"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.
No I don't really want to die
I only want to die in your eyes
I'm still here below the chandelier
Where they always used to read us our rights
I want to wander through the night
As a figure in the distance even to my own eye
Have you ever rented a room
Have you ever even rented a room?
An anchor lets you see the river move
But now that your evil dreams came true
There on your face
A row of teeth he'll come to replace
I know you laughed when I left
But you really only hurt yourself
When you see your curtains move in the wind
You can bet I'm betting against you again
'Cause I'm a man who has a wife who has a mother
Who married one but she loved another
You're a tower without the bells
You're a negative wishing well
I should have checked the stable door
For the name of the sire and dam
You were always at the dogtrack
With your brother and all his friends
Chalk lines around my body
Like the shoarline of a lake
You're laughter made me nervous
It made your body shake to hard
Now there's a lot of things that I'm gonna miss
Like thunder down country and the way water drips
When you're running for the door in the rain
Read the metro section...see my name
No I didn't really want to die
I only wanted to die in your eyes
Grant me one last wish
Life should mean a lot less than this
I only want to die in your eyes
I'm still here below the chandelier
Where they always used to read us our rights
I want to wander through the night
As a figure in the distance even to my own eye
Have you ever rented a room
Have you ever even rented a room?
An anchor lets you see the river move
But now that your evil dreams came true
There on your face
A row of teeth he'll come to replace
I know you laughed when I left
But you really only hurt yourself
When you see your curtains move in the wind
You can bet I'm betting against you again
'Cause I'm a man who has a wife who has a mother
Who married one but she loved another
You're a tower without the bells
You're a negative wishing well
I should have checked the stable door
For the name of the sire and dam
You were always at the dogtrack
With your brother and all his friends
Chalk lines around my body
Like the shoarline of a lake
You're laughter made me nervous
It made your body shake to hard
Now there's a lot of things that I'm gonna miss
Like thunder down country and the way water drips
When you're running for the door in the rain
Read the metro section...see my name
No I didn't really want to die
I only wanted to die in your eyes
Grant me one last wish
Life should mean a lot less than this
Lyrics submitted by 3ric, edited by tashawn22, TinyTimFanClub
How to Rent a Room Lyrics as written by
Lyrics © ROUGH TRADE PUBLISHING
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Fast Car
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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"
Mountain Song
Jane's Addiction
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Jane's Addiction vocalist Perry Farrell gives Adam Reader some heartfelt insight into Jane’s Addiction's hard rock manifesto "Mountain Song", which was the second single from their revolutionary album Nothing's Shocking. Mountain song was first recorded in 1986 and appeared on the soundtrack to the film Dudes starring Jon Cryer. The version on Nothing's Shocking was re-recorded in 1988.
"'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."
I Can't Go To Sleep
Wu-Tang Clan
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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.
Head > Heels
Ed Sheeran
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“Head > Heels” is a track that aims to capture what it feels like to experience romance that exceeds expectations. Ed Sheeran dedicates his album outro to a lover who has blessed him with a unique experience that he seeks to describe through the song’s nuanced lyrics.
How is it possible for one person to be so goddamn clever?
I believe the metro section refers to the obits
obviously the greatest song ever.
A metro section of a newspaper most commonly refers to the local city's news and events. It may include "human interest" or "lifestyle" articles. I believe it could also mean obituaries.
The line in 3rd stanza definitely is "an anchor," Berman just says is oddly.
It's "An Anchor", I have the LP with the lyric sheet. This is one of my favorite DC Berman songs. What I get from this song, it's kind of about a botched suicide attempt, but then maybe the death really did happen. Maybe the narrative is coming from a ghost perspective. I don't know. Great song though.
magic and cognac my friend, magic and cognac.
i created an account here just so i could say that Berman's poetry book was published three years after this song was released. also, the first words of the third stanza are not 'an anchor', although i can't figure out what they actually are.
I actually think that the line does start "An anchor lets you see the river move" as I think he's making reference to watching the river flowing while standing still. I'm not making any assumptions interpretatively, but I believe the lyric is correct as above.
yeah, anchor makes sense to me too. i appreciate the info on berman's book also.
Always took this song to be aimed at DCB's father (even before he revealed the true nature of their relationship). By only wanting 'to die in your eyes' he means he wants to do the one thing that will more than anything else distance him from his father.
i always took the metro section as meaning she saw an article written about him (about his poetry book) and realized he was brilliant, but since he's talking about dying that's probably true. I also always thought it said "chop lines around my body" meaning cocaine, but i guess chalk lines makes a lot of sense.