"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.
Yeah
I know I'm an emotionally disturbed person
People think I'm talkin' to myself
When I'm rehearsing' on the rhyme
A mass productionist, a mass production matador
Pan it more to the left, there you go
Minimize the center wiser when I wind up for the pitch
But I don't pitch a bitch "cause sales get derailed
And towed,
He owed an abundance of cash
Damn, a minute ago he was my man
I tried to trust him but I busted him twice
In my trash can, and I'm askin'
I don't need psychology to see the dichotomy in me
Knew something was fishy, but I'm better than wishy washy
Or topsy turvy, it kinda irked me that I caught him sleeping
'Cause I try to be wide awake
But he slows it down so I can't dilate
And show that I'm bigger than that
But I also have to consider the fact
That opposed to him not being the right peeper
I'm a light sleeper
So what do I mean when I reach maturity and still see that I'm not the mayor of my Mayonnaise, the master of my milieu
At least I have a swing and a few things on my mind,
It's never a good nighty night, just a rise and shine
Why's the rhyme so important
Why do I have to be so potent and blow the microphone without chokin'
I don't
I'm arrogant and outspoken
Mouth no token, I'm just a roustabout
I have a house and clout, but I don't come tight
But it's routine since few fiend for true hiphop
It's a trip when I drop my style
And forget it and forget where I got it from and
How I got 'em sprung
"Cause I'm stuck on myself and I depend on my luck and wealth for health matters
So I don't explode with stress, I'll serve you an elf platter
They'll tell me that my shit is fatter that the first
But I'm a light sleeping' rapper in a hearse
I don't wear sarongs in my songs
I dis the skirts in verses and I used to measure my demeters
With clever pentameters
But I bounced like a pogo and I'm solo with the hobos
A nocturnal colonel in a journal
I put fly kids' eyelids to rest a detour for deep sleep
When I freak beats
I snap like a defective contraceptive and my sleep
Will be light so you'll know that I'm tight…
I know I'm an emotionally disturbed person
People think I'm talkin' to myself
When I'm rehearsing' on the rhyme
A mass productionist, a mass production matador
Pan it more to the left, there you go
Minimize the center wiser when I wind up for the pitch
But I don't pitch a bitch "cause sales get derailed
And towed,
He owed an abundance of cash
Damn, a minute ago he was my man
I tried to trust him but I busted him twice
In my trash can, and I'm askin'
I don't need psychology to see the dichotomy in me
Knew something was fishy, but I'm better than wishy washy
Or topsy turvy, it kinda irked me that I caught him sleeping
'Cause I try to be wide awake
But he slows it down so I can't dilate
And show that I'm bigger than that
But I also have to consider the fact
That opposed to him not being the right peeper
I'm a light sleeper
So what do I mean when I reach maturity and still see that I'm not the mayor of my Mayonnaise, the master of my milieu
At least I have a swing and a few things on my mind,
It's never a good nighty night, just a rise and shine
Why's the rhyme so important
Why do I have to be so potent and blow the microphone without chokin'
I don't
I'm arrogant and outspoken
Mouth no token, I'm just a roustabout
I have a house and clout, but I don't come tight
But it's routine since few fiend for true hiphop
It's a trip when I drop my style
And forget it and forget where I got it from and
How I got 'em sprung
"Cause I'm stuck on myself and I depend on my luck and wealth for health matters
So I don't explode with stress, I'll serve you an elf platter
They'll tell me that my shit is fatter that the first
But I'm a light sleeping' rapper in a hearse
I don't wear sarongs in my songs
I dis the skirts in verses and I used to measure my demeters
With clever pentameters
But I bounced like a pogo and I'm solo with the hobos
A nocturnal colonel in a journal
I put fly kids' eyelids to rest a detour for deep sleep
When I freak beats
I snap like a defective contraceptive and my sleep
Will be light so you'll know that I'm tight…
Lyrics submitted by epiwoosh
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Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman
Mental Istid
Ebba Grön
Ebba Grön
This is one of my favorite songs. https://fnfgo.io
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.
Dreamwalker
Silent Planet
Silent Planet
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.
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,