"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.
Yeah, what, yeah
Here we go
To inhaling crushed bones through a dried up white-out pen
And riding the backwards racer in hot June rain
And a marching blue and gold plastic bag poncho rain coat
It's a wooden coaster with a medium hill height mean
High hill to flat ground ratio you know
I'd sell my shingles for a thimble dip of snow
Back then I'da sold my single for a finger tip of blow
And us in navy blue hoodies and khakis as was the style that year
(And us in navy blue hoodies and khakis as was the style that year)
And us in navy blue hoodies and khakis
In London, where the sirens yelp like a helpless dog with his paws stepped on
And the rain comes down in late July
And the record labels call you Why?
And your eyes are slits and bags of fat
And your eyes are pissholes in the snow
And your eyes are slits and bags of fat
And your eyes are pissholes in the snow
I swear the riders on the tube tie razors to their elbows
The riders on the tube keep call cold coal in their billfolds
The riders on the tube will hide cocaine in their shell-toes
And yes yes yes, man, they'll Novocaine the hello
Till the constables got pitbulls with their car phones all stepped on
Till the constables got pitbulls with crushed bones up their nose holes
(Till the cows come home)
And us in fish net hats and canvas shoes as was the style that year
(And us in fish net hats and canvas shoes as was the style that year)
And us in fish net hats and canvas shoes as was the style that year
(And us in fish net hats and canvas shoes)
As was the style
Here we go
To inhaling crushed bones through a dried up white-out pen
And riding the backwards racer in hot June rain
And a marching blue and gold plastic bag poncho rain coat
It's a wooden coaster with a medium hill height mean
High hill to flat ground ratio you know
I'd sell my shingles for a thimble dip of snow
Back then I'da sold my single for a finger tip of blow
And us in navy blue hoodies and khakis as was the style that year
(And us in navy blue hoodies and khakis as was the style that year)
And us in navy blue hoodies and khakis
In London, where the sirens yelp like a helpless dog with his paws stepped on
And the rain comes down in late July
And the record labels call you Why?
And your eyes are slits and bags of fat
And your eyes are pissholes in the snow
And your eyes are slits and bags of fat
And your eyes are pissholes in the snow
I swear the riders on the tube tie razors to their elbows
The riders on the tube keep call cold coal in their billfolds
The riders on the tube will hide cocaine in their shell-toes
And yes yes yes, man, they'll Novocaine the hello
Till the constables got pitbulls with their car phones all stepped on
Till the constables got pitbulls with crushed bones up their nose holes
(Till the cows come home)
And us in fish net hats and canvas shoes as was the style that year
(And us in fish net hats and canvas shoes as was the style that year)
And us in fish net hats and canvas shoes as was the style that year
(And us in fish net hats and canvas shoes)
As was the style
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Fast Car
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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"
Magical
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
How would you describe the feeling of being in love? For Ed Sheeran, the word is “Magical.” in HIS three-minute album opener, he makes an attempt to capture the beauty and delicacy of true love with words. He describes the magic of it all over a bright Pop song produced by Aaron Dessner.
Punchline
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran sings about missing his former partner and learning important life lessons in the process on “Punchline.” This track tells a story of battling to get rid of emotions for a former lover, whom he now realized might not have loved him the same way. He’s now caught between accepting that fact and learning life lessons from it and going back to beg her for another chance.
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 did my best on the transcription, but a lot of it's guesswork, especially in the "riders on the tube" verse. Any suggestions for corrections are very much welcome.
That said, although the song is explicitly about drugs, I'm not sure what Why? is trying to say about them. I'd say that drugs seem to be portrayed in a negative light in the lyrics. I don't know much about Yoni Wolf, but the line that says "Back then I'da..." seems to suggest that maybe the person whose point of view the song expresses, be it Wolf or some imagined character, is a recovering drug addict reflecting on how the experience felt and some of the common sights and occurrences during the time of the addiction.
Anyway, it's an excellent song.
Dude this is a firsthand account about his drug use and yes it's in a fucking negative light holy shit, lol. He's hopelessly addicted and is saying he'd do anything for a bump. He's looking at people on the tube (major form of public transport in London) and just swears they've got some crack on them, see the line: "I swear the riders on the tube tie razors to their elbows". You use razors to cut lines of coke. Excellent line by the way, that kind of paranoia you get when you'd do anything for that special drug of yours. Suspecting anyone's holding.<br /> <br /> Again, it's not some imagined character unless he decided to write a song about another dude who the record labels call Why? I mean come on. This is the lamest analysis ever.
correct lyrics:
Here's To inhaling crushed bones through a dried up white out pen and riding the backwards racer in hot June rain in a matching blue and gold plastic bag / poncho / raincoat.
It's a wooden coaster with a medium hill height mean, high hill to flat ground ratio you know I'd sell my shingles for a thimble dip of snow. Back then I'd've sold my single for a fingertip of glow.
And us in navy blue hoodies and khakis, as was the style that year.
In London, where the sirens yelp like a helpless dog with its paw stepped on, and the rain comes down in late July and the record labels call you Why? and your eyes are slits in bags of fat and your eyes are piss holes in the snow
I swear, The riders on the tube tie razors to their elbows, The riders on the tube keep cold coal in their billfolds, The riders on the tube will hide cocaine in their shell toes, and yes yes yes man they'll novocaine their hello's Till the constables got pit bulls with their paw bones all stepped on Till the constables got pit bulls With crushed bones up their nose holes
And us in fish net hat and canvas shoes, as was the style that year
your eyes are slits IN bags of fat.
I'm sure that this song isn't solely about drugs.I think it's just about times...and how they change...
good job but a few minor corrections:
"white felt pen" should be "white-out pen"
"The riders on the tube keep call callin' their cell phones" should be "The riders on the tube keep cold coal in their belt folds" (i think..)
the "Do the constables.." parts should be "Till the constables.."
and right after that part, you hear someone say in the background "Till the cows come home"
i'm not sure the last two lines in the "riders on the tube" part but you did as good a job as i could've at figuring them out.
also, good song. about coke addiction.
Clearly about coke. Great song.
i swear the riders on the tube tie razors to their elbows, the riders on the tube keep cold coal in their billfolds, i swear the riders on the tube hide cocaine in their shell-toes.
^CORRECT.
I'm pretty sure, "And your eyes are slits and bags of fat"
should be "And your eyes are slits in bags of fat"
And I'm also pretty sure, "Till the constables got pitbulls with their car phones all stepped on"
should be, "Till the constables got pitbulls with their paw bones all stepped on"
being from Cincinnati i know what the Backwards Racer reference is.....King's Island ftw
In this live version I have, he says:
"I'd trade my sister for a fingertip of blow back then I'd have sold my single for a thimble dip of snow"
He prefaces the song by saying it's the first one on the new album, so I would imagine it had already been recorded (this was before EE had been released). I wonder why he didn't stick with that line.
RIght now there's an add for cocaine drug tests on this page. Coincidence?