idiots.
Every piece of me will say "I love you, you you"
Here in the Museum of Idiots.
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Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman
Dreamwalker
Silent Planet
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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.
Mountain Song
Jane's Addiction
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Jane's Addiction vocalist Perry Farrell gives Adam Reader some heartfelt insight into Jane’s Addiction's hard rock manifesto "Mountain Song", which was the second single from their revolutionary album Nothing's Shocking. Mountain song was first recorded in 1986 and appeared on the soundtrack to the film Dudes starring Jon Cryer. The version on Nothing's Shocking was re-recorded in 1988.
"'Mountain Song' was actually about... I hate to say it but... drugs. Climbing this mountain and getting as high as you can, and then coming down that mountain," reveals Farrell. "What it feels to descend from the mountain top... not easy at all. The ascension is tough but exhilarating. Getting down is... it's a real bummer. Drugs is not for everybody obviously. For me, I wanted to experience the heights, and the lows come along with it."
"There's a part - 'Cash in now honey, cash in Miss Smith.' Miss Smith is my Mother; our last name was Smith. Cashing in when she cashed in her life. So... she decided that, to her... at that time, she was desperate. Life wasn't worth it for her, that was her opinion. Some people think, never take your life, and some people find that their life isn't worth living. She was in love with my Dad, and my Dad was not faithful to her, and it broke her heart. She was very desperate and she did something that I know she regrets."
Blue
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
“Blue” is a song about a love that is persisting in the discomfort of the person experiencing the emotion. Ed Sheeran reflects on love lost, and although he wishes his former partner find happiness, he cannot but admit his feelings are still very much there. He expresses the realization that he might never find another on this stringed instrumental by Aaron Dessner.
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.
wow, noone has said anything yet, hmm, well, this is my boyfreind and my song...so, i'll have a go.
It's about dead relationship whwere she isn't into him anymore, but no mater how she hurts him, he still loves her and wants to help her, even if they are no longer going out, just beeing two people who look after one another.
Yeah, this is pretty obviously a breakup song. The narrator knows they're both at fault, but he's telling her he'll still be around if she needs him. He can't see moving forward, so he's going to stay right here in the burned-out neighborhood. We know she's not coming back, even if the narrator doesn't.
Yep, I also take it like
Guy likes the way things are, girlfriend wants to change, they break up, he stays in hopes of her coming back.
um....i see that stuff in the last three parts, but not the first verse and the chorus. In the first i see the fact that he doesn't like the place that he lives, and in "here in the museum of idiots" he means that this whole world is messed up and doesnt know what life is for, therefore they dont know what to do with love. "If we had any brains, we wouldn't be in this place."
I'm in a ska band, I love this song!!
I always figured the "Museum of Idiots" were all of her ex boyfriends. I agree with CecilaDarling and TG said. Although she has left him already; the guy is still waiting around for her to come back. I have to say that I've been a member of one of my ex's "Museum of Idiots" before, and you truly do not realize how big an idiot you are to be waiting around until all is said and done.
The museum of idiots is a bar. The place where she met him, where she may forget him.
She left him, he still loved her so he went back to the bar where he met her and drank his days away, expecting her to come find him.
He thinks of her relationships as temporary (made of wood) and is just waiting around for her to take him back.
So the bar is full of guys just like him, a museum of idiots.
Made of 'wood'. That certainly gives a new insight, and I will never listen to this song the same again.
This song always sounds ironic to me. It uses clichéd break-up/unrequited lovesong imagery, but sounds lighthearted.
Might be more of a reflection on me, but I always found the part that goes - 'chop me up into pieces if it pleases, if it pleases and when the chopping is through every piece will say 'I love you" - as hilarious, especially with that cheery tune in the back.
I love that part of the song, so I'm never going to look at this as a break-up song even if they publicly declare it on.