"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.
Took it like medicine, horrible in a hurry
Lots of plans go awry, nothing’s wrong, I won’t worry
But I rolled for a dollar on your advice
And I lost you bad because that’s the luck of the dice
Taking a fall
You don’t know who to call
Well, you don’t know who, do you?
Taking a fall
Why do the neighbor’s kids have to scream when they’re playing?
You know I never can understand what you’re saying
Then you won’t hear a word out of me
Because I know how indifferent someone can be
Taking a fall
You don’t know who to call
No, you don’t know who, do you?
Taking a fall
When there’s someone to call
But you don’t know who, do you?
Taking a fall
But you don’t know who, do you?
Taking a fall
Well, you don’t know who, do you?
Lots of plans go awry, nothing’s wrong, I won’t worry
But I rolled for a dollar on your advice
And I lost you bad because that’s the luck of the dice
Taking a fall
You don’t know who to call
Well, you don’t know who, do you?
Taking a fall
Why do the neighbor’s kids have to scream when they’re playing?
You know I never can understand what you’re saying
Then you won’t hear a word out of me
Because I know how indifferent someone can be
Taking a fall
You don’t know who to call
No, you don’t know who, do you?
Taking a fall
When there’s someone to call
But you don’t know who, do you?
Taking a fall
But you don’t know who, do you?
Taking a fall
Well, you don’t know who, do you?
Lyrics submitted by sethbrown
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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"
Dreamwalker
Silent Planet
Silent Planet
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.
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.
Just A Little Lovin'
Dusty Springfield
Dusty Springfield
I don't think it's necessarily about sex. It's about wanting to start the day with some love and affection. Maybe a warm cuddle. I'm not alone in interpreting it that way! For example:
"'Just a Little Lovin’ is a timeless country song originally recorded by Eddy Arnold in 1954. The song, written by Eddie Miller and Jimmy Campbell, explores the delicate nuances of love and showcases Arnold’s emotive vocals. It delves into the universal theme of love and how even the smallest gesture of affection can have a profound impact on our lives." https://oldtimemusic.com/the-meaning-behind-the-song-just-a-little-lovin-by-eddy-arnold/
Here's what I think. In the first verse, the main guy in the song is thinking back about a broken friendship. The lines "rolled for a dollar..." and "...luck of the dice" make me think that he took some sort of risk at his friend's suggestion, and somehow that risk led to them no longer being friends. Based on the first two lines of the song, I'd guess that the friend encouraged the main guy to experiment with drugs, but the main guy got hooked on harder stuff and got in too deep and now the friend wants nothing to do with him.
In the second verse, the first two lines ("kids" and "..what you're saying") are words of a new acquaintance in a conversation with main guy. The last two lines of the verse ("..word out of me" and "indifferent") are the main guy's thoughts during the conversation. If this new person can't understand him, then he just won't talk. Perhaps due to past friendships and broken trust, he knows that others can seem cold and indifferent to his own problems.
And that brings us to the chorus. He feels that others have let him down when he's been in a bad place before, now he's struggling again, and he feels that there's no one in the world he can trust to help hi out.
Very sad.
Since this was a '97 Jackpot! recording originally, I imagine it might be Interscope property now.. but I still hope it will be released at some point. I like the demo well enough, but a release would be nice.