"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.
Black hoods, cops and projects, sewers flooded with foul blockage
The gutter's wild and every child watches
Chains in top locks get ripped off hinges
Doors kicked off, drunks stag off Smirnoff, wipe your beard off
Crippled dope fiends in wheelchairs stare, vision blurry
'Cause buried deep in they mind are hidden stories
Bet he's a mirror image of that 70s era
He's finished for the rest of his life, 'til he fades out
The liquor store workers miss him but then it plays out
So many ways out the hood, but no signs say out
Mental slave house where gats go off, I show off
Niggas up north, prisonology talk, 'til they time cut off
You should chill if you short, prepare deep thought
To hit the street again, get it on, get this paper and breathe again
Plan to leave somethin' behind
So your name'll live on, no matter what the game lives on
Lookin' out of my project window (lookin' out)
Oh, I feel uninspired
Lookin' out, lookin' out of my project window
(Oh, I'm lookin' out)
Oh, it makes me feel, so tired
Yo, if this piano's the cake, then my words are the candles
Light it up, make a wish, and them angels will grant you
Impatient once tried, but in those angels and bamboo
They lit it up, hit it up, now they dismantled
Think the whole world is crazy, got a nine, watch where you walk
Two dollar fine, sign of the times here in New York
Hire Satan, United Nations quietly taken, toll on your soul
Take it or leave it, just my evaluation
Stack loot and guns, teach the girls karate, school your sons not to hate
But to stay awake, 'cause the scars a razor make is nothin' in comparison
To the gas left on this whole mass, if we don't get it controlled fast
Might as well be, laughin' with Malcolm X's assassin as we die slow
Perishin', brain dead from a Ericsson
Words are the medicine, two teaspoons for goons
A cup of it for those thuggin' it, y'all sing the tune, uh
Lookin' out of my project window (lookin' out)
Oh, I feel uninspired
Lookin' out, lookin' out of my project window
(Oh, I'm lookin' out)
Oh, it makes me feel, so tired
Another day, another dollar, my mother will holla
She said, "go and see the world for myself, and my brother should follow
Pops was smooth, from his top to his shoes
Sang the blues, guitar strings he played smokin' his Kool
Duke Ellington hat, picture this yo, seventies cat
He wrote his music in the back of the crib, I did my homework
At night the windows were speakers, pumpin' life out
A fight, people screamin' 'cause somebody pulled a knife out
So I look at this room, I'm hooked to this tune
Every night the same melody, hell sounded so heavenly
But jail was ahead of me, speedin' like amphetamine
Reading's what I should've done, 'cause my imagination would run
I was impatient to get out and become part of the noise out there
I used to stare, five stories down, basketball courts, shot up playgrounds
And I witnessed the murders and police shake-downs
Yo, the hustla's and hoes, drugs and fo'-fo's
This was the life of every kid, lookin' out project windows
Oh, outta my window
Lookin' out of my project window (lookin' out)
Oh, I feel uninspired
Lookin' out, lookin' out of my project window
(Oh, I'm lookin' out)
Oh, it makes me feel, so tired
Lookin' out of my project window (lookin' out)
Oh, I feel uninspired
Lookin' out, lookin' out of my project window
(Oh, I'm lookin' out)
Oh, it makes me feel, so tired
Starin' out of, out my window
Oh I, feel so tired
Oh yeah, outta my window
Oh, lookin' out, lookin' out of
Lookin' out my window, oh yeah
Makes me, feel so tired
Lookin' out of my project window
Oh, it makes me feel, so tired
The gutter's wild and every child watches
Chains in top locks get ripped off hinges
Doors kicked off, drunks stag off Smirnoff, wipe your beard off
Crippled dope fiends in wheelchairs stare, vision blurry
'Cause buried deep in they mind are hidden stories
Bet he's a mirror image of that 70s era
He's finished for the rest of his life, 'til he fades out
The liquor store workers miss him but then it plays out
So many ways out the hood, but no signs say out
Mental slave house where gats go off, I show off
Niggas up north, prisonology talk, 'til they time cut off
You should chill if you short, prepare deep thought
To hit the street again, get it on, get this paper and breathe again
Plan to leave somethin' behind
So your name'll live on, no matter what the game lives on
Lookin' out of my project window (lookin' out)
Oh, I feel uninspired
Lookin' out, lookin' out of my project window
(Oh, I'm lookin' out)
Oh, it makes me feel, so tired
Yo, if this piano's the cake, then my words are the candles
Light it up, make a wish, and them angels will grant you
Impatient once tried, but in those angels and bamboo
They lit it up, hit it up, now they dismantled
Think the whole world is crazy, got a nine, watch where you walk
Two dollar fine, sign of the times here in New York
Hire Satan, United Nations quietly taken, toll on your soul
Take it or leave it, just my evaluation
Stack loot and guns, teach the girls karate, school your sons not to hate
But to stay awake, 'cause the scars a razor make is nothin' in comparison
