"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.
Summer was gone and the heat died down
And Autumn reached for her golden crown
I looked behind as I heard a sigh
But this was the time of no reply.
The sun went down and the crowd went home
I was left by the roadside all alone
I turned to speak as they went by
But this was the time of no reply.
The time of no reply is calling me to stay
There is no hello and no goodbye
To leave there is no way.
The trees on the hill had nothing to say
They would keep their dreams till another day
So they stood and thought and wondered why
For this was the time of no reply.
Time goes by from year to year
And no one asks why I am standing here
But I have my answer as I look to the sky
This is the time of no reply.
The time of no reply is calling me to stay
There's no hello and no goodbye
To leave there is no way
Summer was gone and the heat died down
And Autumn reached for her golden crown
I looked behind as I heard a sigh
But this was the time of no reply.
And Autumn reached for her golden crown
I looked behind as I heard a sigh
But this was the time of no reply.
The sun went down and the crowd went home
I was left by the roadside all alone
I turned to speak as they went by
But this was the time of no reply.
The time of no reply is calling me to stay
There is no hello and no goodbye
To leave there is no way.
The trees on the hill had nothing to say
They would keep their dreams till another day
So they stood and thought and wondered why
For this was the time of no reply.
Time goes by from year to year
And no one asks why I am standing here
But I have my answer as I look to the sky
This is the time of no reply.
The time of no reply is calling me to stay
There's no hello and no goodbye
To leave there is no way
Summer was gone and the heat died down
And Autumn reached for her golden crown
I looked behind as I heard a sigh
But this was the time of no reply.
Lyrics submitted by lordofsandwiches
Time of No Reply Lyrics as written by Nick Drake
Lyrics © Reservoir Media Management, Inc.
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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Fast Car
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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”
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"'Mountain Song' was actually about... I hate to say it but... drugs. Climbing this mountain and getting as high as you can, and then coming down that mountain," reveals Farrell. "What it feels to descend from the mountain top... not easy at all. The ascension is tough but exhilarating. Getting down is... it's a real bummer. Drugs is not for everybody obviously. For me, I wanted to experience the heights, and the lows come along with it."
"There's a part - 'Cash in now honey, cash in Miss Smith.' Miss Smith is my Mother; our last name was Smith. Cashing in when she cashed in her life. So... she decided that, to her... at that time, she was desperate. Life wasn't worth it for her, that was her opinion. Some people think, never take your life, and some people find that their life isn't worth living. She was in love with my Dad, and my Dad was not faithful to her, and it broke her heart. She was very desperate and she did something that I know she regrets."
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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.
Plastic Bag
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“Plastic Bag” is a song about searching for an escape from personal problems and hoping to find it in the lively atmosphere of a Saturday night party. Ed Sheeran tells the story of his friend and the myriad of troubles he is going through. Unable to find any solutions, this friend seeks a last resort in a party and the vanity that comes with it.
“I overthink and have trouble sleepin’ / All purpose gone and don’t have a reason / And there’s no doctor to stop this bleedin’ / So I left home and jumped in the deep end,” Ed Sheeran sings in verse one. He continues by adding that this person is feeling the weight of having disappointed his father and doesn’t have any friends to rely on in this difficult moment. In the second verse, Ed sings about the role of grief in his friend’s plight and his dwindling faith in prayer. “Saturday night is givin’ me a reason to rely on the strobe lights / The lifeline of a promise in a shot glass, and I’ll take that / If you’re givin’ out love from a plastic bag,” Ed sings on the chorus, as his friend turns to new vices in hopes of feeling better.
The lyrics in this song are very depressing. It sounds to me like he so lonely and feels like there is no one to reach out to. And even if he were to, no one would be there for him. The last three lines suggests that he sees no way out of the depression.
This has to be one of my favourite Nick Drake songs, its so lush with ideas or perhaps more accurately thoughts. I can really relate to this song not so much in terms of loneliness or depression, I'm not sure really. I think its a part of the beauty of Nick Drake's music, it always resonates some where within. I feel the initial 'lazy afternoon' feeling it gives can really contextualise the deeper feelings of the song. Maybe like a blue sky day with no one to really share ones understanding with. I could note the idea of silence as a reference to sleep or death, and whilst I can really relate to this idea, I think it is necessary to consider that this idea isn't to be feared or looked to with pity or even disdain, but something truly beautiful. Its just one of those songs, that really draws your soul out to the point you can almost physically feel the music, and a longing to be apart of it. Even though it seems painfully obvious, with all the suggestions of loneliness and sadness throughout the song, it feels almost shallow to say the song is about depression or some such. Because even if we can't see it, the song has so much more to offer.
Time of no reply to me is about being invisible. Not being heard, not being seen... it is pretty sad. Loneliness is quite palpable throughout the song. Probably Nick´s best.
This song states that you can make your mark in this world, without having to answer to anything. Nick Drake wasn't famous in his time,, but through time,, he has become a great influence and is not here to answer anything,, just to have his music speak for itself
I THINK THIS IS A VERY SAD SONG TOO, BUT SOME WHAT OPTIMISTIC, The trees on the hill had nothing to say They would keep their dreams till another day, BUT WHAT A GREAT SONG, HONESTLY NICK DRAKE IS TOO AWESOME
This song is what Nick Drake is all about. If I were going to introduce a friend to his music it most likely be with this song. It's like Elliott Smith and his song Independence Day. It's just him in his purest form and that's what this is. I prefer the original version but I like listening to the one on Made to Love Magic, too.
I think this song is about how he is detached and can't speak because he is so ill in the mind as bibis817 stated with the depression.
Drake is a legend. He inspires people every day.
This song is what Nick Drake is all about. If I were going to introduce a friend to his music it most likely be with this song. It's like Elliott Smith and his song Independence Day. It's just him in his purest form and that's what this is. I prefer the original version but I like listening to the one on Made to Love Magic, too.
I think this song is about how he is detached and can't speak because he is so ill in the mind as bibis817 stated with the depression.
Drake is a legend. He inspires people every day.
This is one of my favourite Nick Drake songs; it has many meanings, I somehow interpret it that you don't need to have something to say to have a meaningful existence.
I love that silence after one of the "The time of no reply is calling me to stay" choruses - just like an absence of reply!
To me this song defines stillness. Drake relates himself to a tree as it stands in longing. The tree is still with nothing (including) the wind to stir it. Drake is a seeker in this song but has received no message from nature as all is passing and still. He is immobile as a tree but poetically dreaming and hoping as a tree is grounded, wise, aging and looking to the sky for its replenishment. A very simple depiction of the very human emotion of uncertainty. Poets such as Drake are so fragil as they are truly connected to the art all around them. "there is no hello and no good bye" defines the tree without spring or fall rather in between the perpetual seasons. "for me there is no way" defines Drake stands and waits for a direction and perhaps his next purpose. He gave us his journols in his songs. Beautiful.
I can't say it better than this. Your interpretation moved me.
I think the "time of no reply" is death. The warm seasons leave, the sun goes down, and death sets in. There's no hello or goodbye, and there's no way to leave because everyone dies. I find the "no way to leave" line interesting because it's rather ironic considering that you're leaving the earth when you die. Perhaps he means also that there's no real way he can make himself leave before his time (i.e. too afraid to commit suicide). I don't know; just ramblings.