"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.
When things just aren't going your way
Like a problem hair you pluck or shave?
But shaving got to be such a bore
And you deserve so much more
And happiness is just a purchase away
[Chorus:]
Angelina it'll fix your hunchback
Angelina it'll help your time pass
Angelina here's a forcast
Angelina it's science we never laugh
Here's something that is automatic
It's wax ecstatic
When life is nothing less than tragic
It's wax ecstatic
When life has lost all it's magic
It's wax ecstatic
When life can't promise the fantastic
It's wax ecstatic
Throw all your troubles away
You'll nothing left that you want to save
With this circus you'll need nothing more
And all your troubles walk out the door
And it's all just a phone call away
[Chorus]
Like a problem hair you pluck or shave?
But shaving got to be such a bore
And you deserve so much more
And happiness is just a purchase away
[Chorus:]
Angelina it'll fix your hunchback
Angelina it'll help your time pass
Angelina here's a forcast
Angelina it's science we never laugh
Here's something that is automatic
It's wax ecstatic
When life is nothing less than tragic
It's wax ecstatic
When life has lost all it's magic
It's wax ecstatic
When life can't promise the fantastic
It's wax ecstatic
Throw all your troubles away
You'll nothing left that you want to save
With this circus you'll need nothing more
And all your troubles walk out the door
And it's all just a phone call away
[Chorus]
Lyrics submitted by black_cow_of_death
Wax Ecstatic (To Sell Angelina) Lyrics as written by Mark P Dombroski Joe Mazzola
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Spirit Music Group, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman
The Night We Met
Lord Huron
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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"
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.
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.
Magical
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
How would you describe the feeling of being in love? For Ed Sheeran, the word is “Magical.” in HIS three-minute album opener, he makes an attempt to capture the beauty and delicacy of true love with words. He describes the magic of it all over a bright Pop song produced by Aaron Dessner.
I perceive this song as being about someone who drowns their problems in drugs.
I don't think it needs to be that cliche. Hence the beginning verse about shaving.
This song is merely baout being able to purchase something to make your life better. Call it a slap in the face to consumerism then. Cuz you can always buy beauty products, drusg or whatever.. to make yourself better and happy.. in a mockingly rock and roll sort of way.
Alright, lemme take a crack at this - I admit that I'm using the video partially for interpretation, and that's not ever a good idea, because the writer of the lyrics is not necessarily the one that comes up with the concept for the video. Nevertheless, I'll take a shot.
Lines 1-5: Sometimes things aren't great, but working to make them better (like shaving or plucking that hair) is a pain, you deserve to just have your problems stop instantly, don't you? The answer is right here.
Lines 6-9: This will solve all your problems - we're not kidding.
Lines 10-17: I'm interpreting 'It's something that is automatic' as being the right number of syllables for the line with the right ending, but actually meaning 'it's something that offers instant gratification'. In that context, these lines reiterate that this is something that will take care of your problems instantly. You will wax ecstatic.
Lines 18-22: Quite simply, this product will get rid of all your troubles. This is where there's a bit of a judgment call for me. "A phone call away" sounds like a TV ad, like it's about mass marketing, and thus pharmaceuticals seem like the likely target of the song. However, you COULD be calling up your 'dealer'. Looking at the video, it's hard to decide which it is. But given the 'commercial' nature of the parts with Vinny displaying the bottle, and the fact that he looks more like an old-school medicine show guy on the street (with the special case, collecting money) rather than a typical 'dealer', I'm sticking with the 'pharmaceuticals' idea, and assuming that the 'sold on the street' bits were to link the idea of feel-better pharmaceuticals to drug dealers.
The video seemed to make that all pretty clear, with Angelina admiring the roller derby girls, but unable to skate at all, taking the drug, watching, excited, thinking she could do it, and then spitting out the drug as she's knocked down again and again. Seems to me like the symbolism there was of her realization that her drug-inspired dreams of skating were no substitute for the reality of it.
That's my 2 cents anyway - short version:
Yes, the song is about mind-affecting pharmaceuticals.
the music video is all about these pills being mass produced, so as cliche as it is, this song is probably about drugs.
I agree with savage, just a satire for the generalized greedy society
The pills in the video look like Lithium pills. I think it's a satire about the psychiatric-pharmaceutical industry. If anything is bothering you, we have a pill for that.
Lithium pills are either solid and round, or powder-filled capsules. The ones in the video are translucent gelatin ovals filled with yellow goo. How are they even remotely similar?<br /> <br /> Not to take away from your idea of the song's ultimate meaning - I agree with you about that part.
@dso lol
When the song first came out I thought it was about hard drug addiction, or diet pills (to be thinner to be a better skater, athlete, etc..) but then after thinking about it more and reading the previous comments, it could be about any type of pill someone takes to make oneself feel better or escape from everyday life.
"wax ecstatic's" possible allusion to the customary waxing of the incorrupt bodies of deceased catholic saints plays into the theme of nobody's perfect, so you might as well help things along with a product. the name "Angelina" is based on "angel." the mention of a hunchback calls to mind the tragic hunchback of notre dame, a kind, disfigured soul who watched over the dead bodies of his loved ones until they turned to dust. because even atmospheric changes in a corpse, such discoloration and shrinking of the skin, which are not considered frank decomposition, can hinder one's faith, the church satisfies each observant "hunchback" with the aid of a little cosmetic wax.
The slang definition to wax something is to "defeat decisively". With little or no hesitation. "We waxed the competition." If that helps to decode the song title.....
It’s not about Angelina Jolie lol