"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.
Goin' so far in the hour I
Only have the taste of sour in my mouth
Cuz I've been surviving on
Sour patch kids for the past 13 days of my life
Cuz I'm on a country road
And I'm gonna get to the Cabbage Patch Kids convention
I will get there
To my convention
It's my intention
We're all going to get there
Mention
Tell me about Minnesota
Too far from Albuquerqu-a
I got so many taste buds on my tongue
Oh no
I'm kinda outta power
That sucks
Gotta find a flower so
I can take apart
My glass heart
Then I went into a gas station
To a man named Mark
He sold me candy and henny and
He kinda smelled like a fart but
That doesn't really bother me
I'm accepting of all people
Always legal and including
Can't even say that word really well
Because I got tongue tied on my way there
By a barracuda that caught me on my ankle
Just wanna charge my car up
With my flower juice
With my flower juice
With my flower juice
With my flower juice
So many towns with
Only one gas station
I gotta give birth to a nation
So I can make the animation
Of my heart burn
My heart burn
My heart burn
My heart burn
My heart burn
And my car started, we got through (My heart burn, my heart burn)
We gotta get to Pond View
Gotta play guitar
We gotta get in my car
We gotta go now and
Holy shit look who it is!
Little red headed lady
Here we see Trappy Robinson, he's comin down (Trappy Robinson)
He's my hero
He's the reason I'm in this position
Cuz I gotta get dead head disposition
In my life
In my van
And I gotta have a good hand in this
World
Nothing matters, we gotta make it matter because
We've got so many things to lose
Sort of
Like fish
Like fish
My fish
And my dish
My tish
Like this
Like dish
My fish
My fish
My tish
Like tish
Like tish
Like tish
Like tish
Like tish
Like this
There goes Trappy Robinson
He's got so many poz-itions
That's not a word I meant to say pathogens
And he's very sick, he isn't really doing well
I constantly follow behind him
He gets up and flies away
On a giant eagle
Cuz he's the true American hero
He's who I think about while I'm going on this trip
That's a great phrase
On the Great Plains
But I can't take planes to get to the Cabbage Patch Kids convention
Of my heart
Of my heart
I'd like to make a shout out to Bart
For giving me all this food and candy so we can make our way with full energy
Full maximum capacity
So I can get to my convention
On the way, we street performed in front of his gas station for one man
In exchange for felatio
He gave us 23 dollars
So now it's 47 plus 23 from what we got from the last place
Only have the taste of sour in my mouth
Cuz I've been surviving on
Sour patch kids for the past 13 days of my life
Cuz I'm on a country road
And I'm gonna get to the Cabbage Patch Kids convention
I will get there
To my convention
It's my intention
We're all going to get there
Mention
Tell me about Minnesota
Too far from Albuquerqu-a
I got so many taste buds on my tongue
Oh no
I'm kinda outta power
That sucks
Gotta find a flower so
I can take apart
My glass heart
Then I went into a gas station
To a man named Mark
He sold me candy and henny and
He kinda smelled like a fart but
That doesn't really bother me
I'm accepting of all people
Always legal and including
Can't even say that word really well
Because I got tongue tied on my way there
By a barracuda that caught me on my ankle
Just wanna charge my car up
With my flower juice
With my flower juice
With my flower juice
With my flower juice
So many towns with
Only one gas station
I gotta give birth to a nation
So I can make the animation
Of my heart burn
My heart burn
My heart burn
My heart burn
My heart burn
And my car started, we got through (My heart burn, my heart burn)
We gotta get to Pond View
Gotta play guitar
We gotta get in my car
We gotta go now and
Holy shit look who it is!
Little red headed lady
Here we see Trappy Robinson, he's comin down (Trappy Robinson)
He's my hero
He's the reason I'm in this position
Cuz I gotta get dead head disposition
In my life
In my van
And I gotta have a good hand in this
World
Nothing matters, we gotta make it matter because
We've got so many things to lose
Sort of
Like fish
Like fish
My fish
And my dish
My tish
Like this
Like dish
My fish
My fish
My tish
Like tish
Like tish
Like tish
Like tish
Like tish
Like this
There goes Trappy Robinson
He's got so many poz-itions
That's not a word I meant to say pathogens
And he's very sick, he isn't really doing well
I constantly follow behind him
He gets up and flies away
On a giant eagle
Cuz he's the true American hero
He's who I think about while I'm going on this trip
That's a great phrase
On the Great Plains
But I can't take planes to get to the Cabbage Patch Kids convention
Of my heart
Of my heart
I'd like to make a shout out to Bart
For giving me all this food and candy so we can make our way with full energy
Full maximum capacity
So I can get to my convention
On the way, we street performed in front of his gas station for one man
In exchange for felatio
He gave us 23 dollars
So now it's 47 plus 23 from what we got from the last place
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Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman
When We Were Young
Blink-182
Blink-182
This is a sequel to 2001's "Reckless Abandon", and features the band looking back on their clumsy youth fondly.
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.
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.