"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.
Some of us are born, and then some of us are born again.
Some of us are scared to death, and some just don't believe in it.
Something's always wrong, there's a line, an idea I can't get behind
No one knows what's right.
Some try, some just try to find a king, they sing
Who will save us now?
It's our life, but we don't want to live it.
We want to be told how
By something or someone who's better than us
Who we know we can trust,
Who will always protect us.
But keep us scared to death so we never ask questions,
Who'll dictate the consequences of our actions
And give us peace of mind about our miserable lives,
Confined and content, all we want is a place we can hide.
We can hide.
So we've always fought our wars for what we're told's worth dying for.
Land and love and God and wealth,
But men in charge protect themselves.
You can rest assured,
It's the young and the poor who fought all our wars.
Led to death by men,
Who they chose and hoped would protect them.
And who will save us now?
It's our life, but we don't want to live it.
And all you'll get is down
'Cause the people you elect to protect your best interest
Will just protect themselves and all their investments.
And even the few with the best of intentions
Will just push their views of what they think is right for you
And everyone else, you can't think for yourself
'Cause you've chosen to let someone else do it for you.
For you.
So we're left to drift between our waking life and all our dreams
Reality is relative and that's all the advice I'll give.
Life and death are hard,
They're such strange and complicated issues.
So listen, listen well for insight
No one knows what's right for you.
And who will save us now?
It's a wrong and irrelative question
'Cause we've figured it out.
With the people who love us,
Who call us their brothers through lessons we've learned
From our fathers and mothers, not looking for someone to bind our solutions,
To fight our own battles, or show what truth is,
By working hard to find our own peace of mind
Living and learning 'til we know what's right for our lives.
Our lives.
Some of us are scared to death, and some just don't believe in it.
Something's always wrong, there's a line, an idea I can't get behind
No one knows what's right.
Some try, some just try to find a king, they sing
Who will save us now?
It's our life, but we don't want to live it.
We want to be told how
By something or someone who's better than us
Who we know we can trust,
Who will always protect us.
But keep us scared to death so we never ask questions,
Who'll dictate the consequences of our actions
And give us peace of mind about our miserable lives,
Confined and content, all we want is a place we can hide.
We can hide.
So we've always fought our wars for what we're told's worth dying for.
Land and love and God and wealth,
But men in charge protect themselves.
You can rest assured,
It's the young and the poor who fought all our wars.
Led to death by men,
Who they chose and hoped would protect them.
And who will save us now?
It's our life, but we don't want to live it.
And all you'll get is down
'Cause the people you elect to protect your best interest
Will just protect themselves and all their investments.
And even the few with the best of intentions
Will just push their views of what they think is right for you
And everyone else, you can't think for yourself
'Cause you've chosen to let someone else do it for you.
For you.
So we're left to drift between our waking life and all our dreams
Reality is relative and that's all the advice I'll give.
Life and death are hard,
They're such strange and complicated issues.
So listen, listen well for insight
No one knows what's right for you.
And who will save us now?
It's a wrong and irrelative question
'Cause we've figured it out.
With the people who love us,
Who call us their brothers through lessons we've learned
From our fathers and mothers, not looking for someone to bind our solutions,
To fight our own battles, or show what truth is,
By working hard to find our own peace of mind
Living and learning 'til we know what's right for our lives.
Our lives.
Lyrics submitted by ellie117
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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"
Cajun Girl
Little Feat
Little Feat
Overall about difficult moments of disappointment and vulnerability. Having hope and longing, while remaining optimistic for the future. Encourages the belief that with each new morning there is a chance for things to improve.
The chorus offers a glimmer of optimism and a chance at a resolution and redemption in the future.
Captures the rollercoaster of emotions of feeling lost while loving someone who is not there for you, feeling let down and abandoned while waiting for a lover. Lost with no direction, "Now I'm up in the air with the rain in my hair, Nowhere to go, I can go anywhere"
The bridge shows signs of longing and a plea for companionship. The Lyrics express a desire for authentic connection and the importance of Loving someone just as they are. "Just in passing, I'm not asking. That you be anyone but you”
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.
Powerful. Obviously a stab at the government, but also the people and religion.
Yes, it is very powerful, almost too powerful. It's clearly not a stab at the government, at all. It's merely a brief goal of history, in the end, tying an idea that the only government, is self-goverment. Anarchy, Socialism, or Liberitarianism, anything you choose to believe out of it.
It's not anti-government, at all, it's clearly pointing out the flaws of it. The benefits of the proposed "plan" in the end are merely the benefits, because societies can't run like that, even if that's what we all want, Leaders are necessary.
It's powerful, yes. Important, yes. Negative? Hardly.
Yes, it is very powerful, almost too powerful. It's clearly not a stab at the government, at all. It's merely a brief goal of history, in the end, tying an idea that the only government, is self-goverment. Anarchy, Socialism, or Liberitarianism, anything you choose to believe out of it.
It's not anti-government, at all, it's clearly pointing out the flaws of it. The benefits of the proposed "plan" in the end are merely the benefits, because societies can't run like that, even if that's what we all want, Leaders are necessary.
It's powerful, yes. Important, yes. Negative? Hardly.
It quite clearly is a stab at the government saying that they are pushing their views onto people, and that people need to think for themselves. It is a amazing song and I think possibly the best on the album and I also agree with what ellie117 said about religion.
And it's "so we've always fought our wars for what we're told's WORTH dying for.
they aren't "pushing their views" onto the people. The song describes that the "leaders" naturally (keyword) use greed and selfishness as a method in governing. It's human nature, and the song does not slander that at all, it merely depicts it.
So the why in the song does it say "even the few with the best of intentions Will just push their views"? Please explain how that is not saying that the government are pushing the views onto people!!
Their not the
Best song on the album, I think.
I made an account just so I could say what I think about this song. And I think most of you are missing the point. For me, the song is about the worst thing in the world: laziness and greed.
Everyone wants all their dreams and wishes to come true by some magical fate, instead of working for it themselves. They want their government and church to make their lives easier.
But the most important thing you can do is recognize that your life is your own, and if you want to be happy, you're going to have to work for it. And even if you can't fix all the things you want to, if you can make a difference in your own life, and that of the ones you love, you can probably find happiness.
Hands down the best song on the album.