"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.
I had traveled till each road had met the end of the earth
With nowhere else to go, I looked back in amazement
When I finally realized how far that I had actually gone
I was still standing in the same place that I started
Till I fell down and I cried out
There was silence
A deafening silence
More brilliant than anything
And there was a bird with feathers
Bright and red as blood
At least that's what you saw
I saw an angel on the whitest November's morning
And I heard her sing the sweetest cry
As if she wanted to reach down
And tell me it would be alright
And I knew it would be alright
I walked on and stared into that golden sun
I was blinded but enamored by its beauty
Till I fell down and I cried out
There was silence
A deafening silence
More brilliant than anything
And there was a bird with feathers
Bright and red as blood
At least that's what you saw
I saw an angel on the whitest November's morning
And I heard her sing the sweetest cry
As if she wanted to reach down
And tell me it would be alright
And I knew it would be alright
Foreign train tracks serenade you
But their sound is never permanent
These landscapes ever changing
Like arrival times on runway billboards
You close your eyes and they are gone
And there was a bird with feathers
Bright and red as blood
At least that's what you saw
I saw an angel on the whitest November's morning
And I heard her sing the sweetest cry
That you wanted to reach down
And tell me it would be alright
And I knew it would be alright
With nowhere else to go, I looked back in amazement
When I finally realized how far that I had actually gone
I was still standing in the same place that I started
Till I fell down and I cried out
There was silence
A deafening silence
More brilliant than anything
And there was a bird with feathers
Bright and red as blood
At least that's what you saw
I saw an angel on the whitest November's morning
And I heard her sing the sweetest cry
As if she wanted to reach down
And tell me it would be alright
And I knew it would be alright
I walked on and stared into that golden sun
I was blinded but enamored by its beauty
Till I fell down and I cried out
There was silence
A deafening silence
More brilliant than anything
And there was a bird with feathers
Bright and red as blood
At least that's what you saw
I saw an angel on the whitest November's morning
And I heard her sing the sweetest cry
As if she wanted to reach down
And tell me it would be alright
And I knew it would be alright
Foreign train tracks serenade you
But their sound is never permanent
These landscapes ever changing
Like arrival times on runway billboards
You close your eyes and they are gone
And there was a bird with feathers
Bright and red as blood
At least that's what you saw
I saw an angel on the whitest November's morning
And I heard her sing the sweetest cry
That you wanted to reach down
And tell me it would be alright
And I knew it would be alright
Lyrics submitted by eltroyo11
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"There's a part - 'Cash in now honey, cash in Miss Smith.' Miss Smith is my Mother; our last name was Smith. Cashing in when she cashed in her life. So... she decided that, to her... at that time, she was desperate. Life wasn't worth it for her, that was her opinion. Some people think, never take your life, and some people find that their life isn't worth living. She was in love with my Dad, and my Dad was not faithful to her, and it broke her heart. She was very desperate and she did something that I know she regrets."
Blue
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“Blue” is a song about a love that is persisting in the discomfort of the person experiencing the emotion. Ed Sheeran reflects on love lost, and although he wishes his former partner find happiness, he cannot but admit his feelings are still very much there. He expresses the realization that he might never find another on this stringed instrumental by Aaron Dessner.
Plastic Bag
Ed Sheeran
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“Plastic Bag” is a song about searching for an escape from personal problems and hoping to find it in the lively atmosphere of a Saturday night party. Ed Sheeran tells the story of his friend and the myriad of troubles he is going through. Unable to find any solutions, this friend seeks a last resort in a party and the vanity that comes with it.
“I overthink and have trouble sleepin’ / All purpose gone and don’t have a reason / And there’s no doctor to stop this bleedin’ / So I left home and jumped in the deep end,” Ed Sheeran sings in verse one. He continues by adding that this person is feeling the weight of having disappointed his father and doesn’t have any friends to rely on in this difficult moment. In the second verse, Ed sings about the role of grief in his friend’s plight and his dwindling faith in prayer. “Saturday night is givin’ me a reason to rely on the strobe lights / The lifeline of a promise in a shot glass, and I’ll take that / If you’re givin’ out love from a plastic bag,” Ed sings on the chorus, as his friend turns to new vices in hopes of feeling better.
Well actually a lot of the lyrics in this song that Kris Roe actually does sing, sound questionable. "I have traveled to each road" is clearly what he says, but I still don't think that makes much sense lol.
And a "bluebird", I believe, is actually a type of train car.