"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.
Now hear this my friends
I'll never be the same again
Gonna lock myself in a cold black room
Gonna shadow myself in a veil of gloom
I will function, operate
I will be a satellite of hate
A satellite of hate
Driven to this point by a chain of events
Each one pushed me nearer the edge
Gonna send my message through to you
And you'll receive the signal too
I will function, operate
I will be a satellite of hate
A satellite of hate
Higher
Higher
Disillusioned, I was disenchanted
Forgot the love that had been implanted
Heard the lies and I felt the cold
It broke my heart and I lost control
Now I'm a satellite of a free state
I'm a satellite of hate
A satellite of hate
I'll never be the same again
Gonna lock myself in a cold black room
Gonna shadow myself in a veil of gloom
I will function, operate
I will be a satellite of hate
A satellite of hate
Driven to this point by a chain of events
Each one pushed me nearer the edge
Gonna send my message through to you
And you'll receive the signal too
I will function, operate
I will be a satellite of hate
A satellite of hate
Higher
Higher
Disillusioned, I was disenchanted
Forgot the love that had been implanted
Heard the lies and I felt the cold
It broke my heart and I lost control
Now I'm a satellite of a free state
I'm a satellite of hate
A satellite of hate
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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"
Dreamwalker
Silent Planet
Silent Planet
I think much like another song “Anti-Matter” (that's also on the same album as this song), this one is also is inspired by a horrifying van crash the band experienced on Nov 3, 2022. This, much like the other track, sounds like it's an extension what they shared while huddled in the wreckage, as they helped frontman Garrett Russell stem the bleeding from his head wound while he was under the temporary effects of a concussion. The track speaks of where the mind goes at the most desperate & desolate of times, when it just about slips away to all but disconnect itself, and the aftermath.
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.
Page
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
There aren’t many things that’ll hurt more than giving love a chance against your better judgement only to have your heart crushed yet again. Ed Sheeran tells such a story on “Page.” On this track, he is devastated to have lost his lover and even more saddened by the feeling that he may never move on from this.
I think this song is about a guy pretending to be something he wasnt, and other people spread rumours about him, although that wasnt really what he was like, and so he uses this as his reason to suddenly change and be who he truly is. Totally freaking sweet song too.