"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.
Many songs I've written
About the things I saw
My inner soul's a wasteland
I can't run away from here
Try to find them
All the lost thoughts in my mind
I woke up on a hill
So many times before
Yesterday seems like a dream no more
Frozen memories laughing
They don't let me find the truth
Am I born to be a king
Or a jester of the fools
[Chorus]
You're the mystical old bard
on your journey through the dark
Mystical old bard
Your journey through the dark
I can't remember my name
I never knew how to find my home
I can't remember my name
come tell me where will it end
I'm the chosen one
To perform all these things
But not for me
In illusions and reality
I'm on my journey through the dark
I'm on my journey through the dark
[Chorus]
I can't remember
Will I ever find myself
The distance is growing
My hope has gone away
A flash of light but nothing changes
When will it end
Which part of me remains
Soon I'll be back
On my ferryboat of tales
Where oblivion reigns
It will take all of me
[Chorus]
About the things I saw
My inner soul's a wasteland
I can't run away from here
Try to find them
All the lost thoughts in my mind
I woke up on a hill
So many times before
Yesterday seems like a dream no more
Frozen memories laughing
They don't let me find the truth
Am I born to be a king
Or a jester of the fools
[Chorus]
You're the mystical old bard
on your journey through the dark
Mystical old bard
Your journey through the dark
I can't remember my name
I never knew how to find my home
I can't remember my name
come tell me where will it end
I'm the chosen one
To perform all these things
But not for me
In illusions and reality
I'm on my journey through the dark
I'm on my journey through the dark
[Chorus]
I can't remember
Will I ever find myself
The distance is growing
My hope has gone away
A flash of light but nothing changes
When will it end
Which part of me remains
Soon I'll be back
On my ferryboat of tales
Where oblivion reigns
It will take all of me
[Chorus]
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Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman
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Little Feat
Little Feat
Overall about difficult moments of disappointment and vulnerability. Having hope and longing, while remaining optimistic for the future. Encourages the belief that with each new morning there is a chance for things to improve.
The chorus offers a glimmer of optimism and a chance at a resolution and redemption in the future.
Captures the rollercoaster of emotions of feeling lost while loving someone who is not there for you, feeling let down and abandoned while waiting for a lover. Lost with no direction, "Now I'm up in the air with the rain in my hair, Nowhere to go, I can go anywhere"
The bridge shows signs of longing and a plea for companionship. The Lyrics express a desire for authentic connection and the importance of Loving someone just as they are. "Just in passing, I'm not asking. That you be anyone but you”
I Can't Go To Sleep
Wu-Tang Clan
Wu-Tang Clan
This song is written as the perspective of the boys in the street, as a whole, and what path they are going to choose as they get older and grow into men. (This is why the music video takes place in an orphanage.) The seen, and unseen collective suffering is imbedded in the boys’ mind, consciously or subconsciously, and is haunting them. Which path will the boys choose? Issac Hayes is the voice of reason, maybe God, the angel on his shoulder, or the voice of his forefathers from beyond the grave who can see the big picture and are pleading with the boys not to continue the violence and pattern of killing their brothers, but to rise above. The most beautiful song and has so many levels. Racism towards African Americans in America would not exist if everyone sat down and listened to this song and understood the history behind the words. The power, fear, pleading in RZA and Ghostface voices are genuine and powerful. Issac Hayes’ strong voice makes the perfect strong father figure, who is possibly from beyond the grave.
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.
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.
I think it is about the chapter in the Lord of the rings Journey through the dark, when the fellowship goes through the Mystical Moria, or perhaps it is about the bards journey, (before the song the bards song) and their everyday life in the fantasy of blind guardian...
This song is about the character Jerry Cornelius, a bard, in the Eternal Champion series by Michael Moorcock.
I have no friggin clue. Any ideas, people?