"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.
He is the icon of our times, solution to our modern crimes. His trigger finger clicks remotes, as carbohydrates slowly bloat.
Not fragile, or brittle. He's seeking an acquittal.
No scruples, no meekness, he has but one great weakness.
All the world must have a price, save yourself from sacrifice, everything will end all right. American Kryptonite.
His mighty hands will hardly fail, his intellect is barely frail, he moves his lips in perfect sync, demanding an espresso drink.
With passion, he searches, he'll make another purchase.
Familiar, you know him, he's saying that you owe him.
It was like the Manifest Destiny all over again, except, instead of taking and consuming everything in their paths for God, they did so with the same fervor and sense of entitlement for their new god... themselves.
Buy, take, break, throw it away.
Not fragile, or brittle. He's seeking an acquittal.
No scruples, no meekness, he has but one great weakness.
All the world must have a price, save yourself from sacrifice, everything will end all right. American Kryptonite.
His mighty hands will hardly fail, his intellect is barely frail, he moves his lips in perfect sync, demanding an espresso drink.
With passion, he searches, he'll make another purchase.
Familiar, you know him, he's saying that you owe him.
It was like the Manifest Destiny all over again, except, instead of taking and consuming everything in their paths for God, they did so with the same fervor and sense of entitlement for their new god... themselves.
Buy, take, break, throw it away.
Lyrics submitted by Jayknight
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Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman
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.
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.
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.
Plastic Bag
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
“Plastic Bag” is a song about searching for an escape from personal problems and hoping to find it in the lively atmosphere of a Saturday night party. Ed Sheeran tells the story of his friend and the myriad of troubles he is going through. Unable to find any solutions, this friend seeks a last resort in a party and the vanity that comes with it.
“I overthink and have trouble sleepin’ / All purpose gone and don’t have a reason / And there’s no doctor to stop this bleedin’ / So I left home and jumped in the deep end,” Ed Sheeran sings in verse one. He continues by adding that this person is feeling the weight of having disappointed his father and doesn’t have any friends to rely on in this difficult moment. In the second verse, Ed sings about the role of grief in his friend’s plight and his dwindling faith in prayer. “Saturday night is givin’ me a reason to rely on the strobe lights / The lifeline of a promise in a shot glass, and I’ll take that / If you’re givin’ out love from a plastic bag,” Ed sings on the chorus, as his friend turns to new vices in hopes of feeling better.
This song is about greed... 100% of the way. Its about how we've become not only powerful as a nation, but greedy. How demanding we are about everything, and how much we take that same everything for granted.
I love the line about there new God....themselves.. How true, people today act so selfishly
who does the song refer to in the word 'he' through out the song? Is it American Kryptonite? And if so what is American Kryptonite, or what does it mean? this is the song I have had so much trouble understanding.
"he just means us in general.
I suppose the American Kryptonite is paper money. It's green and it brings us Americans to our knees.
American Kryptonite isn't money, and every time the you hear the words: he, his, they, and their, it's talking about America itself.
The American Kryptonite is as it says in the song "he has but one great weakness" (remember 'he' is America). And that weakness is "All the world must have a price, save yourself from sacirfice." So what that is saying is that America's weakness is that America has to be able to by its salvation.
I agree that this is a picture of American society sadly, but I also think that this song is a portrait of each of our own lives if we truly look at ourselves introspectively. We are the Americans who make up America after all (unless of course you are from a differnt country)
I see the "He" as referring to the American consumer, who is being portrayed (ironically) as a superhero, and sacrifice is his own great weakness, his kryptonite.
I agree with all of that, but I also think that Kryptonite could refer to Superman(wasn't that his only weakness?) if so....then, America's weakness is kryptonite or money or an assortment of things. ALso, the parts of carbohydrates and lattes, I think refer to the obesity problem in our country.
i love reese's cynical views about america, and this song is just one of his many that touch the subject. he has some really great insights about the pitfalls of our society.