"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.
Are your friends really your friends? Are you still waiting for the end of the day? Hey, hey, when will you lean to love what's sent from up above? Riga girls go like this, make me wish I was someone else. Oh, riga girls are you sad? Oh, I wish i had someone. Just a little bit of snake oil, tin foil. It takes so little charm to keep you hanging on. But it's a facade like the sky, like the moon, like your eyes. Who would want you as you are? What can you give they couldn't get from someone else? What life of ease, what wedding bells, what pretty stones, what precious wealth? Dont' be lonely, why dont' you call me? It's called a come on, come on, come on baby. Does your heart echo like a hall, 'cause there's no one there at all.
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Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman
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.
I Can't Go To Sleep
Wu-Tang Clan
Wu-Tang Clan
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.
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.
okay he actually explained it at a concert. steve tannen, the guy from the weepies, accidentally got on a spam list and got 500 emails a day. and he was so lonely at this time that sometimes he would actually read them. and he said they all had interesting subjects like 'STEVE!!!' and he would be like, yeah?? lol (he's so cute). so one said "RIGA GIRLS!!!!!!!! GO LIKE THIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!" and he opened it and got a TON of porn. lol so but it's a beautiful song, he was able to explain loneliness in this interesting way based on a very odd story. i think the "riga girls are you sad?" part is just... so touching. fantastic band.
Riga is indeed the capitol of Latvia where it just so happens that prostitution is incredibly common and very cheap. So I always just related this song to that, almost a Holden Caufield moment where you just pay a prostitute to have someone to listen to you and pretend as if they cared.
yah thats exactly what steve tannen said at the show i went to and i heard that story. i love the song though, i think its just like so odd that i can find it relatable, and i think a lot of people can. as stupid as it sounds, relating average people to porn stars but you have to just think how lonely they are to do the things they do, and when he says "oh i wish i had someone." and that makes me sad cause i always thought the last line was "is your heart of gold like a hall? cause theres no one there at all." but i guess echo makes much more sense. rats
what is a riga girl?
yea, I have no idea. I enjoy the song. I tried looking up definitions and whatnot of "riga" and all I could find was that there is a "gulf of riga" and apparently its the capitol of Latvia.
yah hab is right it the name is derived from a spam e-mail subject line.
ccockerill, you said it best with holden caufield. =]
"Does your heart echo like a hall 'cause there's no one there at all?"
Priceless lyrics.