"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.
See my brother he is walking in the sun
His back is bare he carries no burden for anyone
I see the island, a silver line
Brother how you shine
And all around the light
And all around the light
Now I see my father he’s so small against the sky
Child, the tree, the shadow is on his eye
He doesn’t know who he’s supposed to be
Father you are free
And all around the light
And all around the light
Now my momma she is crying on the stair
Her hands are leaves, the light is in her hair
As she prays she thinks that no one heard
Mother you are a bird
Mother you are a bird
And all around the light
And all around the light
And all around the light
All around the light
His back is bare he carries no burden for anyone
I see the island, a silver line
Brother how you shine
And all around the light
And all around the light
Now I see my father he’s so small against the sky
Child, the tree, the shadow is on his eye
He doesn’t know who he’s supposed to be
Father you are free
And all around the light
And all around the light
Now my momma she is crying on the stair
Her hands are leaves, the light is in her hair
As she prays she thinks that no one heard
Mother you are a bird
Mother you are a bird
And all around the light
And all around the light
And all around the light
All around the light
Lyrics submitted by username987
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Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
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Holiday
Bee Gees
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@[Diderik:33655] "Your a holiday!" Was a popular term used in the 50s/60s to compliment someone on their all around. For example, not only are they beautiful, but they are fun and kind too ... just an all around "holiday".
I think your first comment is closer to being accurate. The singer/song writers state "Millions of eyes can see, yet why am i so blind!? When the someone else is me, its unkind its unkind". I believe hes referring to the girl toying with him and using him. He wants something deeper with her, thats why he allows himself to be as a puppet (even though for her fun and games) as long as it makes her happy. But he knows deep down that she doesnt really want to be serious with him and thats what makes him.
Dreamwalker
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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.
Mountain Song
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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."
American Town
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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.
To me this songs takes on a very grim, unsettling and at the same time a calm tone as is clear from the kind of dissonance created by the 7th chord voicing.
"See my brother he is walking in the sun His back is bare he carries no burden for anyone I see the island, a silver line Brother how you shine And all around the light And all around the light"
This first para, I see as a mild assertion to a seemingly harsh reality that his brother is no more on this earth. He has no burden now as he is not alive anymore. The singer sees the island symbolic of his revelation/realization of a kind of heaven his brother is in now.
"Now I see my father he’s so small against the sky Child, the tree, the shadow is on his eye He doesn’t know who he’s supposed to be Father you are free And all around the light And all around the light"
The second paragraph, again, starts in a tone of disclosure or revelation. His father, who is usually this high dominating figure that he looks up to, now, seems so small against the sky symbolic of reality. The child and the tree may have a connection with his brothers' past. Memories come afloat here. The shadow indicating the stress his father is going through. He has lost himself and the singer is telling him that he is free; free to express, free to cry all around the light.
"Now my mother she is crying on the stairs Her hands are leaves, the light is in her hair As she prays she thinks that no one heard Mother you are a bird Mother you are a bird And all around the light And all around the light And all around the light All around the light"
Here, he tells of his mother who is still crying for her loss. I use the word "still" as her crying on the stair is indicative of the fact she doesn't want anyone to know she is crying which is in turn indicative of the fact this period is a little ahead of his brothers passing. The loss still haunts her to its full effect. She prays for him everyday. The singer talks of her as a bird flying all around the light.
The light is a personification of his brother.