"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.
She wore a dress with cherries on it
Going somewhere where she'd be wanted
A town this small, all they do is talk
No wedding ring chipped fingernail polish
She always wished that she could go to college
But some dreams fade, they just slip away
She started to show a few months ago
And she had to go, that's how she wound up
On the backseat of a greyhound bus
Head hung down with the windows up
Staring at the rest of her life
She never thought this would be the place
Where she would find her saving grace
But she fell in love, she fell in love
On the backseat of a greyhound bus
Oh, yeah, yeah
Moon was full the stars were smilin'
God has a funny sense of timin'
The baby came on the interstate
Somewhere between Jackson and Memphis
She finally found what she'd been missing
She cried and laughed when the red lights flashed
Sweet baby girl, she looked into the face of a new, the face of a brand new world
On the backseat of a Greyhound bus,
Heart so full that it could bust.
Starin' at the rest of her life.
She never thought this would be the place,
Where she would find her savin' grace,
But she fell in love; she fell in love,
On the backseat of a Greyhound Bus.
Sweet baby girl, she found a brand new world
On the backseat of a Greyhound bus,
Heart so full that it could bust.
Starin' at the rest of her life.
She never thought this would be the place,
Where she would find her savin' grace,
But she fell in love; she fell in love,
On the backseat of a Greyhound Bus.
She wore a dress with cherries on it going somewhere where she'd be wanted
Hey yeah! Oh yeah,
To fade.
Going somewhere where she'd be wanted
A town this small, all they do is talk
No wedding ring chipped fingernail polish
She always wished that she could go to college
But some dreams fade, they just slip away
She started to show a few months ago
And she had to go, that's how she wound up
On the backseat of a greyhound bus
Head hung down with the windows up
Staring at the rest of her life
She never thought this would be the place
Where she would find her saving grace
But she fell in love, she fell in love
On the backseat of a greyhound bus
Oh, yeah, yeah
Moon was full the stars were smilin'
God has a funny sense of timin'
The baby came on the interstate
Somewhere between Jackson and Memphis
She finally found what she'd been missing
She cried and laughed when the red lights flashed
Sweet baby girl, she looked into the face of a new, the face of a brand new world
On the backseat of a Greyhound bus,
Heart so full that it could bust.
Starin' at the rest of her life.
She never thought this would be the place,
Where she would find her savin' grace,
But she fell in love; she fell in love,
On the backseat of a Greyhound Bus.
Sweet baby girl, she found a brand new world
On the backseat of a Greyhound bus,
Heart so full that it could bust.
Starin' at the rest of her life.
She never thought this would be the place,
Where she would find her savin' grace,
But she fell in love; she fell in love,
On the backseat of a Greyhound Bus.
She wore a dress with cherries on it going somewhere where she'd be wanted
Hey yeah! Oh yeah,
To fade.
Lyrics submitted by cdncowgirl
Backseat of a Greyhound Bus Lyrics as written by Chris Lindsey Hillary Lindsey
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, CONCORD MUSIC PUBLISHING LLC, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Reservoir Media Management, Inc.
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
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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"
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Led Zeppelin
This is about bronies. They communicate by stomping.
Dreamwalker
Silent Planet
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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.
Gentle Hour
Yo La Tengo
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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,
Sara Evans might be alluding to the Allman Brothers song Ramblin' Man where it says "I was born in the back seat of greyhound rolling down highway 41."
It is no surprise; the lack of comments. This is a 'society-sensitive' song. Most of us cannot relate to the shame Sara Evans begins this song with. The girl feels ashamed, therefore unwanted. But understands that life has a greater meaning and even if our family or friends cannot understand or respect it; we must carry on. It's called- doing the right thing. Rare now-a-days.
i think this song is saying that this girl got preagnant didnt get married and had her baby girl on the backseat of a greyhound bus