"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.
You are the bravest man I've ever met
You unreluctant at treacherous ledge
Only you are the sexiest man I've ever been with
Oh, you, never hotter than with armor spent
When you do what you do to provide
How you land in the soft as you fortify
This is in praise of the vulnerable man
Why won't you lead the rest of your cavalry home
You, with your eyes mix strength with abandon
You, with your new kind of heroism
And I bow and I bow down to you
To the grace that it takes to melt on through
This is in praise of the vulnerable man
Why don't you lead the rest of your cavalry home
This is a thank you for letting me in
Indeed in praise of the vulnerable man
You are the greatest man I've ever met
You, the stealth setter of new precedents
And I vow and I vow to be true
And I vow and I vow not to take advantage
This is in praise of the vulnerable man
Why won't you lead the rest of your cavalry home
This is a thank you for letting me in
Indeed in praise of the vulnerable man
You unreluctant at treacherous ledge
Only you are the sexiest man I've ever been with
Oh, you, never hotter than with armor spent
When you do what you do to provide
How you land in the soft as you fortify
This is in praise of the vulnerable man
Why won't you lead the rest of your cavalry home
You, with your eyes mix strength with abandon
You, with your new kind of heroism
And I bow and I bow down to you
To the grace that it takes to melt on through
This is in praise of the vulnerable man
Why don't you lead the rest of your cavalry home
This is a thank you for letting me in
Indeed in praise of the vulnerable man
You are the greatest man I've ever met
You, the stealth setter of new precedents
And I vow and I vow to be true
And I vow and I vow not to take advantage
This is in praise of the vulnerable man
Why won't you lead the rest of your cavalry home
This is a thank you for letting me in
Indeed in praise of the vulnerable man
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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"
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,
Magical
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
How would you describe the feeling of being in love? For Ed Sheeran, the word is “Magical.” in HIS three-minute album opener, he makes an attempt to capture the beauty and delicacy of true love with words. He describes the magic of it all over a bright Pop song produced by Aaron Dessner.
American Town
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran shares a short story of reconnecting with an old flame on “American Town.” The track is about a holiday Ed Sheeran spends with his countrywoman who resides in America. The two are back together after a long period apart, and get around to enjoying a bunch of fun activities while rekindling the flames of their romance.
I love this song off her latest album! For me, the song is precisely what she says she does in the title- praising the vulnerable man.
By calling males calvary, and therefore equating them to a species I think she is referencing the notion of "vulnerable species", where, according to wikipedia is: a species which is likely to become endangered unless the circumstances threatening its survival and reproduction improve.
She is saying how few vulnerable men there are left and how she wishes this one vulnerable man would set the example for all men to follow.