"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.
I know a girl
She puts the color inside of my world
But, she's just like a maze
Where all of the walls all continually change
And I've done all I can
To stand on her steps with my heart in my hand
Now I'm starting to see
Maybe it's got nothing to do with me
Fathers, be good to your daughters
Daughters will love like you do
Girls become lovers who turn into mothers
So mothers be good to your daughters, too
Oh, you see that skin?
It's the same she's been standing in
Since the day she saw him walking away
Now she's left cleaning up the mess he made
So fathers, be good to your daughters
Daughters will love like you do
Girls become lovers who turn into mothers
So mothers be good to your daughters, too
Boys, you can break
You'll find out how much they can take
Boys will be strong
And boys soldier on
But boys would be gone without warmth from
A woman's good, good heart
On behalf of every man
Looking out for every girl
You are the God and the weight of her world
So fathers, be good to your daughters
Daughters will love like you do
Girls become lovers who turn into mothers
So mothers be good to your daughters, too
So mothers be good to your daughters, too
So mothers be good to your daughters, too
She puts the color inside of my world
But, she's just like a maze
Where all of the walls all continually change
And I've done all I can
To stand on her steps with my heart in my hand
Now I'm starting to see
Maybe it's got nothing to do with me
Fathers, be good to your daughters
Daughters will love like you do
Girls become lovers who turn into mothers
So mothers be good to your daughters, too
Oh, you see that skin?
It's the same she's been standing in
Since the day she saw him walking away
Now she's left cleaning up the mess he made
So fathers, be good to your daughters
Daughters will love like you do
Girls become lovers who turn into mothers
So mothers be good to your daughters, too
Boys, you can break
You'll find out how much they can take
Boys will be strong
And boys soldier on
But boys would be gone without warmth from
A woman's good, good heart
On behalf of every man
Looking out for every girl
You are the God and the weight of her world
So fathers, be good to your daughters
Daughters will love like you do
Girls become lovers who turn into mothers
So mothers be good to your daughters, too
So mothers be good to your daughters, too
So mothers be good to your daughters, too
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Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman
Gentle Hour
Yo La Tengo
Yo La Tengo
This song was originally written by a guy called Peter Gutteridge. He was one of the founders of the "Dunedin Sound" a musical scene in the south of New Zealand in the early 80s. From there it was covered by "The Clean" one of the early bands of that scene (he had originally been a member of in it's early days, writing a couple of their best early songs). The Dunedin sound, and the Clean became popular on american college radio in the mid to late 80s. I guess Yo La Tengo heard that version.
Great version of a great song,
No Surprises
Radiohead
Radiohead
Same ideas expressed in Fitter, Happier are expressed in this song. We're told to strive for some sort of ideal life, which includes getting a good job, being kind to everyone, finding a partner, getting married, having a couple kids, living in a quiet neighborhood in a nice big house, etc. But in Fitter, Happier the narrator(?) realizes that it's incredibly robotic to live this life. People are being used by those in power "like a pig in a cage on antibiotics"--being pacified with things like new phones and cool gadgets and houses while being sucked dry. On No Surprises, the narrator is realizing how this life is killing him slowly. In the video, his helmet is slowly filling up with water, drowning him. But he's so complacent with it. This is a good summary of the song. This boring, "perfect" life foisted upon us by some higher powers (not spiritual, but political, economic, etc. politicians and businessmen, perhaps) is not the way to live. But there is seemingly no way out but death. He'd rather die peacefully right now than live in this cage. While our lives are often shielded, we're in our own protective bubbles, or protective helmets like the one Thom wears, if we look a little harder we can see all the corruption, lies, manipulation, etc. that is going on in the world, often run by huge yet nearly invisible organizations, corporations, and 'leaders'. It's a very hopeless song because it reflects real life.
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/
Magical
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
How would you describe the feeling of being in love? For Ed Sheeran, the word is “Magical.” in HIS three-minute album opener, he makes an attempt to capture the beauty and delicacy of true love with words. He describes the magic of it all over a bright Pop song produced by Aaron Dessner.
It's about realizing that a lot of how women are around men can be based on upbringing and past experiences with men. Its not JUST about the current guy that is in the picture. We all have baggage and John realizes in the song that he may not be the reason why the girl is pushing or acting strange. There are a lot of reasons why people are the way they are and he gets that mistreatment or past pain could be the reason why the girl is so odd. He's trying to get others to see how important it is to have good relationships within families from the get go.
I just like this song cause I can relate entirely. We are all influenced by our family and what we've grown up with so its important to be a good influence to those around you as well as to understand why others may be a certain way. Learn to broaden your view about people.
Okay, Im a guy,
I just made an account to write about this song. This song is great, its my life. In the beginning, Mayer talks about how a girl he likes is just like a maze, walls all continually change. Mayer is talking about girls without dads.
Dads are not given enough credit. They care SO much about their daughters, they drive them everywhere, buy them huge birthday gifts, buy them cars, and then their daughters leave the house without ever saying enough thanks. But dads are so important. John Mayer says in the song: "You are the God and the weight of her world"
This line explains that girls without dads, or with dads that dont put all the effort that most dads do, don't grow up ever to be the same. This relates back to the girl Mayer talks about in the beginning, who didn't have a good dad.
