"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.
Snow was fallin' all around us
My baby's comin' home for Christmas
I've been up all night inside my bedroom
He said that he'll be with me real soon
So I wait
And I wait
But I've had as much as I can take
'Cause I got five more nights of sleepin' on my own
Four more days until you're comin' home
Three more dreams of you and mistletoe
Two more reasons why I love you so
I got five more nights until you're next to me
Four more days of being lonely
Three more wishes, I can barely breathe
If I can make it to Christmas Eve
Then it's one more sleep
(One more sleep until it's Christmas)
One more sleep
(Can't believe how much I missed us)
One more sleep
(One more sleep until it's Christmas)
One more sleep, yeah
Now I don't think I can remember
A colder, lonelier December
And I find myself staring out the window
Wondering when you're gonna get back home
So I try (try)
And I try (try)
But there is nothin' I can do to pass this time
I got five more nights of sleepin' on my own
Four more days until you're comin' home
Three more dreams of you and mistletoe
Two more reasons why I love you so
I got five more nights until you're next to me
Four more days of being lonely
Three more wishes, I can barely breathe
If I can make it to Christmas Eve
Then it's one more sleep
(One more sleep until it's Christmas)
One more sleep
(Can't believe how much I missed us)
One more sleep, yeah
(One more sleep until it's Christmas)
One more sleep, oh
Until we're rockin' 'round the Christmas tree
Until I got you sittin' next to me
We got a lot of catchin' up to do
I just can't take this missin' you
Five more nights on my own
Four more days, mm-hm
Three more dreams, mistletoe
I can't believe I ever let you go, yeah
Five more nights of sleepin' on my own (on my own)
Four more days until you're comin' home (until you're comin' home)
Three more wishes, I can barely breathe
If I can make it to Christmas Eve (if I can make it)
(Then it's one more sleep)
It'll be one more, it'll be one more
(One more sleep)
It'll be one more
(One more sleep) yeah-yeah
One more sleep, yeah-yeah, oh, oh
My baby's comin' home for Christmas
I've been up all night inside my bedroom
He said that he'll be with me real soon
So I wait
And I wait
But I've had as much as I can take
'Cause I got five more nights of sleepin' on my own
Four more days until you're comin' home
Three more dreams of you and mistletoe
Two more reasons why I love you so
I got five more nights until you're next to me
Four more days of being lonely
Three more wishes, I can barely breathe
If I can make it to Christmas Eve
Then it's one more sleep
(One more sleep until it's Christmas)
One more sleep
(Can't believe how much I missed us)
One more sleep
(One more sleep until it's Christmas)
One more sleep, yeah
Now I don't think I can remember
A colder, lonelier December
And I find myself staring out the window
Wondering when you're gonna get back home
So I try (try)
And I try (try)
But there is nothin' I can do to pass this time
I got five more nights of sleepin' on my own
Four more days until you're comin' home
Three more dreams of you and mistletoe
Two more reasons why I love you so
I got five more nights until you're next to me
Four more days of being lonely
Three more wishes, I can barely breathe
If I can make it to Christmas Eve
Then it's one more sleep
(One more sleep until it's Christmas)
One more sleep
(Can't believe how much I missed us)
One more sleep, yeah
(One more sleep until it's Christmas)
One more sleep, oh
Until we're rockin' 'round the Christmas tree
Until I got you sittin' next to me
We got a lot of catchin' up to do
I just can't take this missin' you
Five more nights on my own
Four more days, mm-hm
Three more dreams, mistletoe
I can't believe I ever let you go, yeah
Five more nights of sleepin' on my own (on my own)
Four more days until you're comin' home (until you're comin' home)
Three more wishes, I can barely breathe
If I can make it to Christmas Eve (if I can make it)
(Then it's one more sleep)
It'll be one more, it'll be one more
(One more sleep)
It'll be one more
(One more sleep) yeah-yeah
One more sleep, yeah-yeah, oh, oh
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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"
Mental Istid
Ebba Grön
Ebba Grön
This is one of my favorite songs. https://fnfgo.io
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,
Blue
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
“Blue” is a song about a love that is persisting in the discomfort of the person experiencing the emotion. Ed Sheeran reflects on love lost, and although he wishes his former partner find happiness, he cannot but admit his feelings are still very much there. He expresses the realization that he might never find another on this stringed instrumental by Aaron Dessner.