"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.
You drank a bit down, spilled the rest of it in me
And that's the minute, I let go
Your direction with the bending of the light
If I remember it right
It carried on just fine
But tonight I will cry myself to sleep
Every rain makes its way into somebody's song
As a way to relieve the pain
This one is calling me out of my shelter
To face the truth but I still love
More than one time this color has been mine
To consume the energy
To be a painter and cover all the blue
I would give up wanting you
But still the morning sun, yeah
Will leak into my window when I'm done
Every rain makes its way into somebody's song
As a way to relieve the pain
This one is calling me out of my shelter
To face the truth but I'm still
Searching for my intuition
Even though I recognize
Myself in all these silver walls
But as I stare they all break me down
Every rain makes its way into somebody's song
As a way to relieve a pain
This one is calling me out of my shelter
To face the truth but I still love
I still love
And that's the minute, I let go
Your direction with the bending of the light
If I remember it right
It carried on just fine
But tonight I will cry myself to sleep
Every rain makes its way into somebody's song
As a way to relieve the pain
This one is calling me out of my shelter
To face the truth but I still love
More than one time this color has been mine
To consume the energy
To be a painter and cover all the blue
I would give up wanting you
But still the morning sun, yeah
Will leak into my window when I'm done
Every rain makes its way into somebody's song
As a way to relieve the pain
This one is calling me out of my shelter
To face the truth but I'm still
Searching for my intuition
Even though I recognize
Myself in all these silver walls
But as I stare they all break me down
Every rain makes its way into somebody's song
As a way to relieve a pain
This one is calling me out of my shelter
To face the truth but I still love
I still love
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More Featured Meanings
Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman
Mountain Song
Jane's Addiction
Jane's Addiction
Jane's Addiction vocalist Perry Farrell gives Adam Reader some heartfelt insight into Jane’s Addiction's hard rock manifesto "Mountain Song", which was the second single from their revolutionary album Nothing's Shocking. Mountain song was first recorded in 1986 and appeared on the soundtrack to the film Dudes starring Jon Cryer. The version on Nothing's Shocking was re-recorded in 1988.
"'Mountain Song' was actually about... I hate to say it but... drugs. Climbing this mountain and getting as high as you can, and then coming down that mountain," reveals Farrell. "What it feels to descend from the mountain top... not easy at all. The ascension is tough but exhilarating. Getting down is... it's a real bummer. Drugs is not for everybody obviously. For me, I wanted to experience the heights, and the lows come along with it."
"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."
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,
Just A Little Lovin'
Dusty Springfield
Dusty Springfield
I don't think it's necessarily about sex. It's about wanting to start the day with some love and affection. Maybe a warm cuddle. I'm not alone in interpreting it that way! For example:
"'Just a Little Lovin’ is a timeless country song originally recorded by Eddy Arnold in 1954. The song, written by Eddie Miller and Jimmy Campbell, explores the delicate nuances of love and showcases Arnold’s emotive vocals. It delves into the universal theme of love and how even the smallest gesture of affection can have a profound impact on our lives." https://oldtimemusic.com/the-meaning-behind-the-song-just-a-little-lovin-by-eddy-arnold/
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.
I think this is about a girl who meets a guy at a bar. He gets her drunk and they end up having sex, and it's not like it was rape or anything... "It carried on just fine"... but it really wasn't okay with her at all. I figure she was in a bad place before all of this took place. I think she was already in love with someone, and it wasn't going well between them. "Every rain makes it's way into somebody's song." That means that all of the bad or scary things always end up being important to someone. We learn from them, and we change because of them. "This one is calling me out of my shelter to face the truth." This event is her "rain"-- it was something bad that happened, and it's leading her to think that there isn't as much good in the world as she once thought there was. Maybe she's trying to convince herself that this, spending nights with strangers, is the closest thing to love there really is. "But I still love." Because even though she's feeling jaded, her heart continues to love. Even when her reasoning tells it to do otherwise. "More than one time, this color has been mine." She specifies the color blue in the next line, so I'm guessing that "blue" (meaning sadness, hopelessness) is not a stranger to her. But she desperately wants to cover up all of those sad feelings, and she wants to stop loving the person she does. "But still the morning sun will leak into my window when I'm done." I think this means that even when she's almost convinced herself to give up on love, that little spark of hope will grow once again inside of her, even if she doesn't want it to. "Searching for my intuition, even though I recognize myself in these silver walls. But as I stare they all break me down." It's a never-ending war between reason and feeling. She sees herself in the mirror and sees that this is her. This person who has given up on something so precious, and has become sad and jaded. But, of course... she still loves.
I love this song because, for me, it shows the resiliency of the heart. And Holly's voice is absolutely beautiful. :]