"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.
In nineteen and double-aught
A harlot who was hot to trot
Gave a fine little bijou to the world
With a blacksmith for a makeshift doc
In a cathouse far from Camelot
Her gold mine brought to bed a baby girl
When the child screamed from life's first slap
The bawd said kid get used to that
You'll never meet a day that isn't cruel
Then she wrapped her babe in a petticoat
Grabbed a bottle and made a toast
Here's to my gorgeous bastard Ruby Jewel
And the man at the piano played a tune
And everybody sang and danced in the saloon
Except Ruby, no not Ruby, Ruby Jewel
Reared among the guttersnipe
While her mama puffed the Chinese pipe
The salad days for Ruby didn't last
Forced to work and pay her dues
Inside that poor man's Moulin Rouge
The snot-nosed kid had to grow up fast
Night and day she'd toil and sweat
While brothel patrons placed their bets
On who would be the first to break her in
Then one night the madam screams
Ruby get to room thirteen
There's someone there who thinks you're quite a gem
And the man at the piano played a tune
And everybody sang and danced in the saloon
Except Ruby no not Ruby Ruby Jewel
In done up hair and a borrowed dress
She climbed the stares scared to death
Said a prayer and tip-toed through the door
But on deaf ears her prayer fell
Cause through her tears she stared at hell
Standing there in nothing but his drawers
She recognized the whiskered chin
Bloodshot eyes and foul-mouthed grin
He was the man who wore the silver star
She tried to turn around and run
But he pulled out his big six gun
And said whore you won't get very far
And the man at the piano played a tune
And everybody sang and danced in the saloon
Except Ruby, no not Ruby, Ruby Jewel
Ruby Jewel woke up in bed
A crimson pool between her legs
Naked as the day that she was born
But lying there next to him
Made her wish she hadn't been
If this was all that living had in store
Making sure he was asleep
She quietly got to her feet
Found his gun and aimed it 'tween his eyes
She kept it there 'til he came to
So he could stare down the barrel too
Pulled the trigger once and watched him die
And the man at the piano played a tune
And everybody sang and danced in the saloon
Except Ruby no not Ruby Ruby Jewel
On a rainy night in nineteen-twelve
Locked inside the town's new jail
Ruby carved a message in the stone
When morning came hacks led her out
In ankle chains right through the crowd
Who waited in the mud to watch the show
They walked her up the gallows steps
But the rope around her neck
Dropped the trap as all the watchers cheered
But on the wall of her cell
In a tiny scrawl and misspelled
Were the words Ruby Jewel Was Here
And the man at the piano played a tune
And everybody sang and danced in the saloon
Except Ruby, no not Ruby, Ruby Jewel
A harlot who was hot to trot
Gave a fine little bijou to the world
With a blacksmith for a makeshift doc
In a cathouse far from Camelot
Her gold mine brought to bed a baby girl
When the child screamed from life's first slap
The bawd said kid get used to that
You'll never meet a day that isn't cruel
Then she wrapped her babe in a petticoat
Grabbed a bottle and made a toast
Here's to my gorgeous bastard Ruby Jewel
And the man at the piano played a tune
And everybody sang and danced in the saloon
Except Ruby, no not Ruby, Ruby Jewel
Reared among the guttersnipe
While her mama puffed the Chinese pipe
The salad days for Ruby didn't last
Forced to work and pay her dues
Inside that poor man's Moulin Rouge
The snot-nosed kid had to grow up fast
Night and day she'd toil and sweat
While brothel patrons placed their bets
On who would be the first to break her in
Then one night the madam screams
Ruby get to room thirteen
There's someone there who thinks you're quite a gem
And the man at the piano played a tune
And everybody sang and danced in the saloon
Except Ruby no not Ruby Ruby Jewel
In done up hair and a borrowed dress
She climbed the stares scared to death
Said a prayer and tip-toed through the door
But on deaf ears her prayer fell
Cause through her tears she stared at hell
Standing there in nothing but his drawers
She recognized the whiskered chin
Bloodshot eyes and foul-mouthed grin
He was the man who wore the silver star
She tried to turn around and run
But he pulled out his big six gun
And said whore you won't get very far
And the man at the piano played a tune
And everybody sang and danced in the saloon
Except Ruby, no not Ruby, Ruby Jewel
Ruby Jewel woke up in bed
A crimson pool between her legs
Naked as the day that she was born
But lying there next to him
Made her wish she hadn't been
If this was all that living had in store
Making sure he was asleep
She quietly got to her feet
Found his gun and aimed it 'tween his eyes
She kept it there 'til he came to
So he could stare down the barrel too
Pulled the trigger once and watched him die
And the man at the piano played a tune
And everybody sang and danced in the saloon
Except Ruby no not Ruby Ruby Jewel
On a rainy night in nineteen-twelve
Locked inside the town's new jail
Ruby carved a message in the stone
When morning came hacks led her out
In ankle chains right through the crowd
Who waited in the mud to watch the show
They walked her up the gallows steps
But the rope around her neck
Dropped the trap as all the watchers cheered
But on the wall of her cell
In a tiny scrawl and misspelled
Were the words Ruby Jewel Was Here
And the man at the piano played a tune
And everybody sang and danced in the saloon
Except Ruby, no not Ruby, Ruby Jewel
Lyrics submitted by SongMeanings
Ruby Jewel Was Here Lyrics as written by Doyle Primm Allison Moorer
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Reservoir Media Management, Inc.
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman
The Night We Met
Lord Huron
Lord Huron
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"
Holiday
Bee Gees
Bee Gees
@[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.
No Surprises
Radiohead
Radiohead
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.
Amazing
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran tells a story of unsuccessfully trying to feel “Amazing.” This track is about the being weighed down by emotional stress despite valiant attempts to find some positivity in the situation. This track was written by Ed Sheeran from the perspective of his friend. From the track, we see this person fall deeper into the negative thoughts and slide further down the path of mental torment with every lyric.