"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.
She knew she was able to fly,
Because when she came down,
She had dust on her hands from the sky,
She felt so high, the dust made her cry.
She knew she could fly like a bird,
But when she said, "please raise the roof higher" nobody heard,
They never noticed a word,
The light bulbs burn, her fingers will learn.
Why should it feel like a crime?
If I want to be with you all the time.
Why is it measured in hours?
You should make your own time, you're welcome in mine
Because when she came down,
She had dust on her hands from the sky,
She felt so high, the dust made her cry.
She knew she could fly like a bird,
But when she said, "please raise the roof higher" nobody heard,
They never noticed a word,
The light bulbs burn, her fingers will learn.
Why should it feel like a crime?
If I want to be with you all the time.
Why is it measured in hours?
You should make your own time, you're welcome in mine
Lyrics submitted by Vurogj, edited by JohnDiFool2
Polar Bear Lyrics as written by Laurence John Colbert Andy Bell
Lyrics © Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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This song seemingly tackles the methods of deception those who manipulate others use to get victims to follow their demands, as well as diverting attention away from important issues. They'll also use it as a means to convince people to hate or kill others by pretending acts of terrorism were committed by the enemy when the acts themselves were done by the masters of control to promote discrimination and hate. It also reinforces the idea that these manipulative forces operate in various locations, infiltrating everyday life without detection, and propagate any and everywhere.
In general, it highlights the danger of hidden agendas, manipulation, and distraction, serving as a critique of those who exploit chaos and confusion to control and gain power, depicting a cautionary tale against falling into their traps. It encourages us to question the narratives presented to us and remain vigilant against manipulation in various parts of society.
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"There's a part - 'Cash in now honey, cash in Miss Smith.' Miss Smith is my Mother; our last name was Smith. Cashing in when she cashed in her life. So... she decided that, to her... at that time, she was desperate. Life wasn't worth it for her, that was her opinion. Some people think, never take your life, and some people find that their life isn't worth living. She was in love with my Dad, and my Dad was not faithful to her, and it broke her heart. She was very desperate and she did something that I know she regrets."
Plastic Bag
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“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.
I love/hate this song, I have a strage relationship with it... It reminds me of this girl I used to date who was always talking 'bout being free and never letting yourself get attached to anything, and how our relationship never really worked 'cause I'm somewhat the opposite, I'm very down-to-earth and I wanted to marry her (I was 21 and she was 22, and I loved her so much...) and be with her all the time and I found this song shortly after it was over and immediatly thought of her. I imagined myself as the polar bear of the title, this very heavy animal, bound to the ground, looking up to a seagull (another song in the 'Nowhere' album is called that, as you must know) flying freely in the sky and not being able to reach to her because he can't fly like she does no matter how hard he tries... This song means a lot to me, it breakes my heart every time and maybe it has nothing to do with anything really, but that's how I see it. And that's how music works, right?
Right, brother.
Of lot of these lyrics are adapted from the excellent J.D. Salinger novella "Raise High the Roof-Beam, Carpenters". I'm not sure if the line "Raise the roof higher" was intended as a reference or not, but there is a line in that story that refers to a little girl who says she can fly around her apartment, that goes: "she knew she was able to fly because when she came down she always had dust on her hands from the lightbulbs". There's the first verse and the lines about fingers learning that lightbulbs burn.
Thank you SO much, yst, for revealing this background info on the Ride lyrics!<br /> I've always wondered how on earth these young guys like Mark G. and Andy B. have been able to create such ingenious stories describing how we humans struggle through this roller coaster of emotions called life!
thank you
Thank you alot for clearing that up ! I really wondered what the song would mean. Anyway, I wonder why it's called "Polar Bear".
Don't guess what's about but the last block is simply the best of Ride.
Polar Bear in my feeling is more of a man who has to escape or at least hide his true feeling. Or it might because he had no choice to do anything currently to continue his relationship. The lyrics here is more about the girl, who is trying to love him back. At least, he is sure that the girl loves him. And the lyrics" please raise the roof higher" but nobody heard is trying to explain how hard the situation/reality can be to get what she wants which is to get his love back, to find him. The lyrics "Why should it feel like a crime? If I want to be with you all the time" is a confession from lyricist that he loves the girl a lot, but there is a hidden force that is holding back him from reaching to her. And there is a barrier on the other side, that girl, who is also trying to love him back, but find it hard to make it happen. The lyrics"Why is it measured in hours?", in my feeling, is trying to imply that if reality makes it almost impossible for them to be with each other, then he chooses to love her through the sign of universe, in a way that trenscends time and space, there they can be with each other as long as they want. As lyricist mentioned in the first song Seagull, " we all knoe there's no limit to thought" and here this time, thsi line "You should make your own time, you're welcome in mine", makes sense a lot.
Polar Bear in my feeling is more of a man who has to escape or at least hide his true feeling. Or it might because he had no choice to do anything currently to continue his relationship. The lyrics here is more about the girl, who is trying to love him back. At least, he is sure that the girl loves him. And the lyrics" please raise the roof higher" but nobody heard is trying to explain how hard the situation/reality can be to get what she wants which is to get his love back, to find him. The lyrics "Why should it feel like a crime? If I want to be with you all the time" is a confession from lyricist that he loves the girl a lot, but there is a hidden force that is holding back him from reaching to her. And there is a barrier on the other side, that girl, who is also trying to love him back, but find it hard to make it happen. The lyrics"Why is it measured in hours?", in my feeling, is trying to imply that if reality makes it almost impossible for them to be with each other, then he chooses to love her through the sign of universe, in a way that trenscends time and space, there they can be with each other as long as they want. As lyricist mentioned in the first song Seagull, " we all knoe there's no limit to thought" and here this time, thsi line "You should make your own time, you're welcome in mine", makes sense a lot.
I still feel this song as cross-country lovers who separated and still miss each other.