"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.
Big man stands behind an open door
Said, leave your lady on the cement floor.
Got some kicks, want to take a ride?
I said, yeah!
"Take your pick, leave yourself behind"
I said, yeah!
I've no fear but for falling down
So look out below I am falling now
Oh please understand I just need, my friend,
A way a way a way home
Tried to walk, found a severed hand
Recognized it by the wedding band
Said it's ok, do you want some more?
I said, yeah!
Said you'll see dragons after three or four
I said, yeah!
Under stand I'm not falling down
I said, look around, the rooms taller now,
I can't close my eyes,
Cause I see the sound in waves
In wave, lets me stay calm
If I don't lose control
Explore and not explode
A preternatural other plane
With the power to maintain
Like a tear in all we know
Once dissolved we are free to grow
What is human, what is more?
I'll answer this when I get home
Said, leave your lady on the cement floor.
Got some kicks, want to take a ride?
I said, yeah!
"Take your pick, leave yourself behind"
I said, yeah!
I've no fear but for falling down
So look out below I am falling now
Oh please understand I just need, my friend,
A way a way a way home
Tried to walk, found a severed hand
Recognized it by the wedding band
Said it's ok, do you want some more?
I said, yeah!
Said you'll see dragons after three or four
I said, yeah!
Under stand I'm not falling down
I said, look around, the rooms taller now,
I can't close my eyes,
Cause I see the sound in waves
In wave, lets me stay calm
If I don't lose control
Explore and not explode
A preternatural other plane
With the power to maintain
Like a tear in all we know
Once dissolved we are free to grow
What is human, what is more?
I'll answer this when I get home
Lyrics submitted by N0 C0DE 79
Severed Hand Lyrics as written by Eddie Vedder
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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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.
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,
I Can't Go To Sleep
Wu-Tang Clan
Wu-Tang Clan
This song is written as the perspective of the boys in the street, as a whole, and what path they are going to choose as they get older and grow into men. (This is why the music video takes place in an orphanage.) The seen, and unseen collective suffering is imbedded in the boys’ mind, consciously or subconsciously, and is haunting them. Which path will the boys choose? Issac Hayes is the voice of reason, maybe God, the angel on his shoulder, or the voice of his forefathers from beyond the grave who can see the big picture and are pleading with the boys not to continue the violence and pattern of killing their brothers, but to rise above. The most beautiful song and has so many levels. Racism towards African Americans in America would not exist if everyone sat down and listened to this song and understood the history behind the words. The power, fear, pleading in RZA and Ghostface voices are genuine and powerful. Issac Hayes’ strong voice makes the perfect strong father figure, who is possibly from beyond the grave.
Amazing
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran tells a story of unsuccessfully trying to feel “Amazing.” This track is about the being weighed down by emotional stress despite valiant attempts to find some positivity in the situation. This track was written by Ed Sheeran from the perspective of his friend. From the track, we see this person fall deeper into the negative thoughts and slide further down the path of mental torment with every lyric.
It seems to me that this song is pretty obviously about psychedelic drug use, like LSD or peyote.
Heres evidence:
"Got some kicks, wanna take a ride?" --> kicks = hits, ride = trip
"...leave yourself behind" --> hallucinagens sometimes give the sensation of being outside your body
"tried to walk, found a severed hand...recognized it by the wedding band" --> he can't walk right, he sees his hand, but is outside it, "severed" from it, and he only recognizes that it is his by the wedding ring
"you'll see dragons after 3 or 4" --> hallucinations
"the rooms taller now" --> spatial perception shifts
"I see the sound in waves" --> experience of synaesthesia (i.e. tasting shapes, smelling colors, etc.) caused by psychedelics
"If i don't lose control explore not explode" - often users of hallucinogens panic when their world starts to desolve. he realized that he must keep control and not explode
"a preternatural other plane" --> reference to the transcendent journey he in undergoing
"once dissolved we are free to grow" --> a hippie idea, on the same page as Timothy Leary, that humans can reach spiritual freedom when the mental filters that structure our world are broken down
in addition to all this, the picture that accomplanies the lyrics in the album seems to fit along the lines of transcendence, mental/spiritual freedom
altogether, a great song
does anyone hear the bit of porch in this song and a bit of smells like teen spirit? lol anyways i don't know what this means..sweet lyrics but i'm not going to say something that its not so i'll leave it with you guys.
Definately sensing a hint of teen spirit...
I'm not sure so don't take this to heart but my first thought is a man is at a party of a sort with his wife and starts to take some stuff with his wife. She passes out, he takes some more and starts hallucinating, again just my ideas:P great song though, not th ebest of the album. little too fastpaced.
Pearl Jam did this on SNL, and it rocks! It surprised me! I loved the guitar solo at the end.
Pearl Jam did this on SNL, and it rocks! It surprised me! I loved the guitar solo at the end.
How do you know about the other songs on the album? Are they available to download?
I wanted to be original and make a comment on the similarity of this riff and the SLTS one,,...
So much for that lol,.. It's a surefire rocker thats for damn sure,...
How in the hell can the song be "too fast paced"? this song is fuckin awesome!
Saw this song performed live in SNL...IT ROCKED!!! This new PJ album is going to be BIG......
moreso porch though...