"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.
People just ain't no good
I think that's well understood
You can see it everywhere you look
People just ain't no good
We were married under cherry trees
Under blossom we made our vows
All the blossoms come sailing down
Through the streets and through the playgrounds
The sun would stream on the sheets
Awoken by the morning bird
We'd buy the Sunday newspapers
And never read a single word
People they ain't no good
People they ain't no good
People they ain't no good
Seasons came, seasons went
The winter stripped the blossoms bare
A different tree now lines the streets
Shaking its fists in the air
The winter slammed us like a fist
The windows rattling in the gales
To which she drew the curtains
Made out of her wedding veils
People they ain't no good
People they ain't no good
People they ain't no good at all
To our love send a dozen white lilies
To our love send a coffin of wood
To our love let all the pink-eyed pigeons coo
That people they just ain't no good
To our love send back all the letters
To our love a valentine of blood
To our love let all the jilted lovers cry
That people they just ain't no good
It ain't that in their hearts they're bad
They can comfort you, some even try
They nurse you when you're ill of health
They bury you when you go and die
It ain't that in their hearts they're bad
They'd stick by you if they could
But that's just bullshit baby
People just ain't no good
People they ain't no good
People they ain't no good
People they ain't no good at all
People they ain't no good
People they ain't no good
People they ain't no good at all
I think that's well understood
You can see it everywhere you look
People just ain't no good
We were married under cherry trees
Under blossom we made our vows
All the blossoms come sailing down
Through the streets and through the playgrounds
The sun would stream on the sheets
Awoken by the morning bird
We'd buy the Sunday newspapers
And never read a single word
People they ain't no good
People they ain't no good
People they ain't no good
Seasons came, seasons went
The winter stripped the blossoms bare
A different tree now lines the streets
Shaking its fists in the air
The winter slammed us like a fist
The windows rattling in the gales
To which she drew the curtains
Made out of her wedding veils
People they ain't no good
People they ain't no good
People they ain't no good at all
To our love send a dozen white lilies
To our love send a coffin of wood
To our love let all the pink-eyed pigeons coo
That people they just ain't no good
To our love send back all the letters
To our love a valentine of blood
To our love let all the jilted lovers cry
That people they just ain't no good
It ain't that in their hearts they're bad
They can comfort you, some even try
They nurse you when you're ill of health
They bury you when you go and die
It ain't that in their hearts they're bad
They'd stick by you if they could
But that's just bullshit baby
People just ain't no good
People they ain't no good
People they ain't no good
People they ain't no good at all
People they ain't no good
People they ain't no good
People they ain't no good at all
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Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
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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.
When We Were Young
Blink-182
Blink-182
This is a sequel to 2001's "Reckless Abandon", and features the band looking back on their clumsy youth fondly.
Blue
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
“Blue” is a song about a love that is persisting in the discomfort of the person experiencing the emotion. Ed Sheeran reflects on love lost, and although he wishes his former partner find happiness, he cannot but admit his feelings are still very much there. He expresses the realization that he might never find another on this stringed instrumental by Aaron Dessner.
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.
The following comments are biased as I am a big Nick Cave fan. I really like this meloncolic song as it reminds me it is about the complexities of human relationships and how they can and do change. Being a person who likes to help people out and give "people the benefit of the doubt" can leave me exposed to people abusing my trust. I have thought of some people as friends and it turns out that they are just "using you". This song is about the human condition. I have to be careful not to do the above to others - I do not think I'm the type, but, I am human too.
You're correct. To me it's a spouse that scorned him after some help was offered.
Seriously? Awesome. I'm going to see it next week, I can't wait.
Hehe...great movie and great song.
the lyrics are just great. and true too. "people just ain't no good"... even better along with a depressive mood.
These lyrics are amazingly profound. The tune is repetitive, but I think of it as a chant or a lament to make up for that.... :D
at the start, I think you'll find it is "People just ain't no good/A THING that's well understood".
or at least, it's fairly clearly that in the version that I've been listening to.
I think this is quite touching. I guess it's more about not being able to connect with people than people being bad as such.
"It ain't that in their hearts they're bad..."
These lyrics are from the CD Booklet, so... It sounds like someone who's had enough of the world and being pissed over by people. Certainly been there.
"To our love send a coffin" sounds like a relationship has gone bad and he's not doing so well. Poor bloke.
A song with meaning... makes so much sense to me!
I have always been under the impression that the song isn't so much about people being horrible in the emotional sense, but it's Cave telling a story about how you can love someone, completely devote yourself to them and in the end they die and you're left without them.
So really, people ain't no good, because even if you love someone they can still die.
I think prodigal has a good point there: nowhere in the song does it sound like his love actually betrayed him. In fact, these lines:<br /> <br /> The winter slammed us like a fist<br /> The windows rattling in the gales<br /> To which she drew the curtains<br /> Made out of her wedding veils<br /> <br /> Make it sound like that when hard times hit, she helped get them threw it through the strength of her commitment.<br /> <br /> And the song also has a strong sense of passing time ("Seasons passing") and it sounds like the song's protagonist actually refers to his love's death (although he makes it sound impersonal or hypothetical):<br /> <br /> They can comfort you, some even try<br /> They nurse you when you're ill of health<br /> They bury you when you go and die<br /> <br /> I think this song is so sad because it's about the inevitability of love leading to real pain, not because betrayal is inevitable - but just because everything must come to an end eventually. God that's depressing. Time for bed.<br />
I respectfully disagree. I don't think the song is about actual death in the first place, and even if it was - death is a fact of life. Sad maybe, but I don't think it should be "depressing" as such. I'm not in denial either. If nothing ever ended, nothing would have any value.
an elegy to dead love, simple as that. She's dead to him now and he's mourning not her, but the death of what had held them together.