"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 don't want to be
I don't want to see
Baby get your feet on the floor
Shut the door, count to four
There's ice (On your shoulders)
I don't want to fall face down in the flood
Of the tears from the years that we loved and we messed up
(Don't mess this up)
Let's get older
Remember the foggy window?
Remember lightning and wet clothes?
Remember the house we used to live in the cemetery?
The cemetery?
There's a shadow on the wall and it's nine feet tall
And our hearts won't sink cause it's obviously nothing at all
And in a roundabout way we can disappear towards the coast
The most I have to say isn't really that revealing at all
Everyone you forgot
Everything you could need
Everybody's gonna make it to the cemetery
There's a Fab, there's a Yick
There's a Jenny, there's a Karen
There's a Paul, there's a Jack
There's a Denny
Everyone you forgot
Everything that you need
Everybody's gonna make it to the cemetery
There's a Ross, there's a Neil
There's a Lenny, there's an Aaron
There's a Saul, there's a Chip
There's a Benny
Oh woah woah woah, way oh, way oh
Oh woah woah woah, way oh, way oh
Oh woah woah woah, way oh, way oh
Do you remember?
Oh woah woah woah, way oh, way oh
Oh woah woah woah, way oh, way oh
Oh woah woah woah, way oh, way oh
Do you remember?
Remember the foggy window?
Remember lightning and wet clothes?
Remember the house we used to live in the cemetery?
The cemetery?
There's a shadow on the wall and it's nine feet tall
And our hearts won't sink cause it's obviously nothing at all
And in a roundabout way we can disappear towards the coast
The most I have to say isn't really that revealing at all
I don't want to see
Baby get your feet on the floor
Shut the door, count to four
There's ice (On your shoulders)
I don't want to fall face down in the flood
Of the tears from the years that we loved and we messed up
(Don't mess this up)
Let's get older
Remember the foggy window?
Remember lightning and wet clothes?
Remember the house we used to live in the cemetery?
The cemetery?
There's a shadow on the wall and it's nine feet tall
And our hearts won't sink cause it's obviously nothing at all
And in a roundabout way we can disappear towards the coast
The most I have to say isn't really that revealing at all
Everyone you forgot
Everything you could need
Everybody's gonna make it to the cemetery
There's a Fab, there's a Yick
There's a Jenny, there's a Karen
There's a Paul, there's a Jack
There's a Denny
Everyone you forgot
Everything that you need
Everybody's gonna make it to the cemetery
There's a Ross, there's a Neil
There's a Lenny, there's an Aaron
There's a Saul, there's a Chip
There's a Benny
Oh woah woah woah, way oh, way oh
Oh woah woah woah, way oh, way oh
Oh woah woah woah, way oh, way oh
Do you remember?
Oh woah woah woah, way oh, way oh
Oh woah woah woah, way oh, way oh
Oh woah woah woah, way oh, way oh
Do you remember?
Remember the foggy window?
Remember lightning and wet clothes?
Remember the house we used to live in the cemetery?
The cemetery?
There's a shadow on the wall and it's nine feet tall
And our hearts won't sink cause it's obviously nothing at all
And in a roundabout way we can disappear towards the coast
The most I have to say isn't really that revealing at all
Lyrics submitted by satori-birdy
The Cemetery Lyrics as written by Bird
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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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"
Bron-Y-Aur Stomp
Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin
This is about bronies. They communicate by stomping.
Cajun Girl
Little Feat
Little Feat
Overall about difficult moments of disappointment and vulnerability. Having hope and longing, while remaining optimistic for the future. Encourages the belief that with each new morning there is a chance for things to improve.
The chorus offers a glimmer of optimism and a chance at a resolution and redemption in the future.
Captures the rollercoaster of emotions of feeling lost while loving someone who is not there for you, feeling let down and abandoned while waiting for a lover. Lost with no direction, "Now I'm up in the air with the rain in my hair, Nowhere to go, I can go anywhere"
The bridge shows signs of longing and a plea for companionship. The Lyrics express a desire for authentic connection and the importance of Loving someone just as they are. "Just in passing, I'm not asking. That you be anyone but you”
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,
Haha, I want this played at my funeral or cremation or whatever I'm getting when I die. I hope people dance around to it.
Such a great, fun, dancey song. ♥