"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 met a woman long ago
Her hair, the black that black can go
Are you a teacher of the heart?
Soft she answered, no
I met a girl across the sea
Her hair, the gold that gold could be
Are you a teacher of the heart?
Yes, but not for thee
I met a man who lost his mind
In some lost place I had to find
Follow me, the wise man said
But he walked behind
I walked into a hospital
Where none was sick and none was well
When at night the nurses left
I could not walk at all
Morning came and then came noon
Dinner time a scalpel blade
Lay beside my silver spoon
Some girls wander by mistake
Into the mess that scalpels make
Are you the teachers of my heart
We teach old hearts to break
One morning, I woke up alone
The hospital and the nurses gone
Have I carved enough, my Lord?
Child, you are a bone
I ate and ate and ate
No, I did not miss a plate, well
How much do these suppers cost?
We'll take it out in hate
I spent my hatred every place
On every work, on every face
Someone gave me wishes
And I wished for an embrace
Several girls embraced me, then
I was embraced by men
Is my passion perfect?
No, do it once again
I was handsome, I was strong
I knew the words of every song
Did my singing please you?
No, the words you sang were wrong
Who is it whom I address
Who takes down what I confess?
Are you the teachers of my heart?
We teach old hearts to rest
Oh, teachers are my lessons done?
I cannot do another one
They laughed and laughed and said
Well, child
Are your lessons done?
Are your lessons done?
Are your lessons done?
Her hair, the black that black can go
Are you a teacher of the heart?
Soft she answered, no
I met a girl across the sea
Her hair, the gold that gold could be
Are you a teacher of the heart?
Yes, but not for thee
I met a man who lost his mind
In some lost place I had to find
Follow me, the wise man said
But he walked behind
I walked into a hospital
Where none was sick and none was well
When at night the nurses left
I could not walk at all
Morning came and then came noon
Dinner time a scalpel blade
Lay beside my silver spoon
Some girls wander by mistake
Into the mess that scalpels make
Are you the teachers of my heart
We teach old hearts to break
One morning, I woke up alone
The hospital and the nurses gone
Have I carved enough, my Lord?
Child, you are a bone
I ate and ate and ate
No, I did not miss a plate, well
How much do these suppers cost?
We'll take it out in hate
I spent my hatred every place
On every work, on every face
Someone gave me wishes
And I wished for an embrace
Several girls embraced me, then
I was embraced by men
Is my passion perfect?
No, do it once again
I was handsome, I was strong
I knew the words of every song
Did my singing please you?
No, the words you sang were wrong
Who is it whom I address
Who takes down what I confess?
Are you the teachers of my heart?
We teach old hearts to rest
Oh, teachers are my lessons done?
I cannot do another one
They laughed and laughed and said
Well, child
Are your lessons done?
Are your lessons done?
Are your lessons done?
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Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman
Dreamwalker
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,
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.
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.
he's searching for someone to teach him how to use his heart (cohen has battled depression throughout his life, so i take this as him seeking out some sort of cure to his chronic illness)
the first two verses shows that he looked for the answer in women, to me symbolizing relationships or maybe just flings...
neither worked out so he continues asking 'are you the teacher of my heart?'
if you've read most cohen's work, the comforts of women is his weakness when bad, and his strengths when good... therefore i think these failed attempts with women leaves him to running into that 'lost man'
in my opinion i believe the lost man is himself, i would think this would be the point of coming face to face with who he was becoming. he states 'had yet to find', therefore at that point he has yet to be completely wreck and looking for something else to cure himself for himself, he enters a mental hospital.
"no one was sick" (physically) "but no one was well" (emotionally)
but instead of helping him, it seemed to have dragged him more over the edge, and still seeking his cure, or just some sort of relief.. he beings self cutting.. and one of my favorite Cohen lines 'some girls wander by mistake, into the mess that scalpels make'.. the nurses walk in on him. the last lines always gave me a feeling of these places being so cold, and lonely... it's not what he's seeking, and if anything broke his spirit even more.
after that i think when he says 'carve' it's more symbolic then literal. it seems that all else failed.. he begins just with negativity scraping away at himself..
....when he finally looks up to god for help, god tells him to eat (spiritually) to fatten him up emotionally and mentally. He starts 'spending' his hatred, meaning the further he went down this path the more those thoughts would disappear. For every good act it's as thought it cost him one of his angry thoughts. soon he learned to let others accept him and vice versa
leaving him in the end to ask 'teachers are my lessons done' to what they laugh and reply 'well are your lessons done'..
..he was always looking for the answer in something else that when he ask the same question he asked time before, and redirect the question to him, as to pinpoint out that it was him himself that was his own teacher and he should be asking himself that.
nice interpretation. thanks for posting :)
@xpsychicheartsx
@xpsychicheartsx <br /> <br /> Sorry about the empty comment. An accident. I very much like your interpretation, up until he gets to the hospital, which may be symbolic instead of literal. The scalpel blade may be a reference to suicidal thoughts or mental rather than physical self mutilation. The silver spoon may be a reference to drug (heroin) use, which he was no stranger to at that point in his career, which has an element of self mutilation, especially when you're a very conscious guy and you know what you're doing to yourself. This was about the time he was shooting up with Janis in the Chelsea hotel.<br /> <br /> The idea of spending hatred being a good thing, I'm not sure about. He asks his "teachers' how much the suppers (possibly the fame and money he was just beginning to acquire, or even the women) cost, and the hatred seems to be both price and currency, a suffering he endured which fueled his music and his despair as well. <br /> <br /> "Someone gave me wishes" might refer to his becoming known outside literary circles when Judy Collins etc. started covering things like Suzanne, and he started "running for the money and the flesh" (as per Chelsea Hotel #2 again). For those who believe LC never experimented with homosexuality, I refer you both "and then I was embraced by men" and that element in Beautiful Losers. Except he realizes he wasn't getting quite what he was looking for. And some critic (God, himself, fans) knows he hadn't expressed himself fully yet. "The words you sang were wrong"<br /> <br /> I do agree with your ending. No one else decides when your lessons are done.<br /> <br /> Thanks for liking this song as much as I do.