"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.
We ignore refused consent
Animals do not repent
Courtesy to intervene
Weathered down my selfish needs
I suffocate
And promise me you won't resuscitate
And when I change my mind it's far too late
I'm wasting my days as I've wasted my nights and I've wasted my youth
You're waiting for something you've waited in vain because there's nothing for you
Suffocation
Humility yet to be seen
Models made of plasticine
Morality disgrace us now
Entertain and take a bow
I suffocate
And promise me you won't resuscitate
And when I change my mind it's far too late
I'm wasting my days as I've wasted my nights and I've wasted my youth
You're waiting for something you've waited in vain because there's nothing for you
Suffocation
Animals do not repent
Courtesy to intervene
Weathered down my selfish needs
I suffocate
And promise me you won't resuscitate
And when I change my mind it's far too late
I'm wasting my days as I've wasted my nights and I've wasted my youth
You're waiting for something you've waited in vain because there's nothing for you
Suffocation
Humility yet to be seen
Models made of plasticine
Morality disgrace us now
Entertain and take a bow
I suffocate
And promise me you won't resuscitate
And when I change my mind it's far too late
I'm wasting my days as I've wasted my nights and I've wasted my youth
You're waiting for something you've waited in vain because there's nothing for you
Suffocation
Lyrics submitted by CrystalCastles, edited by feiailuro
Suffocation Lyrics as written by Ethan Kath Alice Glass
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
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Silent Planet
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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.
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Yo La Tengo
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This song was originally written by a guy called Peter Gutteridge. He was one of the founders of the "Dunedin Sound" a musical scene in the south of New Zealand in the early 80s. From there it was covered by "The Clean" one of the early bands of that scene (he had originally been a member of in it's early days, writing a couple of their best early songs). The Dunedin sound, and the Clean became popular on american college radio in the mid to late 80s. I guess Yo La Tengo heard that version.
Great version of a great song,
Blue
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“Blue” is a song about a love that is persisting in the discomfort of the person experiencing the emotion. Ed Sheeran reflects on love lost, and although he wishes his former partner find happiness, he cannot but admit his feelings are still very much there. He expresses the realization that he might never find another on this stringed instrumental by Aaron Dessner.
Punchline
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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.
It sounds like it's being said by someone who can only see the impulsive and destructive nature in human beings. To this person, morality and intelligence is a guise we fool ourselves with because we're afraid of what only exists in our minds, not in our nature. If I thought everyone in the world was my enemy, I''d feel suffocated as well.
I'll add that it might make these thoughts reflect back on the writer and they may feel like no longer existing because they, in turn, are also impulsive and destructive. Anyway, Alice singing this song gives me the warm and fuzzies.