To the gas left on this whole mass, if we don't get it controlled fast
Might as well be, laughin' with Malcolm X's assassin as we die slow
Perishin', brain dead from a Ericsson
Words are the medicine, two teaspoons for goons
A cup of it for those thuggin' it, y'all sing the tune, uh
Lookin' out of my project window (lookin' out)
Oh, I feel uninspired
Lookin' out, lookin' out of my project window
(Oh, I'm lookin' out)
Oh, it makes me feel, so tired
Another day, another dollar, my mother will holla
She said, "go and see the world for myself, and my brother should follow
Pops was smooth, from his top to his shoes
Sang the blues, guitar strings he played smokin' his Kool
Duke Ellington hat, picture this yo, seventies cat
He wrote his music in the back of the crib, I did my homework
At night the windows were speakers, pumpin' life out
A fight, people screamin' 'cause somebody pulled a knife out
So I look at this room, I'm hooked to this tune
Every night the same melody, hell sounded so heavenly
But jail was ahead of me, speedin' like amphetamine
Reading's what I should've done, 'cause my imagination would run
I was impatient to get out and become part of the noise out there
I used to stare, five stories down, basketball courts, shot up playgrounds
And I witnessed the murders and police shake-downs
Yo, the hustla's and hoes, drugs and fo'-fo's
This was the life of every kid, lookin' out project windows
Oh, outta my window
Lookin' out of my project window (lookin' out)
Oh, I feel uninspired
Lookin' out, lookin' out of my project window
(Oh, I'm lookin' out)
Oh, it makes me feel, so tired
Lookin' out of my project window (lookin' out)
Oh, I feel uninspired
Lookin' out, lookin' out of my project window
(Oh, I'm lookin' out)
Oh, it makes me feel, so tired
Starin' out of, out my window
Oh I, feel so tired
Oh yeah, outta my window
Oh, lookin' out, lookin' out of
Lookin' out my window, oh yeah
Makes me, feel so tired
Lookin' out of my project window
Oh, it makes me feel, so tired
Lyrics submitted by spliphstar
Project Windows Lyrics as written by Carlos Daronde Broady Nasir Jones
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Downtown Music Publishing, Hipgnosis Songs Group, Cloud9
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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Fast Car
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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"
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This song seemingly tackles the methods of deception those who manipulate others use to get victims to follow their demands, as well as diverting attention away from important issues. They'll also use it as a means to convince people to hate or kill others by pretending acts of terrorism were committed by the enemy when the acts themselves were done by the masters of control to promote discrimination and hate. It also reinforces the idea that these manipulative forces operate in various locations, infiltrating everyday life without detection, and propagate any and everywhere.
In general, it highlights the danger of hidden agendas, manipulation, and distraction, serving as a critique of those who exploit chaos and confusion to control and gain power, depicting a cautionary tale against falling into their traps. It encourages us to question the narratives presented to us and remain vigilant against manipulation in various parts of society.
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First off, I've gotta say that the typer of this song made several mistakes. you should listen to the song for yourself.
This song is so memorable. A classic. Ron Isley is a G.
Nas was incredibly poetic on this song. Some lines that really got me where:
"Crippled dope fiends in wheelchairs stare vision blurry, cus buried deep in they mind are hidden stories"
"Bet he's a mirror image of that 70's era finished for the rest of his life, till he fades out The liquor store workers miss him but then it plays out so many ways out the hood but no signs say out Mental slavehouse where gats go off, I show off niggas up north, prison-ology talk, till they time cut off "
"Stack loot and guns, teach the girls karate, school your sons not to hate but to stay awake, cus the scars a razor make is nothin' in comparison to the gas left on this whole mass, if we don't get it controlled fast might as well be, laughin' with Malcolm X's assassin as we die slow perishin', brain dead from a Erickson Words are the medicine, two teaspoons for goons a cup of it for those thuggin' it, y'all sing the tune"
Another day, another dollar, my mother would She said go and see the world for myself, and my brother should falla Pops was smooth, from his top to his shoes sang the blues, guitar strings he played smokin' his doo ? hat, picture this, yo, seventies cat He wrote his music in the back of the crib, I did my homework At night the windows were speakers, pumpin' life out a fight, people screamin' cus somebody pulled a knife out So I look at this room, I'm hooked to this tune every night the same melody, hell sounded so heavenly But jail was ahead of me, speeding like an amphedamine