"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.
Come with us to the water as we
celebrate poolside. Silver lined sons
and daughters take the big dive.
Celebrate before rejection too
well. Diamond impressions lay where
we fell without discretion. All the
questions they'll ask..were we raised
this way? Such a promising past.
Mayday Go down in glory. What did I
tell you? I promised they'd take me
too down with the heros before me.
What did I tell you? I promised I'd
give you a story. Now look down from
these great heights. Soaring pristine
and private through the storm
and radiate. We international
wraiths, with the hearts we've stolen,
flee but can't keep a thing that is
golden. All the lightening has past
but the storm remains. With the sky
in our hands I say Mayday. They say
nothing was found when we hit the
ground. Did I forget to say "mayday?"
celebrate poolside. Silver lined sons
and daughters take the big dive.
Celebrate before rejection too
well. Diamond impressions lay where
we fell without discretion. All the
questions they'll ask..were we raised
this way? Such a promising past.
Mayday Go down in glory. What did I
tell you? I promised they'd take me
too down with the heros before me.
What did I tell you? I promised I'd
give you a story. Now look down from
these great heights. Soaring pristine
and private through the storm
and radiate. We international
wraiths, with the hearts we've stolen,
flee but can't keep a thing that is
golden. All the lightening has past
but the storm remains. With the sky
in our hands I say Mayday. They say
nothing was found when we hit the
ground. Did I forget to say "mayday?"
Lyrics submitted by thebel
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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"
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.
Amazing
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran tells a story of unsuccessfully trying to feel “Amazing.” This track is about the being weighed down by emotional stress despite valiant attempts to find some positivity in the situation. This track was written by Ed Sheeran from the perspective of his friend. From the track, we see this person fall deeper into the negative thoughts and slide further down the path of mental torment with every lyric.
Page
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
There aren’t many things that’ll hurt more than giving love a chance against your better judgement only to have your heart crushed yet again. Ed Sheeran tells such a story on “Page.” On this track, he is devastated to have lost his lover and even more saddened by the feeling that he may never move on from this.
I always thought it had something to do with martyrs ("Go down in glory"), or people who think themselves martyrs but in fact do terrible things. I agree with the war idea, or maybe terrorism, or religious fanatics, etc. Or maybe, just going along with the general theme of Crash Love, it could be about a celebrity or something and his or her fall from grace by destructive behavior.
Davey himself mentioned that this song has to do with "corporal deities." (afi.buzznet.com/user/video/4458641/buzznet-exclusive-afi-transmission-sacrilege/)