"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.
Designed to inspire, as much as the eye can see
I've been stateless, that's not who I want to be
Ungrateful companion, I need someone
Show me the direction, not neutral but automatic and into motion
But my friend you know I'm deep in thought (Deep in thought)
Yet what I was taught just makes me someone I'm not
And it silences all that I've got
Cold feet it moves in and I lose touch
The world is going faster and I can't keep going
Cold feet it moves in and I've had enough
I need to know how it's going to be without ever knowing
A ding in the universe, only the mind is aware
I've been resistant and can only stop to stare
Casual partner, not what I'm looking for
I need the key cause I'm tired of opening every door
Yes it's true that I'm deep in thought
There's no explanation only complication
I'm lacking my imagination
Cold feet it moves in and I lose touch (lose touch)
The world is going faster and I can't keep going
Cold feet it moves in and I've had enough (had enough)
I need to know how it's going to be without ever knowing
It's very high but "In Question" and I avoid relationships
But all that matters is the sparks from my fingertips
Sparks from my fingertips
Cold feet it moves in and I lose touch
The world is going faster and I can't keep going
Cold feet it moves in and I've had enough
I need to know how it's going to be without ever knowing
Cold feet it moves in and I lose touch (lose touch)
The world is going faster and I can't keep going
Cold feet it moves in and I've had enough (had enough)
I need to know how it's going to be without ever knowing
Cold feet sinks in and I've lost all of my sight
Cold feet leaves and I don't know if I'll be alright
[x8]
I've been stateless, that's not who I want to be
Ungrateful companion, I need someone
Show me the direction, not neutral but automatic and into motion
But my friend you know I'm deep in thought (Deep in thought)
Yet what I was taught just makes me someone I'm not
And it silences all that I've got
Cold feet it moves in and I lose touch
The world is going faster and I can't keep going
Cold feet it moves in and I've had enough
I need to know how it's going to be without ever knowing
A ding in the universe, only the mind is aware
I've been resistant and can only stop to stare
Casual partner, not what I'm looking for
I need the key cause I'm tired of opening every door
Yes it's true that I'm deep in thought
There's no explanation only complication
I'm lacking my imagination
Cold feet it moves in and I lose touch (lose touch)
The world is going faster and I can't keep going
Cold feet it moves in and I've had enough (had enough)
I need to know how it's going to be without ever knowing
It's very high but "In Question" and I avoid relationships
But all that matters is the sparks from my fingertips
Sparks from my fingertips
Cold feet it moves in and I lose touch
The world is going faster and I can't keep going
Cold feet it moves in and I've had enough
I need to know how it's going to be without ever knowing
Cold feet it moves in and I lose touch (lose touch)
The world is going faster and I can't keep going
Cold feet it moves in and I've had enough (had enough)
I need to know how it's going to be without ever knowing
Cold feet sinks in and I've lost all of my sight
Cold feet leaves and I don't know if I'll be alright
[x8]
Lyrics submitted by mysterioso
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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"
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.
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.