"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 guess that we're done, oh yeah, we're through
I've been selling skateboards, but he's building rockets to the moon
Oh, I wish I was playin'
He went to Notre Dame and I dropped out like a fool (damn)
He's so different, that's one sexy fuckin' dude
And I don't know what to do, yeah
So I'll sit here alone on my stupid broke-boy throne
I hope you're happy, don't think about me
When you sit in bed at home 'cause he left you all alone
I hope you're happy, 'cause you could've had me
I hope you're happy, I hope you're happy
You've always done what you thought was best for you
I think you messed up this time, that's my point of view
And you think he's a keeper, 'cause he's got a big
Heart beating just for you
Bullshit, he's just as shallow as an empty pool
Now you don't know what to do, yeah
So, I'll sit here alone on my stupid broke-boy throne
I hope you're happy, don't think about me
When you sit in bed at home 'cause he left you all alone
I hope you're happy, 'cause you could've had me
I hope you're happy, I hope you're happy
I hope you're happy, I hope you're happy
I hope he leaves you like you left me
And you wake up feeling empty
And you love someone who said he'd never leave
Nothing's set in stone, maybe when we both are grown
Then you'll be happy, with or without me
So I'll sit here alone on my stupid broke-boy throne
I hope you're happy, don't think about me
When you sit in bed at home 'cause he left you all alone
I hope you're happy, 'cause you could've had me
I hope you're happy (I hope you're happy), I hope you're happy (I hope you're happy)
I hope you're happy (without me), I hope you're happy
I've been selling skateboards, but he's building rockets to the moon
Oh, I wish I was playin'
He went to Notre Dame and I dropped out like a fool (damn)
He's so different, that's one sexy fuckin' dude
And I don't know what to do, yeah
So I'll sit here alone on my stupid broke-boy throne
I hope you're happy, don't think about me
When you sit in bed at home 'cause he left you all alone
I hope you're happy, 'cause you could've had me
I hope you're happy, I hope you're happy
You've always done what you thought was best for you
I think you messed up this time, that's my point of view
And you think he's a keeper, 'cause he's got a big
Heart beating just for you
Bullshit, he's just as shallow as an empty pool
Now you don't know what to do, yeah
So, I'll sit here alone on my stupid broke-boy throne
I hope you're happy, don't think about me
When you sit in bed at home 'cause he left you all alone
I hope you're happy, 'cause you could've had me
I hope you're happy, I hope you're happy
I hope you're happy, I hope you're happy
I hope he leaves you like you left me
And you wake up feeling empty
And you love someone who said he'd never leave
Nothing's set in stone, maybe when we both are grown
Then you'll be happy, with or without me
So I'll sit here alone on my stupid broke-boy throne
I hope you're happy, don't think about me
When you sit in bed at home 'cause he left you all alone
I hope you're happy, 'cause you could've had me
I hope you're happy (I hope you're happy), I hope you're happy (I hope you're happy)
I hope you're happy (without me), I hope you're happy
Lyrics submitted by ButNeverOutgunned
I Hope You're Happy Lyrics as written by Dani Calleiro Aaron Hernandez
Lyrics © Songtrust Ave
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman
The Night We Met
Lord Huron
Lord Huron
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"
No Surprises
Radiohead
Radiohead
Same ideas expressed in Fitter, Happier are expressed in this song. We're told to strive for some sort of ideal life, which includes getting a good job, being kind to everyone, finding a partner, getting married, having a couple kids, living in a quiet neighborhood in a nice big house, etc. But in Fitter, Happier the narrator(?) realizes that it's incredibly robotic to live this life. People are being used by those in power "like a pig in a cage on antibiotics"--being pacified with things like new phones and cool gadgets and houses while being sucked dry. On No Surprises, the narrator is realizing how this life is killing him slowly. In the video, his helmet is slowly filling up with water, drowning him. But he's so complacent with it. This is a good summary of the song. This boring, "perfect" life foisted upon us by some higher powers (not spiritual, but political, economic, etc. politicians and businessmen, perhaps) is not the way to live. But there is seemingly no way out but death. He'd rather die peacefully right now than live in this cage. While our lives are often shielded, we're in our own protective bubbles, or protective helmets like the one Thom wears, if we look a little harder we can see all the corruption, lies, manipulation, etc. that is going on in the world, often run by huge yet nearly invisible organizations, corporations, and 'leaders'. It's a very hopeless song because it reflects real life.
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.
Plastic Bag
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
“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.