"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.
Light ended the night, but the song remained
And I was hiding by the stair
Half here, half there, past the lashing rain
And as the sky would petal white, old innocent lies came to mind
As we stood, congregated, at the firing line
Night ended the fight, but the song remained
And so I headed to the wall
Turned tail to call to the new domain
As if in the sight of sea, you're suddenly free
But it's all the same
Oh, but I can hear you, loud in the center
Aren't we made to be crowded together, like leaves?
Was I too slow?
Did you change overnight?
Second son, on the other line
Now, back in our town as a castaway
I'm reminded of the time it all fell in line, on the third of May
As if it were designed, painted in sand to be washed away
Oh, but I can hear you, loud in the center
Aren't we made to be crowded together, like leaves?
Was I too slow?
Did I change overnight?
Second son, for the second time
Can I be light and free?
If I lead you through the fury will you call to me?
And is all that I might owe you carved on ivory?
But all will fade
All I say
All I needed
As a flash in the eye, I wouldn't deny, all receded
Life unfolds in pools of gold
I am only owed this shape if I make a line to hold
To be held within one's self is deathlike, oh I know
But all will be, for mine and me, as we make it
And the size of the fray, can't take it away, they won't make it
I was a fool
Crime after crime to confess to
But I hold the fleet angel, she'll bless you
Hold fast to the wing
Hold fast to the wing
And I was hiding by the stair
Half here, half there, past the lashing rain
And as the sky would petal white, old innocent lies came to mind
As we stood, congregated, at the firing line
Night ended the fight, but the song remained
And so I headed to the wall
Turned tail to call to the new domain
As if in the sight of sea, you're suddenly free
But it's all the same
Oh, but I can hear you, loud in the center
Aren't we made to be crowded together, like leaves?
Was I too slow?
Did you change overnight?
Second son, on the other line
Now, back in our town as a castaway
I'm reminded of the time it all fell in line, on the third of May
As if it were designed, painted in sand to be washed away
Oh, but I can hear you, loud in the center
Aren't we made to be crowded together, like leaves?
Was I too slow?
Did I change overnight?
Second son, for the second time
Can I be light and free?
If I lead you through the fury will you call to me?
And is all that I might owe you carved on ivory?
But all will fade
All I say
All I needed
As a flash in the eye, I wouldn't deny, all receded
Life unfolds in pools of gold
I am only owed this shape if I make a line to hold
To be held within one's self is deathlike, oh I know
But all will be, for mine and me, as we make it
And the size of the fray, can't take it away, they won't make it
I was a fool
Crime after crime to confess to
But I hold the fleet angel, she'll bless you
Hold fast to the wing
Hold fast to the wing
Lyrics submitted by Mellow_Harsher
Third of May / Ōdaigahara Lyrics as written by Robin Noel Pecknold
Lyrics © Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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Fast Car
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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"
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,
Head > Heels
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
“Head > Heels” is a track that aims to capture what it feels like to experience romance that exceeds expectations. Ed Sheeran dedicates his album outro to a lover who has blessed him with a unique experience that he seeks to describe through the song’s nuanced lyrics.
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.
This is a dense song lyrically, but I do have some ideas. Overall, I'd say this song is about dealing with regret over past mistakes. The line "to be held within oneself is deathlike" suggests that the writer is regretting being despondent instead of connecting with others ("Aren't we made to be crowded together, like leaves?"). The war imagery suggests a battle, but I think this battle is internal.
"Can I be light and free? If I lead you through the fury will you call to me? And is all that I might owe you carved on ivory?": These lines come at a major turning point, in which the writer wonders if they could cast off their melancholy and make a human connection.
I do think the reference to a "fleet angel" is about the band name. Perhaps the "song" mentioned earlier is the music the band makes, and holding fast to the wing symbolizes how music can be a means to deal with the "crime after crime" of sins and regrets.
Ōdaigahara-san or Ōdaigahara-yama (大台ケ原山), also Hinode-ga-take or Hide-ga-take (日出ヶ岳) is a mountain in the Daikō Mountain Range and on the border between the prefectures of Mie and Nara, Japan. The mountain is the highest in Mie. In 1980 an area of 36,000 hectares in the region of Mount Ōdaigahara and Mount Ōmine was designated a UNESCO Man and the Biosphere Reserve.
@s7s Right! Robin mentioned that mountain on their KEXP-gig in May 2017.
Via Pitchfork:
The third of May is an important date in Fleet Foxes history. Six years ago, on that day, they released their last album, Helplessness Blues. In the time since, the band’s members have released solo music, started side projects, or departed the group altogether. Less obviously, May 3 is also the birthday of founding member, guitarist Skyler Skjelset, who is the focus of Fleet Foxes’ new song “Third of May / Ōdaigahara.”
The band’s first single from their forthcoming record Crack-Up is a sober reflection on how Robin Pecknold and Skjelset’s relationship has endured success. With this issue serving as a guiding subject, Fleet Foxes present their longest and most experimental number yet. Though it’s full of all the qualities Fleet Foxes fans savor (sprawling crescendos, bellowed introspection, bucolic imagery), it feels evolved. What begins as a traditional Fleet Foxes song slowly transforms into a mournful, mystical instrumental. They retain the grand orchestration of their past work, but rather than sticking to one tone, the track dissolves into several acts across its nearly nine minutes: contemplation, melancholy, chaos, and resolution. Meanwhile, Pecknold’s lyrics take a similarly elaborate turn: “Aren’t we made to be crowded together, like leaves,” he sings. To him, their long friendship is as innate as seasons changing, but its absence is dire (“If I lead you through the fury, will you call to me?”). Fleet Foxes songs have certainly been devastating before, but never has their sensation of warmth been so wrapped in uncertainty.
The world has changed drastically since the days of Helplessness Blues. How do Fleet Foxes fit into a musical landscape where Bon Iver can make an electronic record and the Lumineers can sell out MSG? Fleet Foxes are literally out of the woods now that Pecknold resides in New York City, but they still choose to embrace nature’s aura. Instead of sounding like anachronisms, Pecknold and Skjelset dig into the past to find a way forward. On “Third of May / Ōdaigahara,” Fleet Foxes show that they can open themselves to an expanding world without losing themselves in the process.
parts of the song have a waltzy dream-like effect, which I like, and here the words are attached...interesting.
I think it may possibly be loosely based upon the painting by de goya called third of may