"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.
The kids are ripping into sugar packets.
Townies taking off their tavern jackets.
I'm in the pews sticking bills in the basket.
Praying that they're cool when I come pick up the package.
Tonight we're gonna have a really good time.
But I want to go to heaven on the day I die.
Going to make like a preemptive strike.
Hit the 5:30 mass early Saturday night.
Ring ring ring goes the telephone.
Tell my little lamb that I'm on my way home.
Stop by the shop and get a bottle to go.
And maybe something stronger if the right guy is on the corner.
Bang bang bang goes the quarter notes.
Saint Theresa told me we should rattle our bones.
Now you're going off to the dial tone.
Some kid started blowing on a saxophone.
Cheerleaders dream of quarterbacks.
Jock Jills go for jumping Jacks.
Goth girls love the vampire bats.
They wanna draw a little blood for their bath.
I don't go much for all that spooky stuff.
I like the lights and uptempo tracks.
You're damn right I believe in love.
Because I've been in love and I've been loved right back.
Bang bang bang goes the backing track.
Some kid is coming around with the magic backpack.
I didn't know that you could dance like that.
I'm gonna have to ask that you take two steps back.
Sing sing sing every song you know.
Blowing out the speakers on your stereo.
You finally stopped talking about that boy back home.
Maybe that's just better.
If you want you can sleep over.
We're good guys but we can't be good every night.
We're good guys but we can't be good our whole lives.
We're good guys but we can't be good every night.
Father I have sinned.
And I want to do it all again tonight.
The townies taking off their tavern jackets.
Making guitars out of tennis racquets.
It's been getting so the hardest part is trying to
Talk some sense into our sparkling hearts.
Ring ring ring goes the telephone,
Tell my little lambs I ain't coming home.
Yes yes yes go the majorettes.
They lead the band onto the field with their cigarettes.
Bang bang bang she's a cleaning freak.
She scrubs the surface until it's sparkling.
Neat neat neat until her fingers bleed.
She was giving off blue light on the first night that she came to me.
We're good guys but we can't be good every night.
We're good guys but we can't be good our whole lives.
We're good guys but we can't be good every night.
We're good guys but we can't be good our whole lives.
She was giving off blue light on the first night that she came to me.
Father I have sinned and I want to do it all again
Eventually
Townies taking off their tavern jackets.
I'm in the pews sticking bills in the basket.
Praying that they're cool when I come pick up the package.
Tonight we're gonna have a really good time.
But I want to go to heaven on the day I die.
Going to make like a preemptive strike.
Hit the 5:30 mass early Saturday night.
Ring ring ring goes the telephone.
Tell my little lamb that I'm on my way home.
Stop by the shop and get a bottle to go.
And maybe something stronger if the right guy is on the corner.
Bang bang bang goes the quarter notes.
Saint Theresa told me we should rattle our bones.
Now you're going off to the dial tone.
Some kid started blowing on a saxophone.
Cheerleaders dream of quarterbacks.
Jock Jills go for jumping Jacks.
Goth girls love the vampire bats.
They wanna draw a little blood for their bath.
I don't go much for all that spooky stuff.
I like the lights and uptempo tracks.
You're damn right I believe in love.
Because I've been in love and I've been loved right back.
Bang bang bang goes the backing track.
Some kid is coming around with the magic backpack.
I didn't know that you could dance like that.
I'm gonna have to ask that you take two steps back.
Sing sing sing every song you know.
Blowing out the speakers on your stereo.
You finally stopped talking about that boy back home.
Maybe that's just better.
If you want you can sleep over.
We're good guys but we can't be good every night.
We're good guys but we can't be good our whole lives.
We're good guys but we can't be good every night.
Father I have sinned.
And I want to do it all again tonight.
The townies taking off their tavern jackets.
Making guitars out of tennis racquets.
It's been getting so the hardest part is trying to
Talk some sense into our sparkling hearts.
Ring ring ring goes the telephone,
Tell my little lambs I ain't coming home.
Yes yes yes go the majorettes.
They lead the band onto the field with their cigarettes.
Bang bang bang she's a cleaning freak.
She scrubs the surface until it's sparkling.
Neat neat neat until her fingers bleed.
She was giving off blue light on the first night that she came to me.
We're good guys but we can't be good every night.
We're good guys but we can't be good our whole lives.
We're good guys but we can't be good every night.
We're good guys but we can't be good our whole lives.
She was giving off blue light on the first night that she came to me.
Father I have sinned and I want to do it all again
Eventually
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Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman
The Night We Met
Lord Huron
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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.
I Can't Go To Sleep
Wu-Tang Clan
Wu-Tang Clan
This song is written as the perspective of the boys in the street, as a whole, and what path they are going to choose as they get older and grow into men. (This is why the music video takes place in an orphanage.) The seen, and unseen collective suffering is imbedded in the boys’ mind, consciously or subconsciously, and is haunting them. Which path will the boys choose? Issac Hayes is the voice of reason, maybe God, the angel on his shoulder, or the voice of his forefathers from beyond the grave who can see the big picture and are pleading with the boys not to continue the violence and pattern of killing their brothers, but to rise above. The most beautiful song and has so many levels. Racism towards African Americans in America would not exist if everyone sat down and listened to this song and understood the history behind the words. The power, fear, pleading in RZA and Ghostface voices are genuine and powerful. Issac Hayes’ strong voice makes the perfect strong father figure, who is possibly from beyond the grave.
When We Were Young
Blink-182
Blink-182
This is a sequel to 2001's "Reckless Abandon", and features the band looking back on their clumsy youth fondly.
I think the first part is:
"Kids are ripping into sugar packets Townies wearing ancient starter jackets. I'm in the pew putting bills into the basket Praying that they're cool when I come pick up the package."