"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.
It's one and the same, one and the same oh
So what's the use between death and glory?
I can't tell between death and glory
Happy endings, no, they never bored me
Happy endings, they still don't bore me
But they, they have a way
A way to make you pay
And to make you toe the line
No, I sever my ties
Because I'm so clever
But clever ain't wise
Fuck forever
If you don't mind
Oh fuck forever?
If you don't mind, don't mind, I don't mind, I don't mind
Oh what's the use between death and glory?
I can't tell between death and glory
New labour and Tory
Purgatory and no happy families
One and the same, one and the same
No, it's not the same
It's not supposed to be the same
You know about that way
The way they make you pay
And the way they make you toe the line
I've severed my ties
Oh, you're so clever, you're so clever
But you're not very nice
So fuck forever
If you don't mind
Oh I'm stuck forever
In your mind, your mind, your mind
Go ahead and know about that way
To make you feel like shit and make you pay
And to make you toe the line, line
I sever my tie
Oh and I'll never
Sever the ties
And fuck forever
If you don't mind
See I'm stuck forever
Oh I'm stuck in your mind, your mind, your mind, your mind
They'll never played this on the radio
Oh they'll never play this on the radio
So what's the use between death and glory?
I can't tell between death and glory
Happy endings, no, they never bored me
Happy endings, they still don't bore me
But they, they have a way
A way to make you pay
And to make you toe the line
No, I sever my ties
Because I'm so clever
But clever ain't wise
Fuck forever
If you don't mind
Oh fuck forever?
If you don't mind, don't mind, I don't mind, I don't mind
Oh what's the use between death and glory?
I can't tell between death and glory
New labour and Tory
Purgatory and no happy families
One and the same, one and the same
No, it's not the same
It's not supposed to be the same
You know about that way
The way they make you pay
And the way they make you toe the line
I've severed my ties
Oh, you're so clever, you're so clever
But you're not very nice
So fuck forever
If you don't mind
Oh I'm stuck forever
In your mind, your mind, your mind
Go ahead and know about that way
To make you feel like shit and make you pay
And to make you toe the line, line
I sever my tie
Oh and I'll never
Sever the ties
And fuck forever
If you don't mind
See I'm stuck forever
Oh I'm stuck in your mind, your mind, your mind, your mind
They'll never played this on the radio
Oh they'll never play this on the radio
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Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
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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.
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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.
I've not read every single comment, but obviously the interpretation that he's against the concept of anything being eternal or permanent seems correct. But there's also a certain cognitive dissonance, or a duality. On the one hand he's saying clearly "fuck forever", and "sever the ties", he also says "I'll never sever the ties", "I'm stuck forever, stuck in your mind" (at least in the version of the song I listen to, there's 2 versions of this song, the more popular one with a music video has different lyrics to what is written here) So it seems to me that the song is about a desire to reject "forever", but knowing inevitably you will fail as some things are just permanent.