"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.
What would induce you to swear your allegiance to God, tonight
Joined at the hip to a million volt switch of the light, alright
You want to find out what the planet's about
Falling from grace leaves a cool empty space in the sky
Your eyes are black as they see
The red ball of the sun, out they're blind
Dribbling with come as the volts start to arc through your mind
It's cruel but it's kind
Like father like son chop of the head and the body lives on
Falling from grace leaves a cool empty space in the sky
Like father like son
Chop of the head and the body lives on
Heaven that made you has screwed you and left
Falling from grace leaves a cool empty space in the sky
Joined at the hip to a million volt switch of the light, alright
You want to find out what the planet's about
Falling from grace leaves a cool empty space in the sky
Your eyes are black as they see
The red ball of the sun, out they're blind
Dribbling with come as the volts start to arc through your mind
It's cruel but it's kind
Like father like son chop of the head and the body lives on
Falling from grace leaves a cool empty space in the sky
Like father like son
Chop of the head and the body lives on
Heaven that made you has screwed you and left
Falling from grace leaves a cool empty space in the sky
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Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
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Bron-Y-Aur Stomp
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This is about bronies. They communicate by stomping.
When We Were Young
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This is a sequel to 2001's "Reckless Abandon", and features the band looking back on their clumsy youth fondly.
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.
Plastic Bag
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
“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.
This song is about the electric chair.
I've always been thrown off by the line "Dribbling with come as the volts start to arc through your mind", is that perhaps based on the belief that you're reminded of the good times, as it were, when you die?