"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.
To enter Paradise is really not that hard
To become a Muslim saint, you must by raped by God
There's no point in doing things by halves
21st-century imaginations ain't what they used to be
A man could lose his marbles in the home counties
It's all a question of degrees
Gomez, Gomez, I gave you the best years of my life
American tours and the Mercury Prize
But now the chicks all squeal and the chicks all squeak
For the Stockwell Strangler and Seasick Pete
I was driving through Berkshire in a Vauxhall Astra
When I stumbled into the Broadmoor Blues Delta
Air-raid siren, Monday morning, over the wall
The man who tried to kidnap Princess Anne is going on tour
[???] once more by rock and roll's profession
Gomez, Gomez, so hard to classify
No genre can hold you, and this can't be right
But now the chicks all squeal and the chicks all squeak
For Charlie Bronson and Seasick Pete
I was driving through Berkshire in a Vauxhall Astra
When I strayed into the Broadmoor Blues Delta
The psychiatric unit is having a sing-song
To Hound Dog Taylor and Robert Johnson
But there's a riot going on in Cell Block 9
That caught the MTV blues of the White Stripes
If you ever find yourself in a Vauxhall Astra
For God's sake, don't stray into the Broadmoor Blues Delta
Dear Gomez, please accept my letter of resignation
Lord knows we've had our differences
But only one institution can hold me, and I know where my heart lies
It's back on the Broadmoor Blues Delta, Gomez
That's where my heart lies
On the Broadmoor Blues Delta
Back on the Broadmoor Blues Delta
That's where my heart lies
On the Broadmoor Blues Delta
Bye, bye, Gomez
Bye, bye
To become a Muslim saint, you must by raped by God
There's no point in doing things by halves
21st-century imaginations ain't what they used to be
A man could lose his marbles in the home counties
It's all a question of degrees
Gomez, Gomez, I gave you the best years of my life
American tours and the Mercury Prize
But now the chicks all squeal and the chicks all squeak
For the Stockwell Strangler and Seasick Pete
I was driving through Berkshire in a Vauxhall Astra
When I stumbled into the Broadmoor Blues Delta
Air-raid siren, Monday morning, over the wall
The man who tried to kidnap Princess Anne is going on tour
[???] once more by rock and roll's profession
Gomez, Gomez, so hard to classify
No genre can hold you, and this can't be right
But now the chicks all squeal and the chicks all squeak
For Charlie Bronson and Seasick Pete
I was driving through Berkshire in a Vauxhall Astra
When I strayed into the Broadmoor Blues Delta
The psychiatric unit is having a sing-song
To Hound Dog Taylor and Robert Johnson
But there's a riot going on in Cell Block 9
That caught the MTV blues of the White Stripes
If you ever find yourself in a Vauxhall Astra
For God's sake, don't stray into the Broadmoor Blues Delta
Dear Gomez, please accept my letter of resignation
Lord knows we've had our differences
But only one institution can hold me, and I know where my heart lies
It's back on the Broadmoor Blues Delta, Gomez
That's where my heart lies
On the Broadmoor Blues Delta
Back on the Broadmoor Blues Delta
That's where my heart lies
On the Broadmoor Blues Delta
Bye, bye, Gomez
Bye, bye
Lyrics submitted by BrutalBart, edited by darkship
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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"
Magical
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
How would you describe the feeling of being in love? For Ed Sheeran, the word is “Magical.” in HIS three-minute album opener, he makes an attempt to capture the beauty and delicacy of true love with words. He describes the magic of it all over a bright Pop song produced by Aaron Dessner.
American Town
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran shares a short story of reconnecting with an old flame on “American Town.” The track is about a holiday Ed Sheeran spends with his countrywoman who resides in America. The two are back together after a long period apart, and get around to enjoying a bunch of fun activities while rekindling the flames of their romance.
Plastic Bag
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
“Plastic Bag” is a song about searching for an escape from personal problems and hoping to find it in the lively atmosphere of a Saturday night party. Ed Sheeran tells the story of his friend and the myriad of troubles he is going through. Unable to find any solutions, this friend seeks a last resort in a party and the vanity that comes with it.
“I overthink and have trouble sleepin’ / All purpose gone and don’t have a reason / And there’s no doctor to stop this bleedin’ / So I left home and jumped in the deep end,” Ed Sheeran sings in verse one. He continues by adding that this person is feeling the weight of having disappointed his father and doesn’t have any friends to rely on in this difficult moment. In the second verse, Ed sings about the role of grief in his friend’s plight and his dwindling faith in prayer. “Saturday night is givin’ me a reason to rely on the strobe lights / The lifeline of a promise in a shot glass, and I’ll take that / If you’re givin’ out love from a plastic bag,” Ed sings on the chorus, as his friend turns to new vices in hopes of feeling better.
Sigh.
Context for this song is provided by the track "Scroll 1" (songmeanings.net/songs/view/3530822107859459846/%5D).
The Broadmoor Blues Delta is a combined reference to Delta blues (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delta_blues), the genre of music mastered by Faustian musician Robert Johnson (mentioned in "Scroll 1"), and Broadmoor Hospital (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broadmoor_Hospital), the home of Ian Ball.