"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.
Eighteen, a young girl, graduates from school
She's got the future to do the things she wants to do.
Little did she know, she would let her heart give in
The plans she made for life would change so she could be with him.
A baby's born but she knows, their love is just not right,
The pressure's on, is it right or wrong for her to change her life,
Or should she stay committed and hold her feelings deep inside,
Society has got her down and she wants to run wild.
She wants to ride, a horse cross country
She wants to feel, wind brush against her skin
She needs to find, what she's been missing
She wants to ride, until she finds herself again
She got the courage up to go out on her own
She took the little child and found them a new home
She's working now, but it's so hard down at the factory.
With little pay at the end of the day she can barely make ends meet.
Years went by so quickly, though it seemed like time stood still
Standing by her front door, she could feel the winter's chill.
She looks to the horizon where she sees the setting sun
She feels the urge inside her and it makes her want to run
She wants to ride, a horse cross country
She wants to feel, wind brush against her skin
She needs to find, what she's been missing
She wants to ride, until she finds herself again
Even though she's had a rough life,
She wouldn't trade it for the world
The treasures that she owns lie in her little girl.
And when she feels the old desires,
That her troubles often bring
She can go to bed at night and find them in her dreams, where
She wants to ride, a horse cross country
She wants to feel, wind brush against her skin
She needs to find, what she's been missing
She wants to ride, until she finds herself again
Oh oh, she wants to ride
Oh she wants to ride, she wants to ride,
She wants to ride, she wants to ride
She wants to ride until she finds herself again.
She's got the future to do the things she wants to do.
Little did she know, she would let her heart give in
The plans she made for life would change so she could be with him.
A baby's born but she knows, their love is just not right,
The pressure's on, is it right or wrong for her to change her life,
Or should she stay committed and hold her feelings deep inside,
Society has got her down and she wants to run wild.
She wants to ride, a horse cross country
She wants to feel, wind brush against her skin
She needs to find, what she's been missing
She wants to ride, until she finds herself again
She got the courage up to go out on her own
She took the little child and found them a new home
She's working now, but it's so hard down at the factory.
With little pay at the end of the day she can barely make ends meet.
Years went by so quickly, though it seemed like time stood still
Standing by her front door, she could feel the winter's chill.
She looks to the horizon where she sees the setting sun
She feels the urge inside her and it makes her want to run
She wants to ride, a horse cross country
She wants to feel, wind brush against her skin
She needs to find, what she's been missing
She wants to ride, until she finds herself again
Even though she's had a rough life,
She wouldn't trade it for the world
The treasures that she owns lie in her little girl.
And when she feels the old desires,
That her troubles often bring
She can go to bed at night and find them in her dreams, where
She wants to ride, a horse cross country
She wants to feel, wind brush against her skin
She needs to find, what she's been missing
She wants to ride, until she finds herself again
Oh oh, she wants to ride
Oh she wants to ride, she wants to ride,
She wants to ride, she wants to ride
She wants to ride until she finds herself again.
Lyrics submitted by SongMeanings
She Wants to Ride Lyrics as written by Anita Cochran
Lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman
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
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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."
Gentle Hour
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,
No Surprises
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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.