"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 apologize,
Seem to have arrived,
On what items in my bag from your house.
There's cutlery,
A tablecloth, some Hennessy,
And a book on Presidents deceased.
I'll have them fed-exed to you,
It was a strange thing to do,
I hope we can still be friends.
Ah, it was not me,
But someone else, you see,
Twisting the steering reins.
Put a penny in the slot and make an
Artificial li-ii-iight shine,
Leave go-ooo. Mark old and line.
I don't give advise,
But be wise and think twice,
Before getting involved in a game.
Where the minority
Face the majority,
Who are faceless and born without names.
Was it knock synch when
We came across three men,
They had church candles wrapped in newspaper.
I bought two from them,
And I'll lit one for you,
I hope the message made it's way down the wire.
Put a penny in the slot and make an
Artificial li-ii-iight shine,
Leave go-ooo. Mark old and line.
The soul of a dog,
He's alive and not gone
To the farm like the others said.
A Rhodesian richback,
Off the beaten track,
In a furniture shop down on the quays.
For the loneliness you foster,
I suggest Paul Auster,
A book called Timbuktu.
Put a penny in the slot and watch the
Drunken sailor boy dance.
She will not let you be
Her lov-ver.
She goes out looking for
The taxi.
Her phone is ringing straight to
Message-minder.
Send out a battalion to
Find her.
Put a penny in the slot and count the
Swans through a te-elescope.
I can't help from cryin'
I wish you were mine.
When I was seventeen,
I followed my dream,
Up into a high-rise block.
The adventures of Augie March,
By Saul Bel-low,
Was all I had for company.
At night time I'd lie
In Beckingham pike,
With tears like flashbulbs.
And recall my treasure-
Searching days,
In the rock pools as a kid.
To the remains of
The cherub plains,
Or around the bonfire in Nailors? cove.
Good company and grief
Sit like a doc leaf,
Sits beside a singing nett-le.
Put a penny in the slot and make an
Artificial li-ii-iight shi-iine,
Leave go-ooo. My golden arm
Seem to have arrived,
On what items in my bag from your house.
There's cutlery,
A tablecloth, some Hennessy,
And a book on Presidents deceased.
I'll have them fed-exed to you,
It was a strange thing to do,
I hope we can still be friends.
Ah, it was not me,
But someone else, you see,
Twisting the steering reins.
Put a penny in the slot and make an
Artificial li-ii-iight shine,
Leave go-ooo. Mark old and line.
I don't give advise,
But be wise and think twice,
Before getting involved in a game.
Where the minority
Face the majority,
Who are faceless and born without names.
Was it knock synch when
We came across three men,
They had church candles wrapped in newspaper.
I bought two from them,
And I'll lit one for you,
I hope the message made it's way down the wire.
Put a penny in the slot and make an
Artificial li-ii-iight shine,
Leave go-ooo. Mark old and line.
The soul of a dog,
He's alive and not gone
To the farm like the others said.
A Rhodesian richback,
Off the beaten track,
In a furniture shop down on the quays.
For the loneliness you foster,
I suggest Paul Auster,
A book called Timbuktu.
Put a penny in the slot and watch the
Drunken sailor boy dance.
She will not let you be
Her lov-ver.
She goes out looking for
The taxi.
Her phone is ringing straight to
Message-minder.
Send out a battalion to
Find her.
Put a penny in the slot and count the
Swans through a te-elescope.
I can't help from cryin'
I wish you were mine.
When I was seventeen,
I followed my dream,
Up into a high-rise block.
The adventures of Augie March,
By Saul Bel-low,
Was all I had for company.
At night time I'd lie
In Beckingham pike,
With tears like flashbulbs.
And recall my treasure-
Searching days,
In the rock pools as a kid.
To the remains of
The cherub plains,
Or around the bonfire in Nailors? cove.
Good company and grief
Sit like a doc leaf,
Sits beside a singing nett-le.
Put a penny in the slot and make an
Artificial li-ii-iight shi-iine,
Leave go-ooo. My golden arm
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Fast Car
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This is about bronies. They communicate by stomping.
Dreamwalker
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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.
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.
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.
i think the golden arm is an allusion the 1949 book "the man with the golden arm," its about poverty during the great depression, which is similar to the other 2 books alluded to in the song, "The Adventures of Augie March" by Saul Bellow is about poverty in chicago i think during depression, "Timbuktu" by Paul Auster is about a homeless guy but is more modern than the other two and tells the story from the perspective of a dog (which explains the whole "the soul of a dog line." there are probably more allusions in the song too that would help at explaining the meaning.
also fionn explains the line about the doc leaf "Can you explain the line "good company and grief sit like a doc leaf sits beside a stinging nettle": from put a penny in the slot? what is a doc leaf?
fionn. A doc leaf is a weed that usually grows near stinging nettles although not always. It is quite a big leaf and if you get stung by a nettle and you rub this on the sting it takes the pain away. Although this may not be scientifically proven it still works and would be a good thing to use when there is nothing else."