"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.
If you want it, here it is, come and get it
Mmh, make your mind up fast
If you want it, any time, I can give it
But you'd better hurry 'cause it may not last
Did I hear you say that there must be a catch?
Will you walk away from a fool and his money?
If you want it, here it is, come and get it
But you'd better hurry 'cause it's goin' fast
If you want it, here it is, come and get it
Mmh, make your mind up fast
If you want it, any time, I can give it
But you'd better hurry 'cause it may not last
Did I hear you say that there must be a catch?
Will you walk away from a fool and his money?
Sonny
If you want it, here it is, come and get it
But you'd better hurry 'cause it's goin' fast
You'd better hurry 'cause it's goin' fast
Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh
Fool and his money
Sonny
If you want it, here it is, come and get it
But you'd better hurry 'cause it's goin' fast
You'd better hurry 'cause it's goin' fast
You'd better hurry 'cause it's goin' fast
Mmh, make your mind up fast
If you want it, any time, I can give it
But you'd better hurry 'cause it may not last
Did I hear you say that there must be a catch?
Will you walk away from a fool and his money?
If you want it, here it is, come and get it
But you'd better hurry 'cause it's goin' fast
If you want it, here it is, come and get it
Mmh, make your mind up fast
If you want it, any time, I can give it
But you'd better hurry 'cause it may not last
Did I hear you say that there must be a catch?
Will you walk away from a fool and his money?
Sonny
If you want it, here it is, come and get it
But you'd better hurry 'cause it's goin' fast
You'd better hurry 'cause it's goin' fast
Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh
Fool and his money
Sonny
If you want it, here it is, come and get it
But you'd better hurry 'cause it's goin' fast
You'd better hurry 'cause it's goin' fast
You'd better hurry 'cause it's goin' fast
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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
Dreamwalker
Silent Planet
Silent Planet
I think much like another song “Anti-Matter” (that's also on the same album as this song), this one is also is inspired by a horrifying van crash the band experienced on Nov 3, 2022. This, much like the other track, sounds like it's an extension what they shared while huddled in the wreckage, as they helped frontman Garrett Russell stem the bleeding from his head wound while he was under the temporary effects of a concussion. The track speaks of where the mind goes at the most desperate & desolate of times, when it just about slips away to all but disconnect itself, and the aftermath.
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.
Punchline
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran sings about missing his former partner and learning important life lessons in the process on “Punchline.” This track tells a story of battling to get rid of emotions for a former lover, whom he now realized might not have loved him the same way. He’s now caught between accepting that fact and learning life lessons from it and going back to beg her for another chance.
Geez! This is such a great song; I can't believe more people haven't viewed it/commented on it! This was the song (written & produced by Paul McCartney) that got Badfinger off the ground, so to speak.
It's a excepcional song, I've got the Beatles' version and it's excellent too. Paul in piano and bass playing so good. Could have been a hit if The Beatles had published this song at that moment.
The McCartney demo on Beatles Anthology is note-for-note the same. Basically, I have read, McCartney told Badfinger, "record it like this, or I'll take it to the Beatles and have a hit with them.
The demo on the beatles anthology is awesome (as is everything the band did) Paul recorded the entire thing in under an hour during an abbey road session in august 1969
Great song by McCartney. A nice gift to the Beatles' new acts under their Apple Records contract. Must have been a nice two-way street there for both bands!
I love this shit
Quite clever--The song is written TO Badfinger, here it is boys, I'm giving you this song, better take it. Could also be seen as a general pitch to young talent to sign with the just-formed Apple label.
@haystax lol, the same thing just occured to me. Pretty funny.<br /> <br /> From Badfinger's point of view, it did sound too good to be true, didn't it? "I'm Paul of the Beatles and will sign you and give you a hit song I wrote".
I’ve always heard McCartney wrote it about the pressure he was under to sign with Alan Klein, which he didn’t. I may be mixing stories but he may have recorded this after being left alone at the studio by the others over the contract.
Basically, this is a generic pitchman's song. While it made an excellent theme song for the British film The Magic Christian (1969) and might have some subtler "in-joke" meanings for the writers and singers involved, the meaning for the general public is right there on the surface: the narrator is giving something of considerable value away for free, and insists there's no catch and no hidden cost. Everybody likes free stuff, and the self-deprecating pitchman depicts himself as "a fool and his money" (which, as nearly every native English speaker knows from the old saying so often repeated as to be a cliche, "are soon parted") to encourage his listeners to come get their handout; but as with all such offers, supplies and time are limited, so his listeners need to come and get their handout now or else not at all. ¶ On a personal note, this pitch has been a personal theme for me recently while volunteering at a food pantry. On slow days, and when there's considerable lag time between our receiving an order from headquarters and the client who applied for the handout actually arriving to pick up everything we've assembled, I'll often be quietly humming or singing this song to myself while waiting. It's my way of saying (oh-so-subtly) "Our donors have supplied us with money and groceries, and we've given our time to assemble them for your benefit; so why the delay? We're ready when you are, people."