"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.
Soul destroyed with clever toys for little boys
It's inevitable, inevitable, it's a soul destroyed
You feel it till you're dry
You feel it till you've had enough
And you don't understand
No ripcord, no ripcord
No ripcord, no ripcord
Aeroplane, do I mean what I mean
Oh it's inevitable, inevitable, oh aeroplane
A thousand miles an hour
On politics and power
That you don't understand
No ripcord, no ripcord
No, no, no ripcord, no ripcord
La la la la
The answer to your prayers
We'll drop you anywhere
No ripcord, no ripcord
No ripcord, no, no, no ripcord yeah
It's inevitable, inevitable, it's a soul destroyed
You feel it till you're dry
You feel it till you've had enough
And you don't understand
No ripcord, no ripcord
No ripcord, no ripcord
Aeroplane, do I mean what I mean
Oh it's inevitable, inevitable, oh aeroplane
A thousand miles an hour
On politics and power
That you don't understand
No ripcord, no ripcord
No, no, no ripcord, no ripcord
La la la la
The answer to your prayers
We'll drop you anywhere
No ripcord, no ripcord
No ripcord, no, no, no ripcord yeah
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Fast Car
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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,
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Ed Sheeran
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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.
A thousand miles an hour In politics and power That you don't understand
The answer to your prayers will drop you anywhere. Great line. Be Careful what you wish for. Soul destroyed with clever toys is saying the same thing.
You're free until you drop. In the plane you're comfortable zooming along and then you want more. So you jump out and you're no longer in control and its tragic.
Thats about all I could suck out of it...
"No ripcord, the answer to your prayers will drop you anywhere" I suppose to the americans, the meaning of ripcord is somewhat lost- they don't realize its the little string that pulls out the parachute, and without it, you'll fall anywhere, it honestly doesn't matter, you're dead. "You had enough" "the answer to your prayers," its a sad, sad song, set to a somewhat punkish sounding guitar riff that sounds like it wants to die. But for me, the best part is the use of my favorite word, the way it goes, too, "its inevitable, its inevitable." I think ill give it a whirl now, and think about dying.
I've always thought that this song was about someone who gets into something that at first seems like a good enterprise and then finding out too late that there are strings attached and that the person doesn't really have any control any more in whether they want to continue or not. Especially the part about "Souls destroyed with clever toys for little boys". Eh, I'm probably off base but that's my thought.
Greenplastic has better lyrics, actually from the band.
Soul destroyed with clever toys for little boys. It's inevitable, inevitable, it's a soul destroyed. You're free until you drop, you're free until you've had enough and you don't understand. No ripcord, no ripcord, no ripcord, no ripcord
I love this song. I think it's about someone who died in a parachuting accident and maybe subconciously commited suicide. Or maybe not....
There are part's of this song that remind me a little of BOC's Dont Fear the Reaper..
Maybe you can't see how it all starts to see how out all works like the world compared to a toy like those ripcord toys. It's easy to analyze and understand and correct the operation of a simple toy like that in contrast to the great mechanism which come and go but never persist sustainably like societal institutions. That was first understanding. Now reading it...it has military undertones and paratroopers being deployed. Maybe insulting the way some military operations are devised and on what grounds they're launched. So some soldier is thrown into war by little boys with clever toys where there is no rip cord.
I think this song on the album has the similar theme of two later albums It's talk about soul destroying through wanting more and doing everything for It (jump off the aeroplane) while your parachute has no Ripcord