"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.
you're the element of surprise that none of us were prepared for
the dead body behind the curtain that we couldn't help but stare towards
this afternoon you were an only child and a friend to me
this evening your not breathing you're just the seed of a memory
memories of better days
turn the pages back to a faded photograph of
memories of yesterdays
the years'll pass by but they'll never bring me back to you
my memory remembers presently everything from that night
my senses always sensor any awful images or sights
but i didn't get to see through the eyes his poor mother did
i just ask why she had to be the one to discover him
all i ask is a better day
a better way
to carry the weight of you
i sing this song to remember the days
when i wasn't afraid
to carry the weight of you
to the friend that i love who has different roots of blood
you are the earth that makes mud that comes from rain that made the flood
we cycle in and out of what our lives are capable of
and through it all i thank you for teaching me below and above
i had a friend who was way to young to die
i guess death is one of those things some people do to life
memories in f minor(interlude)
well i'll work on appreciating things that i have i promise
you can trust me, but i can't trust myself becoming honest
sometimes you are the flight of the birds
and other times you're watching the flight of the birds
and other times you're yourself
the dead body behind the curtain that we couldn't help but stare towards
this afternoon you were an only child and a friend to me
this evening your not breathing you're just the seed of a memory
memories of better days
turn the pages back to a faded photograph of
memories of yesterdays
the years'll pass by but they'll never bring me back to you
my memory remembers presently everything from that night
my senses always sensor any awful images or sights
but i didn't get to see through the eyes his poor mother did
i just ask why she had to be the one to discover him
all i ask is a better day
a better way
to carry the weight of you
i sing this song to remember the days
when i wasn't afraid
to carry the weight of you
to the friend that i love who has different roots of blood
you are the earth that makes mud that comes from rain that made the flood
we cycle in and out of what our lives are capable of
and through it all i thank you for teaching me below and above
i had a friend who was way to young to die
i guess death is one of those things some people do to life
memories in f minor(interlude)
well i'll work on appreciating things that i have i promise
you can trust me, but i can't trust myself becoming honest
sometimes you are the flight of the birds
and other times you're watching the flight of the birds
and other times you're yourself
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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"
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,
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.
Head > Heels
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
“Head > Heels” is a track that aims to capture what it feels like to experience romance that exceeds expectations. Ed Sheeran dedicates his album outro to a lover who has blessed him with a unique experience that he seeks to describe through the song’s nuanced lyrics.
I don't think it takes Stephen Hawkings to see that this song is about a friend who died.
Unless I'm retarded and missed a deeper meaning...... Which is very possible.
Friend died, most likely commited suicide but may have been murdered - death wasn't natural, anyway ("I guess death is one of those things some people do to life").
yea definatly leaning towards un-natural death of a friend, great song deep lyrics love it
I talked to mike busse(lead singer) and he said it was based on the death of his best friends father and changed the lyrics to sound like it was a friend so it wouldnt offend the family. CHRONIC FUTURE RULES ../
I talked to mike busse(lead singer) and he said it was based on the death of his best friends father and changed the lyrics to sound like it was a friend so it wouldnt offend the family. CHRONIC FUTURE RULES ../
this song hits close to home. i had a friend who was way too young to die.
Wasn't it about a friend's dad who died unexpectedly, but they wrote it as if it were a friend, instead?
my good friend i met in the navy knew these guys from school in AZ. he introduced me to this band with this song and said it was about their buddy who did commit suicide.