"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.
Everyone's the same, nigga be yourself
Y'all all need to change, man ya'll need some help
And I'll remain the same, nigga being myself
And if you can't, on God, nigga kill yourself
Since a jit, I been the motherfuckin' shit dawg
I got them mad, they in they feelings, yeah they pissed off
I had to go and flood it, VVS the wrist dawg
You better pray to Big 14, I'm heaven sent dawg
I don't do Moet, sipping Rose and some Cristal
I get my drank from Rocket, nigga ball like Chris Paul
I get my cash fast, nigga Sonic Hedgehog
I shot that bitch fourteen times and sped off
You keep on fucking with the gang, I knock your head off
They thought they ran the fucking game and now they fell off
You unbelievable nigga, just like a dead dog
You feeling froggy, then leap hop dead frog (ha ha)
Everyone's the same, nigga be yourself
Y'all all need to change, man ya'll need some help
And I'll remain the same, nigga being myself
And if you can't, on God, nigga kill yourself
I spoke to God yesterday and I told him save me
Think it's the rapture today and I told him take me
I empty clips on them niggas, don't know 'bout safeties
I got 'em glitching and shaking like they got rabies
I liked her picture on the Gram, now that bitch my baby
I'm in a S550 swerving Mercedes
And I'm the great, little hate, I won't let it change me
Don't gotta like it, it's fuck you and pay me
Everyone's the same, nigga be yourself
Y'all all need to change, man ya'll need some help
And I'll remain the same, nigga being myself
And if you can't, on God, nigga kill yourself
Y'all all need to change, man ya'll need some help
And I'll remain the same, nigga being myself
And if you can't, on God, nigga kill yourself
Since a jit, I been the motherfuckin' shit dawg
I got them mad, they in they feelings, yeah they pissed off
I had to go and flood it, VVS the wrist dawg
You better pray to Big 14, I'm heaven sent dawg
I don't do Moet, sipping Rose and some Cristal
I get my drank from Rocket, nigga ball like Chris Paul
I get my cash fast, nigga Sonic Hedgehog
I shot that bitch fourteen times and sped off
You keep on fucking with the gang, I knock your head off
They thought they ran the fucking game and now they fell off
You unbelievable nigga, just like a dead dog
You feeling froggy, then leap hop dead frog (ha ha)
Everyone's the same, nigga be yourself
Y'all all need to change, man ya'll need some help
And I'll remain the same, nigga being myself
And if you can't, on God, nigga kill yourself
I spoke to God yesterday and I told him save me
Think it's the rapture today and I told him take me
I empty clips on them niggas, don't know 'bout safeties
I got 'em glitching and shaking like they got rabies
I liked her picture on the Gram, now that bitch my baby
I'm in a S550 swerving Mercedes
And I'm the great, little hate, I won't let it change me
Don't gotta like it, it's fuck you and pay me
Everyone's the same, nigga be yourself
Y'all all need to change, man ya'll need some help
And I'll remain the same, nigga being myself
And if you can't, on God, nigga kill yourself
Lyrics submitted by Mellow_Harsher
Be Yourself Lyrics as written by Michael Lamar Ii White Ebony Naomi Oshunrinde
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, CONCORD MUSIC PUBLISHING LLC, Songtrust Ave, Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd., Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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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"
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,
Punchline
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran sings about missing his former partner and learning important life lessons in the process on “Punchline.” This track tells a story of battling to get rid of emotions for a former lover, whom he now realized might not have loved him the same way. He’s now caught between accepting that fact and learning life lessons from it and going back to beg her for another chance.
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.