"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.
Driven through by her own sword
Summer died last night, alone
Even the ghosts
Huddled up for warmth
Autumn has come to my hometown
Friendly voices, dead and gone
Singing, Star of the country down
(Even the ghosts help raise the barn
Here, now, in my hometown)
When, out of the massing that bodes and bides
in the cold west
Flew a waxwing, who froze
And died against my breast
And all the while, rain
Like a weed in the tide
Swans and lists
Down on the gossiping lawns
Saying tsk tsk tsk
I may have changed
It's hard to gauge
Time won't account for how I've aged
Would I could tie your lying tongue
Who says that leaving keeps you young
And I have got no control
Over my heart, over my mind
Over the hills
the rainclouds roll
I'll winter here, wait for a sign
To cast myself out over the water
Riven like a wishbone
You'd hardly guess
I was my own mother's daughter
I ain't naturally given to roam
And I lay low, when I return
And I move like a gurney
Whose wheels are squeaking
Alone, here in my home
And I laugh when you speak of my pleasure-seeking
Among the tall pines
Along the ley-lines
Here, where the loon keens
There, where the moon leans
There where I know my violent love lays
Down in a row of silent, dove-gray days
Here, in a row of silent, dove-gray days
Wherever I go, I am snowbound
By thoughts of him
Whom I would sun
I loved them all
One by one
Cannot gain ground
Cannot outrun
But time marches along
You can't always stick around
But, when the final count is done
I will be in my hometown
I will be in my hometown
Summer died last night, alone
Even the ghosts
Huddled up for warmth
Autumn has come to my hometown
Friendly voices, dead and gone
Singing, Star of the country down
(Even the ghosts help raise the barn
Here, now, in my hometown)
When, out of the massing that bodes and bides
in the cold west
Flew a waxwing, who froze
And died against my breast
And all the while, rain
Like a weed in the tide
Swans and lists
Down on the gossiping lawns
Saying tsk tsk tsk
I may have changed
It's hard to gauge
Time won't account for how I've aged
Would I could tie your lying tongue
Who says that leaving keeps you young
And I have got no control
Over my heart, over my mind
Over the hills
the rainclouds roll
I'll winter here, wait for a sign
To cast myself out over the water
Riven like a wishbone
You'd hardly guess
I was my own mother's daughter
I ain't naturally given to roam
And I lay low, when I return
And I move like a gurney
Whose wheels are squeaking
Alone, here in my home
And I laugh when you speak of my pleasure-seeking
Among the tall pines
Along the ley-lines
Here, where the loon keens
There, where the moon leans
There where I know my violent love lays
Down in a row of silent, dove-gray days
Here, in a row of silent, dove-gray days
Wherever I go, I am snowbound
By thoughts of him
Whom I would sun
I loved them all
One by one
Cannot gain ground
Cannot outrun
But time marches along
You can't always stick around
But, when the final count is done
I will be in my hometown
I will be in my hometown
Lyrics submitted by kitteh, edited by chrisbo1c7, forsqueak
Autumn Lyrics as written by Joanna Newsom
Lyrics © ROUGH TRADE PUBLISHING
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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More Featured Meanings
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"
Son Şansın - Şarkı Sözleri
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.
No Surprises
Radiohead
Radiohead
Same ideas expressed in Fitter, Happier are expressed in this song. We're told to strive for some sort of ideal life, which includes getting a good job, being kind to everyone, finding a partner, getting married, having a couple kids, living in a quiet neighborhood in a nice big house, etc. But in Fitter, Happier the narrator(?) realizes that it's incredibly robotic to live this life. People are being used by those in power "like a pig in a cage on antibiotics"--being pacified with things like new phones and cool gadgets and houses while being sucked dry. On No Surprises, the narrator is realizing how this life is killing him slowly. In the video, his helmet is slowly filling up with water, drowning him. But he's so complacent with it. This is a good summary of the song. This boring, "perfect" life foisted upon us by some higher powers (not spiritual, but political, economic, etc. politicians and businessmen, perhaps) is not the way to live. But there is seemingly no way out but death. He'd rather die peacefully right now than live in this cage. While our lives are often shielded, we're in our own protective bubbles, or protective helmets like the one Thom wears, if we look a little harder we can see all the corruption, lies, manipulation, etc. that is going on in the world, often run by huge yet nearly invisible organizations, corporations, and 'leaders'. It's a very hopeless song because it reflects real life.
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 think this is a fairly straight-forward song concerning her as a person, not the musician. She's consistent in stating that she is not a roamer and finds touring and world-travel unlike her. She'd prefer to stay in her home, collecting antiques, playing harp and sleeping into the evening. I remember an early interview with JN in 2004 when she said that if the music didn't work out her dream job would be somewhere close to her hometown in a doo-dad or antique shoppe.
I believe when you begin interacting with other people (in this situation, romantically) people drum up ideas of you. "I laugh when you speak of my pleasure-seeking ways." Many people who come into contact with you may think you are something different than you are. Oh, so you are a harpist/songwriter who tours the world. You must love that. But, I don't think it's that cut and dry. She loves making music and sharing it, I guess. But I think people can begin to mistake you for seeking out that sort of gypsy life for yourself and bending you into a caricature. Later, in 'Ribbon Bows' she specifies that she is not like that - but she can pass. Honey, she sure can pass.
That's all I think 'Autumn' is about, really. Tho I do think it's a bit of an elegy of sorts.