"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.
this is the story of the kids called the crabs
they used to loiter on the corner up on jefferson ave
they're always chanting on their mantra, you only get what you grab
and there's money in the city, but the money's in handbags
but that's not new, yeah that's review
i already told you about the bags that get grabbed by the crab dudes
they got supply if you got demand
they'd get a grand to the gram if they could decimate these other gangs
and math is money and money is math, a leather vest, assless chaps
peter panned out here from springfield, mass
(math is money and money is math)
newspaper said that some crabs stabbed some rich kid
but what's a rich kid doin that far up on jefferson
slumming,stumbling, gettin lost in his eyelids
tried to do a little more but he dropped it in the toilet
short by an ounce that's when they pounced dude
didn't even mention the amount the crabs came crashin though
this ain't smart dude, this ain't art dude
this is sonic economics and i'll put it on a graph for you to prove
that math is money and money is math, a leather vest and assless chaps
peter panned back into springfield, mass
(math is money and money is math)
twin cities, they're gangin up on me
twin cities, they're double teamin me
well hello, new bedford, mass won't you hit me with a little bit of amnesty
(twin cities) twin cities, they're gangin up on me
(twin cities) twin cities, they're double teamin me
they used to loiter on the corner up on jefferson ave
they're always chanting on their mantra, you only get what you grab
and there's money in the city, but the money's in handbags
but that's not new, yeah that's review
i already told you about the bags that get grabbed by the crab dudes
they got supply if you got demand
they'd get a grand to the gram if they could decimate these other gangs
and math is money and money is math, a leather vest, assless chaps
peter panned out here from springfield, mass
(math is money and money is math)
newspaper said that some crabs stabbed some rich kid
but what's a rich kid doin that far up on jefferson
slumming,stumbling, gettin lost in his eyelids
tried to do a little more but he dropped it in the toilet
short by an ounce that's when they pounced dude
didn't even mention the amount the crabs came crashin though
this ain't smart dude, this ain't art dude
this is sonic economics and i'll put it on a graph for you to prove
that math is money and money is math, a leather vest and assless chaps
peter panned back into springfield, mass
(math is money and money is math)
twin cities, they're gangin up on me
twin cities, they're double teamin me
well hello, new bedford, mass won't you hit me with a little bit of amnesty
(twin cities) twin cities, they're gangin up on me
(twin cities) twin cities, they're double teamin me
Lyrics submitted by PLANES
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Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman
Mental Istid
Ebba Grön
Ebba Grön
This is one of my favorite songs. https://fnfgo.io
Holiday
Bee Gees
Bee Gees
@[Diderik:33655] "Your a holiday!" Was a popular term used in the 50s/60s to compliment someone on their all around. For example, not only are they beautiful, but they are fun and kind too ... just an all around "holiday".
I think your first comment is closer to being accurate. The singer/song writers state "Millions of eyes can see, yet why am i so blind!? When the someone else is me, its unkind its unkind". I believe hes referring to the girl toying with him and using him. He wants something deeper with her, thats why he allows himself to be as a puppet (even though for her fun and games) as long as it makes her happy. But he knows deep down that she doesnt really want to be serious with him and thats what makes him.
Gentle Hour
Yo La Tengo
Yo La Tengo
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,
American Town
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran shares a short story of reconnecting with an old flame on “American Town.” The track is about a holiday Ed Sheeran spends with his countrywoman who resides in America. The two are back together after a long period apart, and get around to enjoying a bunch of fun activities while rekindling the flames of their romance.
the crabs are a gang in Minneapolis. The song is about them
Actually "Crabs" is a derogatory name for Crips used by members of other gangs, most notably the Bloods.
A lot of geographical hyper-spacing going on in Craig Finn's lyrics, as well as shifting between mythic & real geography...so trying to apply a literalist interpretation with LFTR PLLR folklore overall is a fruitless exercise...and probably missing the point of it all anyway.
Anyway, the references in Math Is Money seem to shift between Finn's twin hometowns of the Boston Metro area and Minneapolis...there's the Crabs (or Crab Dudes) with their booming narcotics enterprise on Jefferson Ave in NE MPLS (music1994's interpretation coincides best with what I know about the MPLS gangs situation)...
Shifting then to seeking amnesty in New Bedford, Mass and "...peter panned back into Springfield, Mass..." (there's actually a Peter Pan Bus Lines servicing most of northern New England, HQ'd in Springfield)
That's as literal as I'll get...Finn's facile wordplay (with nods to Springsteen & Dylan & Keroac) just hits me right between the eyes...vivid, pointed & brutally stark, leaves me seeing stars sometimes ...and he's still got it...eagerly awaiting the fifth Hold Steady record, which is in the recording process now.