"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.
Are you calling for our last dance?
I see it in your eyes in your eyes
I could use the same old lines but I'll sing
Shine on, just shine on
Close your eyes and they'll all be gone
They can scream and shout that they've been sold out
But it paved the cloud that we're dancing on
So shine on, just shine on
With your smile just as bright as the sun
'Cause they're all just slaves to the Gods they've made
But you and I, just shone, just shone
And when silence greets my last goodbye
The words I need are in your eyes
And I'll sing
Shine on, just shine on
Close your eyes and they'll all be gone
They can scream and shout that they've been sold out
But it paved the cloud that we're dancing on
So shine on, just shine on
With your smile just as bright as the sun
'Cause they're all just slaves to the Gods they've made
But you and I just shone, just shone
So shine on, just shine on
Close your eyes and they'll all be gone
They can scream and shout that they've been sold out
But it paved the cloud that we're dancing on
So shine on, just shine on
With your smile just as bright as the sun
'Cause they're all just slaves to the Gods they've made
But you and I just shone, just shone
I see it in your eyes in your eyes
I could use the same old lines but I'll sing
Shine on, just shine on
Close your eyes and they'll all be gone
They can scream and shout that they've been sold out
But it paved the cloud that we're dancing on
So shine on, just shine on
With your smile just as bright as the sun
'Cause they're all just slaves to the Gods they've made
But you and I, just shone, just shone
And when silence greets my last goodbye
The words I need are in your eyes
And I'll sing
Shine on, just shine on
Close your eyes and they'll all be gone
They can scream and shout that they've been sold out
But it paved the cloud that we're dancing on
So shine on, just shine on
With your smile just as bright as the sun
'Cause they're all just slaves to the Gods they've made
But you and I just shone, just shone
So shine on, just shine on
Close your eyes and they'll all be gone
They can scream and shout that they've been sold out
But it paved the cloud that we're dancing on
So shine on, just shine on
With your smile just as bright as the sun
'Cause they're all just slaves to the Gods they've made
But you and I just shone, just shone
Lyrics submitted by gporter419, edited by Horatio33
Shine On Lyrics as written by James Blount
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
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The Night We Met
Lord Huron
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This is a hauntingly beautiful song about introspection, specifically about looking back at a relationship that started bad and ended so poorly, that the narrator wants to go back to the very beginning and tell himself to not even travel down that road. I believe that the relationship started poorly because of the lines:
"Take me back to the night we met:When the night was full of terrors: And your eyes were filled with tears: When you had not touched me yet"
So, the first night was not a great start, but the narrator pursued the relationship and eventually both overcame the rough start to fall in love with each other:
"I had all and then most of you"
Like many relationships that turn sour, it was not a quick decline, but a gradual one where the narrator and their partner fall out of love and gradually grow apart
"Some and now none of you"
Losing someone who was once everything in your world, who you could confide in, tell your secrets to, share all the most intimate parts of your life, to being strangers with that person is probably one of the most painful experiences a person can go through. So Painful, the narrator wants to go back in time and tell himself to not even pursue the relationship.
This was the perfect song for "13 Reasons Why"
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,
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.
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.
One of my favorites from Blunt's new album "All The Lost Souls".
For me, this song is about the end of a relationship - breaking up and moving on. It's the "last dance" and "last goodbye". The "silence" that "greets the last goodbye" represents the inability to find the right words to say (“the words I need”). The truth, however, is reflected in the eyes (“I see it in your eyes”) - the proverbial window to the soul… indicating the other person both “sees” and recognizes that it’s time to let go. However, that the first line is a question "Is it our last dance?" reveals an uncertainty.
These failed relationships have left behind a drop of cynicism for love and romance – “same old moves” and “same old lies” can be used to start a “new romance” but these lines suggest the “same old” ending will result.
The “they" in the chorus refer to the fleeting promises of everlasting love; when you “close your eyes, they’ll all be gone”, unable to stand the test of time. The promises of love were “sold out” – deceived, broken and unfulfilled. The “screaming and shouting” reveal the pain of broken promises.
The promise of eternal love is like god – something revered and believed in but intangible and perhaps on a pedestal so high that it is unreachable. But promises serve this purpose without choice (as “slaves”).
The chorus…”keep shining/keep smiling” is a message to move on and to keep on loving. The line “shine on” suggests illumination, light, clarity and the imagery of the sun brings warmth - both embody what it’s like to have love in your life. “You and I just shone”, you and I just loved.
Even though relationships sometimes don’t work out, it’s never a waste of time because it gives us “a cloud to dance on” and brings us closer to that seemingly unreachable “god” in the sky – a love that will last forever.