"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.
Mamas pack their lunches, kiddies pack their guns
Wishing it will go away, but nothing's getting done
A shot heard 'round the world, when a mother's baby dies
We the people, point our fingers, blame and wonder why
Face it and fight or turn high tail and run
'Til it comes back again like the rising sun
Say they do all they can, it's just another lie
The answer's plain to see, nobody wants to try
There's no recess and no rules in the school of life
I f you listen very closely you will see what it's like
Have cool, will travel
Tell myself it ain't true, they just cannot see
Grown up or sewn up, the medicine is worse than the disease
I have cool, will travel
Here we go
Wishing it will go away, but nothing's getting done
A shot heard 'round the world, when a mother's baby dies
We the people, point our fingers, blame and wonder why
Face it and fight or turn high tail and run
'Til it comes back again like the rising sun
Say they do all they can, it's just another lie
The answer's plain to see, nobody wants to try
There's no recess and no rules in the school of life
I f you listen very closely you will see what it's like
Have cool, will travel
Tell myself it ain't true, they just cannot see
Grown up or sewn up, the medicine is worse than the disease
I have cool, will travel
Here we go
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Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman
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,
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.
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.
It's about school shootings. Mothers pack their kids lunches thinking it will be a normal day but it isn't going to be. After the killings are done the media wonder why it happened.
We the people, point our fingers, blame and wonder why.
Things like this are concluded by video games and violence on tv.
There's no recess and no rules in the school of life.
Best lyrics in this whole song. This tells us to expect anything to happen.