"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.
Your brown eyes are my blue skies.
They light up the rivers that the birds fly over.
Better not to quench your thirst.
Better not to be the first one diving in,
Though you caught me and you know why
You breathe in the deepest part of the water.
What's the matter? You hurt yourself?
Open your eyes and there was someone else
Now I've got you in the undertow.
Now I've got you in the undertow.
Why you wanna blame me for your troubles?
Ah ah ah you better learn your lesson yourself.
Nobody ever has to find out what's in my mind tonight.
Let tonight pass us by.
Do you really want to be the one to fight?
And I said "You're better not to light that fire.
It will take you to the darkest part of the weather."
What's the matter? You hurt yourself?
Open your eyes and there was someone else
Now I've got you in the undertow.
Now I've got you in the undertow.
Why you wanna blame me for your troubles?
Ah ah ah you better learn your lesson yourself.
Nobody ever has to find out what's in my mind tonight.
Nobody ever has to find out what's in my mind tonight.
Nobody in my mind. Nobody in my mind.
I feel it in my heart tonight.
I lay on the floor, pressing in my eyes.
Seeing little lights.
Please light these decisions that only one could make
I wanted to stay home but I went running running running running from the troubles
Running running running running from the troubles
Running running running running from the troubles
Running, running, running...
What's the matter? You hurt yourself?
Opened your eyes and there was someone else?
Now I've got you in the undertow
Now I've got you so
Why you wanna blame me for your troubles?
Ah ah ah you better learn your lesson yourself.
Nobody ever has to find out what's in my mind tonight.
I went running running running running from the troubles
Running, running, running...
They light up the rivers that the birds fly over.
Better not to quench your thirst.
Better not to be the first one diving in,
Though you caught me and you know why
You breathe in the deepest part of the water.
What's the matter? You hurt yourself?
Open your eyes and there was someone else
Now I've got you in the undertow.
Now I've got you in the undertow.
Why you wanna blame me for your troubles?
Ah ah ah you better learn your lesson yourself.
Nobody ever has to find out what's in my mind tonight.
Let tonight pass us by.
Do you really want to be the one to fight?
And I said "You're better not to light that fire.
It will take you to the darkest part of the weather."
What's the matter? You hurt yourself?
Open your eyes and there was someone else
Now I've got you in the undertow.
Now I've got you in the undertow.
Why you wanna blame me for your troubles?
Ah ah ah you better learn your lesson yourself.
Nobody ever has to find out what's in my mind tonight.
Nobody ever has to find out what's in my mind tonight.
Nobody in my mind. Nobody in my mind.
I feel it in my heart tonight.
I lay on the floor, pressing in my eyes.
Seeing little lights.
Please light these decisions that only one could make
I wanted to stay home but I went running running running running from the troubles
Running running running running from the troubles
Running running running running from the troubles
Running, running, running...
What's the matter? You hurt yourself?
Opened your eyes and there was someone else?
Now I've got you in the undertow
Now I've got you so
Why you wanna blame me for your troubles?
Ah ah ah you better learn your lesson yourself.
Nobody ever has to find out what's in my mind tonight.
I went running running running running from the troubles
Running, running, running...
Lyrics submitted by kittenchowmein
Undertow Lyrics as written by Jennifer Lee Lindberg Emily Camille Kokal
Lyrics © Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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Fast Car
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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"
Dreamwalker
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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.
Head > Heels
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“Head > Heels” is a track that aims to capture what it feels like to experience romance that exceeds expectations. Ed Sheeran dedicates his album outro to a lover who has blessed him with a unique experience that he seeks to describe through the song’s nuanced lyrics.
Page
Ed Sheeran
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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.
you nailed it :-)