"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.
Emerald haunt in overdrive
Nightmare descent into Jericho city
Camel dust heralds our arrival
New Christ beneath the drumkit moon
Oh Lord we are threatened again
In the slipstream pull of the federal men
Plummet in some seamless night
Down here to earth it's hopeless then
Apache gunman in the boiling crowd
Who never got to meet you last time
We're interrupted by the telephone
You didn't think they were invented then
Oh Lord we need miracles
We need more wine and gold
We need slaves and roads and personal favors
We need microphones and manifolds
How can you be so invisible
Give me the nerves to see
Privilege on privilege
An unwanted discovery
So now we're cruising down this shuddering highway
With a dead sun shining on my back
And we talk about the way people treat us back there
Their hollow laughter, the pain in their eyes
Oh Lord I trust your intentions
But money strangles our love
Struggling like a fool with my junk and my jewels
You would have thought I'd had enough
How can you be so invisible
Give me the nerves to see
Privilege on privilege
An unwanted discovery
Nightmare descent into Jericho city
Camel dust heralds our arrival
New Christ beneath the drumkit moon
Oh Lord we are threatened again
In the slipstream pull of the federal men
Plummet in some seamless night
Down here to earth it's hopeless then
Apache gunman in the boiling crowd
Who never got to meet you last time
We're interrupted by the telephone
You didn't think they were invented then
Oh Lord we need miracles
We need more wine and gold
We need slaves and roads and personal favors
We need microphones and manifolds
How can you be so invisible
Give me the nerves to see
Privilege on privilege
An unwanted discovery
So now we're cruising down this shuddering highway
With a dead sun shining on my back
And we talk about the way people treat us back there
Their hollow laughter, the pain in their eyes
Oh Lord I trust your intentions
But money strangles our love
Struggling like a fool with my junk and my jewels
You would have thought I'd had enough
How can you be so invisible
Give me the nerves to see
Privilege on privilege
An unwanted discovery
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Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
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Ebba Grön
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This is one of my favorite songs. https://fnfgo.io
Mountain Song
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Blue
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“Blue” is a song about a love that is persisting in the discomfort of the person experiencing the emotion. Ed Sheeran reflects on love lost, and although he wishes his former partner find happiness, he cannot but admit his feelings are still very much there. He expresses the realization that he might never find another on this stringed instrumental by Aaron Dessner.
Punchline
Ed Sheeran
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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.