"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.
So goodnight my dear
Hope you're feeling well
Hope your're feeling very clear
In this song and rhyme
Thoughts of changes that
Keep ourselves intact
And yes
It's hard to fake but I'm faltering
In the steps I'm about to take
I am sure it's true
What is all for me is much the same to you
If all the statues in the world
Would turn to flesh with teeth of pearl
Would they be kind enough to comfort me
The setting sun is set in stone
And it remains for me alone
To carve my own and set it free
So we wait and see
How this backward chapter reads
In verse inadvertently
And it feels like fading light
But that's all that's left
Only what's left is right
If all the statues in the world
Would turn to flesh with teeth of pearl
Would they be kind enough to comfort me
The setting sun is set in stone
And it remains for me alone
To carve my own and set it free
Jumping from a balloon
A carried aloft by a parachute in June
Twisting round and round
Well I hope the ground is what you find
The setting sun is set in stone
And it remains for me alone
To carve my own and set it free
Hope you're feeling well
Hope your're feeling very clear
In this song and rhyme
Thoughts of changes that
Keep ourselves intact
And yes
It's hard to fake but I'm faltering
In the steps I'm about to take
I am sure it's true
What is all for me is much the same to you
If all the statues in the world
Would turn to flesh with teeth of pearl
Would they be kind enough to comfort me
The setting sun is set in stone
And it remains for me alone
To carve my own and set it free
So we wait and see
How this backward chapter reads
In verse inadvertently
And it feels like fading light
But that's all that's left
Only what's left is right
If all the statues in the world
Would turn to flesh with teeth of pearl
Would they be kind enough to comfort me
The setting sun is set in stone
And it remains for me alone
To carve my own and set it free
Jumping from a balloon
A carried aloft by a parachute in June
Twisting round and round
Well I hope the ground is what you find
The setting sun is set in stone
And it remains for me alone
To carve my own and set it free
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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.
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.
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.
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.
Sounds like someone she loved very much broke up with her, and she feels like she can't love like that ever again. This song is beautiful, I can't believe it took all these years for it to get a comment.
It was called the heart of the album by Rosin in an old interview - and they place it at the end of Catalogue, because that's what it is - the song about the end of their relationship and her sadness surrounding it.
Combine this with Through Time songmeanings.net/songs/view/3530822107858558485/ (oh, and, you know, Moloko's entire catalogue, and the first solo album) and you get quite a sad, touching picture of a first love - and that first love lost.
I'd add pretty much entire 2nd album (I suspect movie theater and cave both refer to FON Studios) and pretty much all collaborations from The Truth to Golden Era<br /> <br /> Which would make Mark one of the most inspiring people in modern music