"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.
we were raised by wolves
and we are still wild
and we howl when the troubled wind blows
and in the tv's blue light
(?) sins will lie
if we will
just going down slow
so don't tread on me
for i am your brother
i was born with an american heart
and don't tread on her
for she is your sister
she was born with an american heart
and all the people you meet
down in the streets
may be good but they don't wanna know
so they cover their eyes
for who wants to be sad
life is sweet at the bottom of the sea
and don't tread on me
for i am your brother
i was born with an american heart
and don't tread on her
for she is your sister
she was born with an american heart
and the mothers will cry
fathers stay up all night
with the worry that goes to the bones
and if your god makes war
then he's no god i know
cause christ would not send boys to die
and don't tread on me
for i am your brother
i was born with an american heart
and don't tread on her
for she is your sister
she was born with an american heart
don't you get low as hell
when the peace dove is filled
by a man with the blackest of minds
and above the den
let the sighing begin
as we're bound for the longest of days
so don't tread on me
for i am your brother
i was born with an american heart
and don't tread on her
for she is your sister
she was born with an american heart
and we are still wild
and we howl when the troubled wind blows
and in the tv's blue light
(?) sins will lie
if we will
just going down slow
so don't tread on me
for i am your brother
i was born with an american heart
and don't tread on her
for she is your sister
she was born with an american heart
and all the people you meet
down in the streets
may be good but they don't wanna know
so they cover their eyes
for who wants to be sad
life is sweet at the bottom of the sea
and don't tread on me
for i am your brother
i was born with an american heart
and don't tread on her
for she is your sister
she was born with an american heart
and the mothers will cry
fathers stay up all night
with the worry that goes to the bones
and if your god makes war
then he's no god i know
cause christ would not send boys to die
and don't tread on me
for i am your brother
i was born with an american heart
and don't tread on her
for she is your sister
she was born with an american heart
don't you get low as hell
when the peace dove is filled
by a man with the blackest of minds
and above the den
let the sighing begin
as we're bound for the longest of days
so don't tread on me
for i am your brother
i was born with an american heart
and don't tread on her
for she is your sister
she was born with an american heart
Lyrics submitted by nylons
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More Featured Meanings
Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman
The Night We Met
Lord Huron
Lord Huron
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"
Bron-Y-Aur Stomp
Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin
This is about bronies. They communicate by stomping.
Mountain Song
Jane's Addiction
Jane's Addiction
Jane's Addiction vocalist Perry Farrell gives Adam Reader some heartfelt insight into Jane’s Addiction's hard rock manifesto "Mountain Song", which was the second single from their revolutionary album Nothing's Shocking. Mountain song was first recorded in 1986 and appeared on the soundtrack to the film Dudes starring Jon Cryer. The version on Nothing's Shocking was re-recorded in 1988.
"'Mountain Song' was actually about... I hate to say it but... drugs. Climbing this mountain and getting as high as you can, and then coming down that mountain," reveals Farrell. "What it feels to descend from the mountain top... not easy at all. The ascension is tough but exhilarating. Getting down is... it's a real bummer. Drugs is not for everybody obviously. For me, I wanted to experience the heights, and the lows come along with it."
"There's a part - 'Cash in now honey, cash in Miss Smith.' Miss Smith is my Mother; our last name was Smith. Cashing in when she cashed in her life. So... she decided that, to her... at that time, she was desperate. Life wasn't worth it for her, that was her opinion. Some people think, never take your life, and some people find that their life isn't worth living. She was in love with my Dad, and my Dad was not faithful to her, and it broke her heart. She was very desperate and she did something that I know she regrets."
Mountain Song
Jane's Addiction
Jane's Addiction
Jane's Addiction vocalist Perry Farrell gives Adam Reader some heartfelt insight into Jane’s Addiction's hard rock manifesto "Mountain Song", which was the second single from their revolutionary album Nothing's Shocking. Mountain song was first recorded in 1986 and appeared on the soundtrack to the film Dudes starring Jon Cryer. The version on Nothing's Shocking was re-recorded in 1988.
"'Mountain Song' was actually about... I hate to say it but... drugs. Climbing this mountain and getting as high as you can, and then coming down that mountain," reveals Farrell. "What it feels to descend from the mountain top... not easy at all. The ascension is tough but exhilarating. Getting down is... it's a real bummer. Drugs is not for everybody obviously. For me, I wanted to experience the heights, and the lows come along with it."
"There's a part - 'Cash in now honey, cash in Miss Smith.' Miss Smith is my Mother; our last name was Smith. Cashing in when she cashed in her life. So... she decided that, to her... at that time, she was desperate. Life wasn't worth it for her, that was her opinion. Some people think, never take your life, and some people find that their life isn't worth living. She was in love with my Dad, and my Dad was not faithful to her, and it broke her heart. She was very desperate and she did something that I know she regrets."
I'm pretty sure its "the assassins they lie, as we watch, we're all going down slow"
(Correct official lyrics taken at blog.al.com/regscoffeehouse)
"American Hearts"
We were raised by wolves and we are still wild And we howl when the troubled wind blows And in the TV's blue light oh assassins will lie Everywhere just a goin' down slow
So don't tread on me for I am your brother I was born with an American heart And don't tread on her for she is your sister She was born with an American heart
And all the people you meet down in the streets May be good but they don't wanna know So they cover their eyes for who wants to be sad Life is sweet at the bottom of the sea
So don't tread on me for I am your brother I was born with an American heart And don't tread on her for she is your sister She was born with an American heart
And the mothers will cry, fathers stay up all night With a worry that goes to the bone And if your God makes war then he's no God I know Cause Christ would not send boys to die
And don't tread on me for I am your brother I was born with an American heart And don't tread on her for she is your sister She was born with an American heart
And don't you get low as hell when the peace dove is felled By a man with the blackest of minds And above the den let the sighing begin As we're bound for the longest of days
So don't tread on me for I am your brother I was born with an American heart And don't tread on her for she is your sister She was born with an American heart