"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.
Do you eat, sleep, do you breathe me anymore?
Do you sleep, do you count sheep anymore?
Do you sleep anymore?
Do you take plight on my tongue like lead?
Do you fall gracefully into bed anymore?
I saw you as you walked across my room.
You looked out the window, you looked at the moon.
And you sat on the corner of my bed, and
you smoked with the ghost in the back of my head.
And I don't know, and I don't care
If I ever will see you again.
I don't know, and I don't care
If I ever will be there.
Do you eat, sleep, do you breathe me anymore?
Do you sleep, do you keep me anymore?
You kick my foot under the table,
I kick you back;
I can't say I'm able to
Stand for you or
Fall for you ever again.
Wish for a perfect setting?
Wishing that I am letting you
Take me where you want me
All over again?
You can't give yourself absolutely to someone else.
And I don't know, and I don't care
If I ever will see you again.
I don't know, and I don't care
If I ever will be there.
I saw you as you walked across my room.
You looked out the window, you looked at the moon.
And you sat on the corner of my bed, and
You smoked with the ghost in the back of my head.
Do you eat, sleep, do you breathe me anymore?
Do you sleep, do you count sheep anymore?
Do you sleep anymore?
I don't know, and I don't care
If I ever will be there.
Will be there?
Do you sleep, do you count sheep anymore?
Do you sleep anymore?
Do you take plight on my tongue like lead?
Do you fall gracefully into bed anymore?
I saw you as you walked across my room.
You looked out the window, you looked at the moon.
And you sat on the corner of my bed, and
you smoked with the ghost in the back of my head.
And I don't know, and I don't care
If I ever will see you again.
I don't know, and I don't care
If I ever will be there.
Do you eat, sleep, do you breathe me anymore?
Do you sleep, do you keep me anymore?
You kick my foot under the table,
I kick you back;
I can't say I'm able to
Stand for you or
Fall for you ever again.
Wish for a perfect setting?
Wishing that I am letting you
Take me where you want me
All over again?
You can't give yourself absolutely to someone else.
And I don't know, and I don't care
If I ever will see you again.
I don't know, and I don't care
If I ever will be there.
I saw you as you walked across my room.
You looked out the window, you looked at the moon.
And you sat on the corner of my bed, and
You smoked with the ghost in the back of my head.
Do you eat, sleep, do you breathe me anymore?
Do you sleep, do you count sheep anymore?
Do you sleep anymore?
I don't know, and I don't care
If I ever will be there.
Will be there?
Lyrics submitted by SongMeanings
Do You Sleep? Lyrics as written by Lisa A. Loeb
Lyrics © REACH MUSIC PUBLISHING
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Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
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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,
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.
Simply because she beat him to it by 17 years, Goyte should pay royalties to Lisa Loeb for plagiarizing a tale of falling out of love with someone and wondering if they’ll every cross paths again.
Perhaps you could make an argument that ‘ Somebody I used to know’ is the musical sequel to this song, but the theme is pretty much the same!
I think it's pretty straight forward, but I'll go over the parts that I used to wonder about.
"Do you eat, sleep, do you breathe me anymore? Do you sleep, do you count sheep anymore? Do you sleep anymore?"
She's asking/telling herself "do you even sleep anymore", she realizes she's got it bad, where it's affecting her sleep, eating, etc.
"You looked out the window, you looked at the moon." She can't physically see through another's eyes, but she's implying that all she sees is him, also the moon is a universal symbol for love, lovers, romance, etc.
"And you sat on the corner of my bed, and" Sitting on the corner of a bed, either he is leaving or he is getting into something
"you smoked with the ghost in the back of my head." That something might've been her own self "healing"
"And I don't know, and I don't care If I ever will see you again."
I think she's saying that it's beyond his actual physical presence - whether they get back together or not, he's always looming.
"I don't know, and I don't care If I ever will be there."
For me "I don't know if I'm there" or "I don't know if so and so will ever be there" is like saying I might be losing touch with reality, OR she might be saying she doesn't know if she'll ever truly "not care" anymore.
"You kick my foot under the table, I kick you back;"
She's trying to "kick him like a bad habit" after being kicked off? Not sure of this one, but I'll think about it.
"I can't say I'm able to Stand for you or Fall for you ever again."
She's tired of going through the same thing, the same motions. There's a bit of resentment there, meaning they're not in eachother's corner. They must've had a big fight, something where someone's honor or dignity was in question because to say "ever" is so final, as if they did something unpardonable.
"Wish for a perfect setting?" But in the back of her mind she still thinks of him fondly
"Wishing that I am letting you Take me where you want me" And sometimes even lets her imagination run wild, again there's a strong physical attraction.
"All over again? At some point reality sets in and she realizes she's been through this with him before and that it just wasn't worth it.
"You can't give yourself absolutely to someone else." The consequences are that he'll penetrate every facet of your life, every facet.
And I don't know, and I don't care If I ever will see you again. Here, there's more resoluteness on her part, as realizes it's not going anywhere.
Then she repeats the chorus - about seeing him everywhere
And ends with resoluteness to get over him.