"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.
Life in the city gets all closed in
When you stand in a crowd all alone
Wishing that someone would call out your number
Hoping that someone might phone
Nights in the city can drive you crazy
There's so very much going on
Try to get quiet, you'll miss out on something
Like someone who's looking for
Someone who's looking...
There, I almost got caught again
Lost in the night all alone
With nowhere to hide, crying inside
A wild heart looking for home
Sleeping without you is always cold
The nights are so dark and so long
Dreaming of touching your face in the moonlight
Filling the silence with song
Living without you the days are endless
The clock winding steadily down
Imagining footsteps, your hand at the gatepost
The wind shuts the open door
the wind shuts the open...
There, I almost got caught again
Lost in the night all alone
With nowhere to hide, crying inside
A wild heart looking for home
The songbird, she trembles all day long
She sings as if her poor heart must break
Watching the freedom that flies past her window
Dreaming won't fit in a cage
Fly away songbird, the wind she loves you
Your prison is forsaken at last
Follow your dreaming, you're bound up to heaven
You're reaching for something more
Reaching for something...
There, I almost got caught again
Lost in the night all alone
With nowhere to hide, crying inside
A wild heart looking for home
There, I thought of your face again
A vision to have and to hold
My spirit still sings, I'm flying again
A wild heart looking for home
A wild heart looking for home
When you stand in a crowd all alone
Wishing that someone would call out your number
Hoping that someone might phone
Nights in the city can drive you crazy
There's so very much going on
Try to get quiet, you'll miss out on something
Like someone who's looking for
Someone who's looking...
There, I almost got caught again
Lost in the night all alone
With nowhere to hide, crying inside
A wild heart looking for home
Sleeping without you is always cold
The nights are so dark and so long
Dreaming of touching your face in the moonlight
Filling the silence with song
Living without you the days are endless
The clock winding steadily down
Imagining footsteps, your hand at the gatepost
The wind shuts the open door
the wind shuts the open...
There, I almost got caught again
Lost in the night all alone
With nowhere to hide, crying inside
A wild heart looking for home
The songbird, she trembles all day long
She sings as if her poor heart must break
Watching the freedom that flies past her window
Dreaming won't fit in a cage
Fly away songbird, the wind she loves you
Your prison is forsaken at last
Follow your dreaming, you're bound up to heaven
You're reaching for something more
Reaching for something...
There, I almost got caught again
Lost in the night all alone
With nowhere to hide, crying inside
A wild heart looking for home
There, I thought of your face again
A vision to have and to hold
My spirit still sings, I'm flying again
A wild heart looking for home
A wild heart looking for home
Lyrics submitted by ButNeverOutgunned
A Wild Heart Looking for Home Lyrics as written by John Denver Joe Henry
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Reservoir Media Management, Inc.
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
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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,
No Surprises
Radiohead
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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
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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.
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.