"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.
'When?' said the moon to the stars in the sky
'Soon' said the wind that followed them all
'Who?' said the cloud that started to cry
'Me' said the rider as dry as a bone
'How?' said the sun that melted the ground
and 'Why?' said the river that refused to run
and 'Where?' said the thunder without a sound
'Here' said the rider and took up his gun
'No' said the stars to the moon in the sky
'No' said the trees that started to moan
'No' said the dust that blunted its eyes
'Yes' said the rider as white as a bone
'No' said the moon that rose from his sleep
'No' said the cry of the dying sun
'No' said the planet as it started to weep
'Yes' said the rider and laid down his gun
'Soon' said the wind that followed them all
'Who?' said the cloud that started to cry
'Me' said the rider as dry as a bone
'How?' said the sun that melted the ground
and 'Why?' said the river that refused to run
and 'Where?' said the thunder without a sound
'Here' said the rider and took up his gun
'No' said the stars to the moon in the sky
'No' said the trees that started to moan
'No' said the dust that blunted its eyes
'Yes' said the rider as white as a bone
'No' said the moon that rose from his sleep
'No' said the cry of the dying sun
'No' said the planet as it started to weep
'Yes' said the rider and laid down his gun
Lyrics submitted by ecorchee1
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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"
Mountain Song
Jane's Addiction
Jane's Addiction
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."
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.
My take is that a man rides to the wilderness to kill himself. While he's gathering strength, the nature itself begs him not to do it (or at least he imagines so). But I'm not sure about the ending: if he decides not to do it after all (laid down his gun), why does he still say "yes"?
Thanks for your thoughts.<br /> The last "yes" of the rider is the turning point then, they all convinced him not to do it. <br /> It is the yes he gives to his life from now on.
@infinityontrial I think the final "yes" is the moment he decides to do it...and after he shot himself he layed down the gun
@infinityontrial the song describes the scene when a skeleton was found (dry and white),and the gun..and the one who found it asks what happend?nature is the only one who can tell what happened in the wilderness to this rider
I can't help seeing the connection with the film. The nature itself knows there is something to happen. Something bad. The wind, that followed them all knows it's going to be soon. Who? wonders the cloud. And the Rider responds: ,,me'' for he knows the upcoming fratricide is inevitable. The violence must end. The rider is not at all eager to do it, but he just has to. The river stops running, the thunder keeps silent. Everyone waits for the moment. And even when IT's finally done, noone can believe it. Neither the trees that started to moan nor the planet as it started to weep, because everything is just so fucked up. A man forced to kill his own brother who saved his life before. Twice. The Rider is white as a bone. Everything fucked up. He lays down his gun.
@Incorr this is what i feel too, it's exactly what goes on in the movie
I don't get it. :-(
Another idea based on infinityontrialon's interpretation is, that he is not about to kill himself, but other people. Moon, wind, clouds, etc. are aliases for hostages he has taken which he kills. In the end everyone is dead but him and so he lays down his gun after that.
I think the song is about nature being elemental and violent, and waiting for an act of violence to erupt. The Rider is the vessel for this violence. In the end he lays down his gun and resists nature, which I think think Cave thinks is elementally hostile (certainly The Proposition, which this song is from, suggests that). So in the end, the moon, the sun, the trees, etc. all howl "No" because he is resisting. It's a very beautiful song.
You could play this song 50 times in a row, and I will bawl my eyes out each and every time. To my ears, this is one of those most beautiful songs ever written. Nick Cave is simply the most amazing songwriter of the 20th century. Dylan, Gilmour, Joplin... All great without a doubt but none can come close to Cave. He reaches into the depths of the human soul without compromise or "prettying" up his lyrics for the masses. You either feel it down to your marrow, or you just don't comprehend. Unabashed beauty.
The song is from the soundtrack to The Proposition, a film also written by Nick Cave, and is almost a leitmotif for one of the protagonists, violent criminal Charlie Burns.
The film starts with Charlie and his simple minded younger brother Mike being captured by a lawman - Captain Stanley - and being given an ultimatum: find and kill your older brother Arthur, a rapist and murderer, or be hanged in five days along with Mike.
Charlie, although reluctant and conflicted, agrees to the deal riding off into the Australian outback towards where he believes his brother is hiding. This I think is “here says the rider, and took up his gun”. The previous lines reflect Charlie’s indecision.
Through various plot turns, Charlie, the psychotic poetry quoting Arthur, and another even more deranged accomplice return to town to rescue Mike and kill Captain Stanley planning to rape and beat his wife in front of him first. By this point it is clear that Charlie is terrified of Arthur and disgusted by his behaviour. Rather than let the rape and murder continue he shoots Arthur and the rest of gang dead. At this point he also has the option to kill Captain Stanley but, instead, walks away. This I think is “yes said the rider, and put down his gun”. The previous lines are him coming to a decision about what is right and wrong with the last “yes” against all the “noes” possibly being an expression of relief: “yes, I get it now”.
Or it could mean something completely different, it’s Nick Cave after all. It’s a great film, you should definitely watch it to hear the music in context.