"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.
I wish I was a slave to an age-old trade
Like ridin' around on railcars and workin' long days
Lord have mercy on my rough and rowdy ways
Lord have mercy on my rough and rowdy ways
Call it one drink too many
Call it pride of a man
But it don't make no difference if you sit or you stand
'Cause they both end in trouble and start with a grin
Yeah they both end in trouble and start with a grin
We do it over and over and over again
We do it over and over and over again
Oh-oh
Oh-oh-oh-oh
Oh-oh
Oh-oh
Oh-oh-oh-oh
Oh-oh
Oh-oh
Oh-oh-oh-oh
Oh-oh
I know there's California, Oklahoma
And all of the places I ain't ever been to but
Down in the valley with whiskey rivers
These are the places you will find me hidin'
These are the places I will always go
These are the places I will always go
I am on my way
I am on my way
I am on my way back to where I started
Oh-oh
Oh-oh-oh-oh
Oh-oh
Oh-oh (One more for the stars and the eyes of the walls)
Oh-oh-oh-oh (I hear your name)
Oh-oh
I saw your face in the crowd and you came out
You saw me walkin'
You got a sign on the door and it reads to me
Just like the grass and the sun and the water
Oh-oh
Oh-oh-oh-oh
Oh-oh
Oh-oh
Oh-oh-oh-oh
Oh-oh
Oh-oh
I am on my way
I am on my way
I am on my way back to where I started
California, Oklahoma
And all of the places I ain't ever been to
Down in the valley with whiskey rivers
These are the places you will find me hidin'
These are the places I will always go
These are the places I will always go
So I wish I was a slave to an age-old trade
Lord have mercy on my rough and rowdy ways
Like ridin' around on railcars and workin' long days
Lord have mercy on my rough and rowdy ways
Lord have mercy on my rough and rowdy ways
Call it one drink too many
Call it pride of a man
But it don't make no difference if you sit or you stand
'Cause they both end in trouble and start with a grin
Yeah they both end in trouble and start with a grin
We do it over and over and over again
We do it over and over and over again
Oh-oh
Oh-oh-oh-oh
Oh-oh
Oh-oh
Oh-oh-oh-oh
Oh-oh
Oh-oh
Oh-oh-oh-oh
Oh-oh
I know there's California, Oklahoma
And all of the places I ain't ever been to but
Down in the valley with whiskey rivers
These are the places you will find me hidin'
These are the places I will always go
These are the places I will always go
I am on my way
I am on my way
I am on my way back to where I started
Oh-oh
Oh-oh-oh-oh
Oh-oh
Oh-oh (One more for the stars and the eyes of the walls)
Oh-oh-oh-oh (I hear your name)
Oh-oh
I saw your face in the crowd and you came out
You saw me walkin'
You got a sign on the door and it reads to me
Just like the grass and the sun and the water
Oh-oh
Oh-oh-oh-oh
Oh-oh
Oh-oh
Oh-oh-oh-oh
Oh-oh
Oh-oh
I am on my way
I am on my way
I am on my way back to where I started
California, Oklahoma
And all of the places I ain't ever been to
Down in the valley with whiskey rivers
These are the places you will find me hidin'
These are the places I will always go
These are the places I will always go
So I wish I was a slave to an age-old trade
Lord have mercy on my rough and rowdy ways
Lyrics submitted by kitschwithteeth, edited by poisonwine
Down in the Valley Lyrics as written by Tyler Williams Jonathan Russell
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Universal Music Publishing Group, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
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More Featured Meanings
Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
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Holiday
Bee Gees
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@[Diderik:33655] "Your a holiday!" Was a popular term used in the 50s/60s to compliment someone on their all around. For example, not only are they beautiful, but they are fun and kind too ... just an all around "holiday".
I think your first comment is closer to being accurate. The singer/song writers state "Millions of eyes can see, yet why am i so blind!? When the someone else is me, its unkind its unkind". I believe hes referring to the girl toying with him and using him. He wants something deeper with her, thats why he allows himself to be as a puppet (even though for her fun and games) as long as it makes her happy. But he knows deep down that she doesnt really want to be serious with him and thats what makes him.
When We Were Young
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This is a sequel to 2001's "Reckless Abandon", and features the band looking back on their clumsy youth fondly.
No Surprises
Radiohead
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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.
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 see this song as him talking about how he isnt satisfied with what he has done in his life and how he wishes that he could have used his time more wisely or for a better purpose then what he has done. And along with that he wishes he had been to many different places, but instead has wasted away in the same old place drinking away his sorrows.
I think this song is about going out into the world and trying new things and realizing that you don't always have to go somewhere in order to be happy. He finds himself returning to the same places he has always been. He talks about the places he has never been but then says how he stays in the valley, which could be a sign of comfort. He is on his way back to where he started, meaning he was more happy where he used to be. Wishing he was a slave to an age old trade kind of hints at stability and the promise of something always being there for him.
That my somewhat happier interpretation. The sad one is that he is trying to get away and start a new life but ends up in the same old places he has always been. In the valley as in a low point in his life and whiskey rivers of course refers to drinking. No matter how much he tries to get a new life he cant.
Either way it is a beautiful song
i could not agree with you more u summed it right up!
They talked about this song on World Cafe: he said he wrote it when he was toiling away as a waiter, a job he found boring and unsatisfying, and he found himself thinking how much more satisfying it must be to have a trade of some sort so at least he could support himself.
I think this part: "(Continue in background)
One more for the stars and the eyes of the walls I hear your name...
I saw your face in the crowd and you came out You saw me walkin'...
You got a sign on the door and it reads to me Just like the grass and the sun and the..."
is completely wrong... That's not what I hear at all. Which is disappointing because I really want to know exactly what he is singing. I can just tell that it's not that.
Yep, i also think it's wrong. I looked for a live version of the song and this is what I figured out: <br /> <br /> One more for the stars and the eyes of the walls and<br /> I saw your face and I heard you call me out<br /> I saw your face in the crowd and you came out<br /> Just like the sun and the moon and the stars at night<br /> There was a sign on the door and it reads to me <br /> Just like the sun and the stars and the moon at night
respectfully, I don't see it that way at all. I see it as someone who has enjoyed his travels and is still alive there. He's on his on his way back to where he started. Love life! Love the journey!
incredible song!
this song is about how much life sucks and how meaningless everything is. pretty obvious
i love this song. i think it explains itself.