"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.
Darling I'm lost
Adrift in the dark
I'm clutching your words
To my vampire heart once more
So let in the light
Turn me to dust
If it don't end in Bloodshed dear
It's probably not love
Here we are
In the darkest place
My reflection
Shows only your face
Something is found
Something is lost
Went looking for clues
On the streets of old New York
And I spilled someone's blood
I broke someone's heart again
Someone you know
You're looking at him my friend
And the people in our lives
We all leave behind
Leave behind
Here we are
In the darkest place
To keep from forgetting
I picture your face
And I wonder
While we count the cost
Which is sweeter
Love or it's loss
So I curse you
My vampire heart
For letting me you love you
Love you
For letting me love you
From the start
Adrift in the dark
I'm clutching your words
To my vampire heart once more
So let in the light
Turn me to dust
If it don't end in Bloodshed dear
It's probably not love
Here we are
In the darkest place
My reflection
Shows only your face
Something is found
Something is lost
Went looking for clues
On the streets of old New York
And I spilled someone's blood
I broke someone's heart again
Someone you know
You're looking at him my friend
And the people in our lives
We all leave behind
Leave behind
Here we are
In the darkest place
To keep from forgetting
I picture your face
And I wonder
While we count the cost
Which is sweeter
Love or it's loss
So I curse you
My vampire heart
For letting me you love you
Love you
For letting me love you
From the start
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Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman
The Night We Met
Lord Huron
Lord Huron
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"
Just A Little Lovin'
Dusty Springfield
Dusty Springfield
I don't think it's necessarily about sex. It's about wanting to start the day with some love and affection. Maybe a warm cuddle. I'm not alone in interpreting it that way! For example:
"'Just a Little Lovin’ is a timeless country song originally recorded by Eddy Arnold in 1954. The song, written by Eddie Miller and Jimmy Campbell, explores the delicate nuances of love and showcases Arnold’s emotive vocals. It delves into the universal theme of love and how even the smallest gesture of affection can have a profound impact on our lives." https://oldtimemusic.com/the-meaning-behind-the-song-just-a-little-lovin-by-eddy-arnold/
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.
To me, this song talks about the hardships of a relationship. How you love a person so much you wouldn't stand being apart from that person, even when he or she is hurting you to the point of madness.
The vampire heart, which doesn't beat anymore, lives for that person only.
The lines "And I spilled someone's blood I broke someones heart again Someone you know You're looking at him my friend" shows how, once again, beaten and heartbroken, he comes back to his lover, to me mistreated and hurt again.
Well, that's only my interpretation. I have to say, the song is raw and haunting, and even if you don;t like the song itself, it will get stuck in your head forever.
This is the most beautiful song I have ever heard Tom Mcrae sing, when he played it live at the end a concert i went to, I actually cried. It was beautiful.. and with my boyfriend holding his arms around me, whispering he loved me it was one of the best nights of my life..
I agree that this is typical Tom Mcrae, and i love his voice, but Damien Rice is good too. They play somewhat the same musical style, but its the voices that make them both special in their own way.
my vampire heart is about being afraid of love because it can hurt people, and it probably will. In the line "my reflection shows only your face" he thinks that he's lost in the other person. And with the metaphore that vampires has to live of other people's blood, and does'nt have a reflection it shows that he doesnt like the nature of how the relationship works...but of course there's probably many ways to analyze this..
If anyone says this sounds like Damien Rice I'm going to come around there and club them with a shark. This is classic McRae and is his normal high standards, which I, personally, think is above Rice. That's not to say Rice isn't good, he obviously is, but McRae is grossly overlooked like all the true genius artists of today.
I think this is going to appeal to a certain type of people. I guess there's a certain soul seeking that leaves us wondering why anyone could love us and a self destructive approach to relationships. You continuously question it and wonder why you keep going head first just to have your heart broken once again.
It's the knowing it's all going to hell and is summed up by the last section.
He definitely doesn't sound like Damien Rice. Don't know what is wrong with people's ears.
Beautiful song, of course.