"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.
I see her as a little girl
Hiding in her room
She take another bath
And she spray her mama's perfume
To try to wipe away
The scent he left behind
But it haunts her mind
You see, she's his little rag
Nothing more than just a waif
And he's mopping up his need
She is tired and afraid
Maybe she'll find a way
Through these awful years
To disappear
Ask me if I think there's a God up in the Heaven
Where did He go in the middle of her shame?
Ask me if I think there's a God up in the Heavens
I see no mercy, and no one down here's naming names
Nobody's naming names
Now, she's looking in the mirror
At a lovely woman face
No more frightened little girl
Like she's gone without a trace
Still she leaves the light
Burning in the hall
It's hard to sleep at all
'Til she crawls up in her bed
Acting quiet as a mouse
Deep inside, she's listening
For a creaking in the house
But no one's left to harm her
She's finally safe and sound
There's a peace she's found
Ask her how she knows there's a God up in the Heaven
Where did He go in the middle of her shame?
Ask her how she knows there's a God up in the Heavens
She said His mercy is bringing her life again
Ask me how I know there's a God up in the Heaven
Where did He go in the middle of her shame?
Ask me how I know there's a God up in the Heavens
She said His mercy is bringing her life again
She's coming to life again
He's in the middle of her pain, in the middle of her shame
Mercy brings life
He's in the middle
Mercy in the middle
So ask me how I know
Ask me how I know, yeah
Ask me how I know there's a God up in the Heaven (how do you know?)
Ask me how I know there's a God up in the Heaven (how do you know?)
Yeah, ask me how I know (how do you know?)
Ask me, ask me, ask me (how do you know?)
Ask me how I know
Hiding in her room
She take another bath
And she spray her mama's perfume
To try to wipe away
The scent he left behind
But it haunts her mind
You see, she's his little rag
Nothing more than just a waif
And he's mopping up his need
She is tired and afraid
Maybe she'll find a way
Through these awful years
To disappear
Ask me if I think there's a God up in the Heaven
Where did He go in the middle of her shame?
Ask me if I think there's a God up in the Heavens
I see no mercy, and no one down here's naming names
Nobody's naming names
Now, she's looking in the mirror
At a lovely woman face
No more frightened little girl
Like she's gone without a trace
Still she leaves the light
Burning in the hall
It's hard to sleep at all
'Til she crawls up in her bed
Acting quiet as a mouse
Deep inside, she's listening
For a creaking in the house
But no one's left to harm her
She's finally safe and sound
There's a peace she's found
Ask her how she knows there's a God up in the Heaven
Where did He go in the middle of her shame?
Ask her how she knows there's a God up in the Heavens
She said His mercy is bringing her life again
Ask me how I know there's a God up in the Heaven
Where did He go in the middle of her shame?
Ask me how I know there's a God up in the Heavens
She said His mercy is bringing her life again
She's coming to life again
He's in the middle of her pain, in the middle of her shame
Mercy brings life
He's in the middle
Mercy in the middle
So ask me how I know
Ask me how I know, yeah
Ask me how I know there's a God up in the Heaven (how do you know?)
Ask me how I know there's a God up in the Heaven (how do you know?)
Yeah, ask me how I know (how do you know?)
Ask me, ask me, ask me (how do you know?)
Ask me how I know
Lyrics submitted by spliphstar
Ask Me Lyrics as written by Tom Hemby Amy Lee Grant
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Capitol CMG Publishing, Reservoir Media Management, Inc.
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
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Silent Planet
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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.
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.
No Surprises
Radiohead
Radiohead
Same ideas expressed in Fitter, Happier are expressed in this song. We're told to strive for some sort of ideal life, which includes getting a good job, being kind to everyone, finding a partner, getting married, having a couple kids, living in a quiet neighborhood in a nice big house, etc. But in Fitter, Happier the narrator(?) realizes that it's incredibly robotic to live this life. People are being used by those in power "like a pig in a cage on antibiotics"--being pacified with things like new phones and cool gadgets and houses while being sucked dry. On No Surprises, the narrator is realizing how this life is killing him slowly. In the video, his helmet is slowly filling up with water, drowning him. But he's so complacent with it. This is a good summary of the song. This boring, "perfect" life foisted upon us by some higher powers (not spiritual, but political, economic, etc. politicians and businessmen, perhaps) is not the way to live. But there is seemingly no way out but death. He'd rather die peacefully right now than live in this cage. While our lives are often shielded, we're in our own protective bubbles, or protective helmets like the one Thom wears, if we look a little harder we can see all the corruption, lies, manipulation, etc. that is going on in the world, often run by huge yet nearly invisible organizations, corporations, and 'leaders'. It's a very hopeless song because it reflects real life.
I don't know. I swing back and forth. Sometimes I think that it's sarcastic.. because it's hard for me to accept that a omnipotent god would permit children to be abused in these ways, and obviously they are.. and sometimes I think it's serious, that she's claiming god has some role in healing this child. However, since I've seen people heal from these things without the advantage of religion, I'm not sold on her thesis.
This song is about a little girl who is sexually abused by someone and the singer is wondering what happened to God and why didn't he stop it.
NAV
I dont really know what this song is about but I do know that is was written for one of Amy's friends that had been sexually abused.
I really don't think Amy Grant was being sarcastic when she wrote this - that's your spin on things.
I think it's a pretty straight forward song. Amy has a friend who has been sexually abused as a child. Most of the song is empathizing for her friend and what her friend went through. Although Amy believes in a loving God, she still finds it hard to explain how she believes in Him to other people when horrible things like this happen. In the end, the friend says that she's still found His mercy and her friend actually answers the question for her.
Thesis? I don't think Amy is directly trying to sell Christianity to abuse survivors.
Unfortunately, this song is about a little girl being sexually abused over the course of years and how it affects her as an adult. I think the song's aim is genuine to say that God is bringing this woman to life again, but the lyrics of the second verse actually say the opposite to me as they contradict themselves.
"Now, she's looking in the mirror At a lovely woman face No more frightened little girl Like she's gone without a trace Still she leaves the light Burning in the hall It's hard to sleep at all"
Obviously, the frightened little girl is still there, because she can't even get any sleep in her own house even with the night light.
"'Til she crawls up in her bed Acting quiet as a mouse Deep inside, she's listening For a creaking in the house But no one's left to harm her She's finally safe and sound There's a peace she's found"
If she's feeling peaceful and as if she's "finally safe and sound," then why is skulking about, tiptoeing around in her own house, acting like she doesn't belong there?
I think this song isn't meant to be sarcastic, even though it kind of seems that way to me. I think this song just suffers from not being well thought out or proven. Kind of like when you were given an essay topic in class to prove one way or the other, but your three page argument failed to prove your point.
Pretty song, and I think the writer's heart was in the right place, but unless it IS meant to be sarcastic, the song is ultimately confusing and meaningless.
@thirteencats Sorry to reply to my own comment, but I just had the thought that this song came from Amy Grant's first secular album. I don't know what she was going through in her life that caused her to release a secular album after being a Christian only artist previously. But maybe that's a sign that this song IS sarcastic (and therefore meaningful), because she's questioning everything enough anyway to release her first secular album. There's probably a lot of confusion in that which shows in the song- how the writer sees both sides that seem to contradict each other.<br /> <br /> Regardless, I do like the song.