"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.
No one ever told me when I was alone
They just thought I'd know better, better
No one ever told me when I was alone
They just thought I'd know better, better
The hardest part this troubled heart
Has never yet been through now
Was heal the scars that got their start
Inside someone like you now
For had I known or I'd been shown
Back when how long it'd take me
To break the charms that brought me harm
And all that would erase me
I never would or thought I could
No matter what you'd pay me
Replay the part, you stole my heart
I should have known you're crazy
If all I knew was that with you
I'd want someone to save me
It'd be enough, but just my luck
I fell in love and maybe
All that I wanted was
Now I know you better
You know, I know better
Now I know you better
So bittersweet, this tragedy
Won't ask for absolution
This melody inside of me
Still searches for solution
A twist of fate, a change of heart
Cures my infatuation
I'm a broken heart, provides the spark
For my determination
No one ever told me when I was alone
They just thought I'd know better, better
Oh, no one ever told me when I was alone
They just thought I'd know better, better
All that I wanted was
Now I know you better
You know, I know better
Now I know you better
I never wanted you to be so full of anger (anger)
I never wanted you to be somebody else
I never wanted you to be someone afraid to know themselves
I only wanted you to see things for yourself
All that I wanted was
Now I know you better
Now we all know better
All that I wanted was
No, no, no, no
No, no, no, no
No, no, no, no
No, no, no, no
If I were you I'd manage to
Avoid the invitation
Of promised love that can't keep up
With your adoration
Just use your head and in the end
You'll find your inspiration
To choose your steps and won't regret
This kind of aggravation
No one ever told me when I was alone
They just thought I'd know better, better
No one ever told me when I was alone
They just thought I'd know better, better
They just thought I'd know better, better
No one ever told me when I was alone
They just thought I'd know better, better
The hardest part this troubled heart
Has never yet been through now
Was heal the scars that got their start
Inside someone like you now
For had I known or I'd been shown
Back when how long it'd take me
To break the charms that brought me harm
And all that would erase me
I never would or thought I could
No matter what you'd pay me
Replay the part, you stole my heart
I should have known you're crazy
If all I knew was that with you
I'd want someone to save me
It'd be enough, but just my luck
I fell in love and maybe
All that I wanted was
Now I know you better
You know, I know better
Now I know you better
So bittersweet, this tragedy
Won't ask for absolution
This melody inside of me
Still searches for solution
A twist of fate, a change of heart
Cures my infatuation
I'm a broken heart, provides the spark
For my determination
No one ever told me when I was alone
They just thought I'd know better, better
Oh, no one ever told me when I was alone
They just thought I'd know better, better
All that I wanted was
Now I know you better
You know, I know better
Now I know you better
I never wanted you to be so full of anger (anger)
I never wanted you to be somebody else
I never wanted you to be someone afraid to know themselves
I only wanted you to see things for yourself
All that I wanted was
Now I know you better
Now we all know better
All that I wanted was
No, no, no, no
No, no, no, no
No, no, no, no
No, no, no, no
If I were you I'd manage to
Avoid the invitation
Of promised love that can't keep up
With your adoration
Just use your head and in the end
You'll find your inspiration
To choose your steps and won't regret
This kind of aggravation
No one ever told me when I was alone
They just thought I'd know better, better
No one ever told me when I was alone
They just thought I'd know better, better
Lyrics submitted by SongMeanings
Better Lyrics as written by W. Axl Rose Robin Finck
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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Fast Car
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This is one of my favorite songs. https://fnfgo.io
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."
When We Were Young
Blink-182
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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.