"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.
She was wise beyond all others.
On the island she was my lover.
We went wild and it almost killed me, I was blind.
But for thirteen days of sun and her I thought I'd never die.
I couldn't get tired, although I should have been sleeping.
For the first time I wasn't hard of feeling.
And at night, while the others were dreaming, we went wild.
We'd go running through the temples and the forests of the isle.
For thirteen of those sleepless nights I thought I'd never die.
I don't know what the hell it was that gave us so much life. On the island we went wild, we never closed our eyes. Don't know where she's gone or what she's done to who since then. She loved me right into the ground. I won't go wild again.
I thought good times could last forever.
Long nights and perfect weather.
I tried to never say never, but I was wrong.
The wildness of those days couldn't last for long.
I woke up on the beach one day and found that she had gone.
The rains had come, there was no sun, I felt so deadly tired.
After thirteen days of loving her I felt like I could die.
We went wiiiild.
On the island she was my lover.
We went wild and it almost killed me, I was blind.
But for thirteen days of sun and her I thought I'd never die.
I couldn't get tired, although I should have been sleeping.
For the first time I wasn't hard of feeling.
And at night, while the others were dreaming, we went wild.
We'd go running through the temples and the forests of the isle.
For thirteen of those sleepless nights I thought I'd never die.
I don't know what the hell it was that gave us so much life. On the island we went wild, we never closed our eyes. Don't know where she's gone or what she's done to who since then. She loved me right into the ground. I won't go wild again.
I thought good times could last forever.
Long nights and perfect weather.
I tried to never say never, but I was wrong.
The wildness of those days couldn't last for long.
I woke up on the beach one day and found that she had gone.
The rains had come, there was no sun, I felt so deadly tired.
After thirteen days of loving her I felt like I could die.
We went wiiiild.
Lyrics submitted by craftsy21
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Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
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Little Feat
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Overall about difficult moments of disappointment and vulnerability. Having hope and longing, while remaining optimistic for the future. Encourages the belief that with each new morning there is a chance for things to improve.
The chorus offers a glimmer of optimism and a chance at a resolution and redemption in the future.
Captures the rollercoaster of emotions of feeling lost while loving someone who is not there for you, feeling let down and abandoned while waiting for a lover. Lost with no direction, "Now I'm up in the air with the rain in my hair, Nowhere to go, I can go anywhere"
The bridge shows signs of longing and a plea for companionship. The Lyrics express a desire for authentic connection and the importance of Loving someone just as they are. "Just in passing, I'm not asking. That you be anyone but you”
Dreamwalker
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.
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."
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Yo La Tengo
Yo La Tengo
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,
Based on the lyrics this song paints the story of a young man who is recalling a time in his life that led to him vowing never to fall in love again. A story about a man who traveled to a small Island with a group of people for 2 weeks (13 nights). While on the trip he met a girl whom he fell in love with. I believe the phrase "we went wild" is a representation of that feeling. After all wild things are free in almost every sense of the word.
Anyway this young man thought he had girls figured out (she was wise beyond others) or maybe she made a great intellectual impression on him or wise in the sense that he fell for and she played and left him. Obviously, she was a very fun person and what he thought they felt for each other kept them both very alive. Then one day unannounced she just up and disappeared. Just when he thought he had met the perfect girl.
Her departure was so devastating that it was if he died (she loved me into the ground). The feeling is that his world had gone dark and cold. Kinda how it is when we die. (The rains had come, there was no sun, I felt so deadly tired. After thirteen days of loving her I felt like I could die.) So, all of a sudden this guy who felt like he could never die due to that awesome feeling of being in love now feels like he can't live again.
Personally, I think the order of the 3rd verse and the 4th verse should be switched around. The 3rd verse is saying that because of how everything happen he won't fall in love again (won't go wild again).