"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.
It begins...
with all white, in a sound-proofed hallway
you’re staring down the empty eye slits of a low socket.
Waking on the floor at the foot of the bright-light blocking and locked
hundredth door of luck.
At the opposite end of the hall sits a pair of empty pay public binoculars,
slumped, facing your way.
In the dead of their stare, you marvel about,
until you eye this one door that appears to be both half open and closed.
And are drawn, moth to the bulb,
head down, as if reeled round a gear by the guts,
inching toward your intuit-picked portal of choice...
Now knelt, yet not without nerves in this moment of mostly glory,
you look for the knob, and see nothing but healed shut keyhole.
Dax-strong in this dream, you begin to cut key
in the furthest corner of a clearest skull,
when you feel your kneecaps being nursed by a white-on white welcome mat.
You tilt your skull to read "WOE-BE-GONE" only written wrong or in mirror.
Your hands and heart full of edge, you lift the mat gently,
and there beneath its omen embroidered, sits an intact wishingbone.
You carefully lift your instrument of certain luck to the door,
and it slowly unclenches the scar seem set where it's keyhole would be,
and so you snap bliss bone, cut wish and begin to lock pick.
Until you hear trough the thick of the door the deadbolt coughing loose.
Suddenly the fear black above your skull, beneath your skin, goes wild!
As the door of your choice opens itself slowly,
sealing off your face with perfect stripes of rising bone and angst,
of alabaster and pit- allowing the bright right light of luck
to completely believe
and eclipse you.
with all white, in a sound-proofed hallway
you’re staring down the empty eye slits of a low socket.
Waking on the floor at the foot of the bright-light blocking and locked
hundredth door of luck.
At the opposite end of the hall sits a pair of empty pay public binoculars,
slumped, facing your way.
In the dead of their stare, you marvel about,
until you eye this one door that appears to be both half open and closed.
And are drawn, moth to the bulb,
head down, as if reeled round a gear by the guts,
inching toward your intuit-picked portal of choice...
Now knelt, yet not without nerves in this moment of mostly glory,
you look for the knob, and see nothing but healed shut keyhole.
Dax-strong in this dream, you begin to cut key
in the furthest corner of a clearest skull,
when you feel your kneecaps being nursed by a white-on white welcome mat.
You tilt your skull to read "WOE-BE-GONE" only written wrong or in mirror.
Your hands and heart full of edge, you lift the mat gently,
and there beneath its omen embroidered, sits an intact wishingbone.
You carefully lift your instrument of certain luck to the door,
and it slowly unclenches the scar seem set where it's keyhole would be,
and so you snap bliss bone, cut wish and begin to lock pick.
Until you hear trough the thick of the door the deadbolt coughing loose.
Suddenly the fear black above your skull, beneath your skin, goes wild!
As the door of your choice opens itself slowly,
sealing off your face with perfect stripes of rising bone and angst,
of alabaster and pit- allowing the bright right light of luck
to completely believe
and eclipse you.
Lyrics submitted by Derek_Hart
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Fast Car
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Hayalperest
Hayalperest
This song seemingly tackles the methods of deception those who manipulate others use to get victims to follow their demands, as well as diverting attention away from important issues. They'll also use it as a means to convince people to hate or kill others by pretending acts of terrorism were committed by the enemy when the acts themselves were done by the masters of control to promote discrimination and hate. It also reinforces the idea that these manipulative forces operate in various locations, infiltrating everyday life without detection, and propagate any and everywhere.
In general, it highlights the danger of hidden agendas, manipulation, and distraction, serving as a critique of those who exploit chaos and confusion to control and gain power, depicting a cautionary tale against falling into their traps. It encourages us to question the narratives presented to us and remain vigilant against manipulation in various parts of society.
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,
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.
Though a little less final than other opinions given, I believe The Ends is really just an Ends to both Hour Hero, Yes's dependence on his high class life, his own selfish mind and perhaps his cloudy self image? The mention of a mother before the eclipse of The Hero gives an impression of the vitality that a mother takes in general life. Throughout the album, Hour Hero, Yes always maintains a standard of selfishness and vanity. The fact that a mother named NOW, during The Ends implies that there is a point now where The Hero realizes that he is not so great as to give birth to himself alone. That he himself was once a one-celled-organism. "At the foot of the bright light blocking and locked hundredth door of luck." Another 'door' he has been found before (reference to Nomanisisland), only this is “the door of your choice”. It seems strange to me that the rest of the song is about him trying to get inside of this door, (with a wishbone, of all instruments!) and the moment he does, he takes on the only form we've seen him; perhaps finally- FINALLY, our hero sees himself as he has been all along.