In the end, he talks about how daughters turn into mothers. Those mothers have to be good to their sons, because those sons become fathers. And the cycle repeats....
Nice..and the cycle does repeat (usually, although outside influences can change a person for the good or bad). But to say that all fathers care for their daughters is sadly not true. I have worked with abused women (who were once little girls) and I have had friends whose husbands abandoned the family for other women; men; and the single lifestyle (the grass is always greener complex). The song, to me, is about taking care of those we love, especially those we raise. If a father is an excellent role model for a female child, she's more likely to demand the best in the mate she selects. If a man treats his wife well, his children are more likely to treat their significant others well. And if a mother is good to her daughter (by being a good role model) her daughter is more likely to become a good role model for the children she raises. Yes, the cycle usually repeats itself, but I have seen children born to lousy parents turn out well. God bless everyone cursed with wolves for parents; we are but blank slates before our parents get their paws on us...
This is like the biography of every fatherless girl. I wish I could sit down every parent of girls and play this song.
I can relate to the guy's point of view about trying so damn hard to repair whatever is wrong, but coming up empty handed, because there's something inside her that is immobile and fixed that he might never be able to overcome....
There are ultimately two kinds of girls that are 'created' when there's an absence of a father: there's the kind of girl that yearns/needs that male attention and she'll get it any way she can, and there's the other kind of girls that are so used to the absense of a male in her life, that she pushes all of them away and puts a guard up. John Mayer described the latter to a T...
I personally relate very much to the first verse of the song,
I know a girl she puts the color inside of my world she's just like a maze where all of the walls all continually change I've done all i can to stand on the steps with my heart in my hands Now i started to think maybe its got nothing to do with me.
Currently I am heart broken over a girl that not necessarily has father issues but she has had her heart broken by so many men in her past that she does not trust any man to enter her life. As much as I try to tear down those walls and show her that I'm not running any where she keeps putting up more mazes that blocks me away. We usually talk daily and for long periods of time to the wee hours of the morning but over the past 2 weeks she had disappeared without any notice, I see she still goes online but she stopped responding to me. I am heart broken now because we were supposed to go out on Valenttines day together but now I don't even know. I know there is a lot of talk about how John Mayer is a sexist for this song, but for me he brought a lot of clarity in to my life that my feelings for her are an neverending battle. As much as I put my own feelings out there with the fear of getting hurt and standing on those steps with my heart on the line...I realize that its not because of me but that she needs time to adapt to her hurt past before she lets any man in her life...until then I just have to leave her life.
For anyone saying this song is sexist... quit being so narrow minded. That's obviously not how John intended it to be. He just wanted to write a beautiful song and he did.
This song means this to me, It is about a guy or girl: No general sex. Being in love with their significant other and trying to understand his/her(s) problems but realizing that it may not be something he/she can fix. It might just be something that happened in the past and only he/she can figure that out.
John Mayer thinks daughters need more care than sons.
John Mayer, go fuck yourself.
Jeez get over yourself. Pretty sure he never said that in his song.
@Greyshades Ouch! We don't need more care, but we don't need to be unnecessarily hurt, either.
@Greyshades I disagree. Maybe he'll write a song about sons one day, but he's writing about a girl he wants to date and how she's messed up because she thinks love looks like her parents' marriage.
@Greyshades no shit but John fuck me not yourself please. k I understand your frustration @Greyshades John Mayer shouldn't have written such a sexist song but well can't change that. But if my opinion matters I love boys and sons and while my teenage son and I don't relate AT ALL I'm trying to spend time with him so he knows how to treat a woman one day.... and not one like me someone who has led the best life and followed the yellow brick road back to home <br /> @John mayer if you get on here what's your skype number??? : p
After reading all of these comments I was really depressed because I realized "wow I shouldn't sing this anymore it's so sexist," but then I reread the lyrics and it's not at all! John Mayor is a dick at times but this song is not an example of that. It's about how a father should take care of his daughter. If you don't love your daughters like you should, it could affect their love life in the future. Parents are essentially the god-like figures in a child world, hence the reference. What they do affects them forever.
Some people are just looking for something to be angry about.
@juvenilia agreed.
I'm obviously in the minority here, but this song, quite frankly, makes me want to puke. "Oh, please, be careful with the poor fragile girls; they can't take being hurt the way boys can! And we men need them to be in good shape so they'll be willing to fuck us when they grow up!"
Mysogynistic bullshit, all of it. (And I say that as a woman who's been pretty well fucked up by my father, fwiw.)
@gravity_defiant NOOOO! that is not at all what I think he meant! I think he was saying, GOD DAMMIT FATHERS STOP LEAVING AND ABUSING AND HURTING YOUR DAUGHTERS SO THAT THEY ARE INSECURE IN ADULTHOOD! I mean COME ON!<br /> I was lucky enough to have a father that stayed to secure me and keep me safe! <br /> <br /> We can take being hurt, but he's telling the boys that the girl has already been hurt, so if you love her, why not take the pain for her?<br /> If some fathers, like yours, were there to help us and comfort, would we be half as hurt? HELL NO!