"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.
Pinch history
Feel the pinch blistering
Pinch me in my dreams
'Cause I'm still not listening
X marks the spot
On your calendar days
A beard half eaten
Smiled
Crawling with legs
Temper tempered temperature
Manuscript replica
In infrared is how we saw
The night that lit up
Scarecrow plots
The nerve that pinches
Crippled hobbled
Frolicked flat on its own face
Jigsaw pattern
Dominoes left a trail
The whites of their eyes
Polaroids of the tale
For our amusement
We bring stares to the defendants
Mechanical panaceas
Absolved by history
Phonetic paralysis
Inflicted through morality
The seed that it nurtured
Was a wilted bouquet
Temper tempered temperature
Squirming through cuts in a throat
Cut it, cut it
Feel the pinch blistering
Pinch me in my dreams
'Cause I'm still not listening
X marks the spot
On your calendar days
A beard half eaten
Smiled
Crawling with legs
Temper tempered temperature
Manuscript replica
In infrared is how we saw
The night that lit up
Scarecrow plots
The nerve that pinches
Crippled hobbled
Frolicked flat on its own face
Jigsaw pattern
Dominoes left a trail
The whites of their eyes
Polaroids of the tale
For our amusement
We bring stares to the defendants
Mechanical panaceas
Absolved by history
Phonetic paralysis
Inflicted through morality
The seed that it nurtured
Was a wilted bouquet
Temper tempered temperature
Squirming through cuts in a throat
Cut it, cut it
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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"
Cajun Girl
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”
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.
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,
A Roladex has a bunch of cards in it. Similar to a toolbox but the tools would be people you look through and find the right one that suits your purpose. Propaganda.
The first verse is about someone trying to "wake up" the singer.
Pinch History = Look at the past Look at what has happened in the past, compare it to the present, can't you see the connection? Wake up and see through the bullshit. A Beard Half Eaten = The singers reply: I don't believe you, if that is true I'll eat my Beard(hat is the more common expression)
Manuscript replica: Manuscript "A book, document, or other composition written by hand" If it is a handwritten replica then if no one is paying attention the person who is writing can add or change things as he writes.
/ in infrared is how we saw / We could see clearly everything that was going on / the night that lit up / scarecrow plots / A scarecrow keeps out birds. In this birds = people and the fields are the secrets being protected or misdeeds being done.
Last verse: I see two interpretations The conspirators are caught and put on trial, the details of the conspiracy fall into place in a convoluted way like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle.
Initially I saw the trial being a success and the defendants being labeled as the wilted bouquet, saying that the seed of morality, their values as youth, became corrupted in their idealistic pursuit of them and they chose to do anything to achieve their goals.
I think the other interpretation is more likely now that I think of it though.
mechanical panaceas / absolved by history / The defendants recite the old saying "For the greater good" and use their molested and modified history to justify their actions.
/ phonetic paralysis / inflicted through morality / the seed that it nurtured / was a wilted bouquet The people hearing the defendants lose their will to speak due to their agreement with the morality of the defendants. The seed of population (nurtured by the people in power who fed them lies) was a wilted bouquet.
I think I am pretty close to understanding. Actually looking a third time I'm pretty sure this song is about clowns...
forgot to add to manuscript replica that it is reference to history
Something about this song reminds me of a night war/battle, with innocent men, women and children watching. "In infrared is how we saw...", kinda' reminds me of the infrared/night vision clips of night war you see on the news frequently, "The night that lit up...", again, I can imagine beacons, explosives etc. I'm also getting the sense (If I'm correct), that it could have been some kind of operation that went wrong or "Fell flat on it's own face...". I might be wrong (Infact, I probably am), I dunno', but thats the feeling I get.
This song is about finding the truth in the reprinted and revised history the government lets us see. About discovering something for yourself. "manuscript replica"- a copy of history slightly altered by those in power.
The song is clear in a very unclear manner. It is most likely referring to night time images of a war. The referrences to history are pointing out that those who do not know thier history are doomed to repeat it. Falling flat on its own face isn't speaking of a particular battle but rather any and all wars in general. The "manuscript replica" line is referring to the way that each country or nation controls the flow of informations to its inhabitants and often only tells their side of the story
This is a damn good song...probably the second best after one armed scissor but, alas, i have no idea what its about
Like Cuiydha, I like the idea of it being about battles, that and the effect war has on people and history. I still love this song 4 years later!
oh I see, if I can elaborate, I think it has something to do with the winners writing history. I'll add that its fairly naive to believe that wars are always won by the side of right. I think we're slowly remedying that in society, but.. that might just be because my circle of friends is fairly awake.
Kickass song. I just kinda melt everytime they enter the chorus the first time, with the guitars and the keyboard sound and the "In infrared is how we saw". Best band ever? :)
good song
actually, the line "manuscript replica" is a reference to a creepy occurence that happened in new york a few years ago, its knows as the scrittore case. look it up.