"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.
Be still for a second while I try and try to pin your flowers on
La, la, la, la, la
Can you carry my drink, I have everything else
I can tie my tie all by myself
I'm getting tied, I'm forgetting why
Oh, we're so disarming, darling, everything we did believe
Is diving, diving, diving, diving off the balcony
Tired and wired, we ruin too easy
Sleep in our clothes and wait for winter to leave
Hold ourselves together
With our arms around the stereo for hours
La, la, la, la, la, la, la, la
While it sings to itself or whatever it does
When it sings to itself of its long lost loves
I'm getting tied, I'm forgetting why
Tired and wired, we ruin too easy
Sleep in our clothes and wait for winter to leave
And I'll be with you, behind the couch
When they come on a different day, just like this one
We'll stay inside till somebody finds us
Do whatever the TV tells us
Stay inside our rosy-minded fuzz for days
We'll stay inside till somebody finds us
Do whatever the TV tells us
Stay inside our rosy-minded fuzz
So worry not, all things are well
We'll be alright, we have our looks and perfume
Stay inside till somebody finds us
Do whatever the TV tells us
Stay inside our rosy-minded fuzz
So worry not, all things are well
We'll be alright, we have our looks and perfume on
La, la, la, la, la
Can you carry my drink, I have everything else
I can tie my tie all by myself
I'm getting tied, I'm forgetting why
Oh, we're so disarming, darling, everything we did believe
Is diving, diving, diving, diving off the balcony
Tired and wired, we ruin too easy
Sleep in our clothes and wait for winter to leave
Hold ourselves together
With our arms around the stereo for hours
La, la, la, la, la, la, la, la
While it sings to itself or whatever it does
When it sings to itself of its long lost loves
I'm getting tied, I'm forgetting why
Tired and wired, we ruin too easy
Sleep in our clothes and wait for winter to leave
And I'll be with you, behind the couch
When they come on a different day, just like this one
We'll stay inside till somebody finds us
Do whatever the TV tells us
Stay inside our rosy-minded fuzz for days
We'll stay inside till somebody finds us
Do whatever the TV tells us
Stay inside our rosy-minded fuzz
So worry not, all things are well
We'll be alright, we have our looks and perfume
Stay inside till somebody finds us
Do whatever the TV tells us
Stay inside our rosy-minded fuzz
So worry not, all things are well
We'll be alright, we have our looks and perfume on
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Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
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Cajun Girl
Little Feat
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Overall about difficult moments of disappointment and vulnerability. Having hope and longing, while remaining optimistic for the future. Encourages the belief that with each new morning there is a chance for things to improve.
The chorus offers a glimmer of optimism and a chance at a resolution and redemption in the future.
Captures the rollercoaster of emotions of feeling lost while loving someone who is not there for you, feeling let down and abandoned while waiting for a lover. Lost with no direction, "Now I'm up in the air with the rain in my hair, Nowhere to go, I can go anywhere"
The bridge shows signs of longing and a plea for companionship. The Lyrics express a desire for authentic connection and the importance of Loving someone just as they are. "Just in passing, I'm not asking. That you be anyone but you”
I Can't Go To Sleep
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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.
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.
Page
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
There aren’t many things that’ll hurt more than giving love a chance against your better judgement only to have your heart crushed yet again. Ed Sheeran tells such a story on “Page.” On this track, he is devastated to have lost his lover and even more saddened by the feeling that he may never move on from this.
I don't know how Theosepiphanes knows for a fact that this is about coming down off ecstacy, but it obviously means a lot more to the majority of people posting. I really like one or clown's take on it; it's different than what everyone else is saying. But let me add one thing that hasn't quite been emphasized that the song means to me.
Many of us, in our younger years, have developed and held onto certain social and artistic ideals. We are moved by what's not pop culture because it means something beyond just being popular. We form subcultures that are anti-conformist or counter-culture, and which, many times, circulate around music. THEN we grow up.
What I'm saying is that it's more than just growing up and having responsibility. It's growing up AND leaving behind the ideals that formed your identity as a teenager and young adult. Take, for example, the film SLC Punk! Steve-o is a punk, but by the end of the film, he has this very realization and admits he is going to law school. I think this is an important element to this song that hasn't been presented yet.