"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.
The curtain's closed
No way home
The nectar of life run dry
These tainted words
Made to hurt
Cut in me with its' knife
Eating my mind
And with each bite
I'm begging "Please Lord, no"
This place is a mess
The one has gone
Lovesongs, they kill me
They kill me... Now
Love songs are killing me
Are killing me... Right now
Trained to attack
Bull eye shot in black
I never thought they'd get me
These pictures in my head...
Lying in my bed...
These whips make me bleed
This place is a mess
My one has gone
Love songs, they kill me
They kill me... Now
Love songs are killing me
Are killing me... Right now
Love songs are killing me
Are killing me... Right now
I can't hear the sceneries
Of constant tragedies
Of what I meant to feel no more
'cause I'm already dead
And I just cannot bear
To hear another word no more
Love songs, they kill me
They kill me... Now
Love songs are killing me
Are killing me... Right now
Love songs are killing me
Are killing me... Right now
Love songs are killing me
Are killing me... Right now
No way home
The nectar of life run dry
These tainted words
Made to hurt
Cut in me with its' knife
Eating my mind
And with each bite
I'm begging "Please Lord, no"
This place is a mess
The one has gone
Lovesongs, they kill me
They kill me... Now
Love songs are killing me
Are killing me... Right now
Trained to attack
Bull eye shot in black
I never thought they'd get me
These pictures in my head...
Lying in my bed...
These whips make me bleed
This place is a mess
My one has gone
Love songs, they kill me
They kill me... Now
Love songs are killing me
Are killing me... Right now
Love songs are killing me
Are killing me... Right now
I can't hear the sceneries
Of constant tragedies
Of what I meant to feel no more
'cause I'm already dead
And I just cannot bear
To hear another word no more
Love songs, they kill me
They kill me... Now
Love songs are killing me
Are killing me... Right now
Love songs are killing me
Are killing me... Right now
Love songs are killing me
Are killing me... Right now
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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.
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,
Head > Heels
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
“Head > Heels” is a track that aims to capture what it feels like to experience romance that exceeds expectations. Ed Sheeran dedicates his album outro to a lover who has blessed him with a unique experience that he seeks to describe through the song’s nuanced lyrics.
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 cant believe that this song has no comment yet...!! this song rox...
I agree. Quite... THE SHIT. hahhaha
Sometimes though it sounds like a girl... the main vocals.
nothing special... but I like this song.
I think this song is saying that love songs kill him because of a horrible past relationship. He was obviously in love with the other person, but that other person only hurt him and never returned that love. So, the love songs kill him because the songs remind him of someone he used to love and that person never returned that love, only that person hurt him instead.