"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.
Well It's Saturday night
you're all dressed up in blue
I been watching you awhile
maybe you been watching me too
So somebody ran out
left somebody's heart in a mess
Well if you're looking for love
honey I'm tougher than the rest
Some girls they want a handsome Dan
or some good-lookin' Joe on their arm
Some girls like a sweet-talkin' Romeo
Well 'round here baby
I learned you get what you can get
So if you're rough enough for love
honey I'm tougher than the rest
The road is dark
and it's a thin thin line
But I want you to know I'll walk it for you any time
Maybe your other boyfriends
couldn't pass the test
Well if you're rough and ready for love
honey I'm tougher than the rest
Well it ain't no secret
I've been around a time or two
Well I don't know baby maybe you've been around too
Well there's another dance
all you gotta do is say yes
And if you're rough and ready for love
honey I'm tougher than the rest
If you're rough enough for love
baby I'm tougher than the rest
you're all dressed up in blue
I been watching you awhile
maybe you been watching me too
So somebody ran out
left somebody's heart in a mess
Well if you're looking for love
honey I'm tougher than the rest
Some girls they want a handsome Dan
or some good-lookin' Joe on their arm
Some girls like a sweet-talkin' Romeo
Well 'round here baby
I learned you get what you can get
So if you're rough enough for love
honey I'm tougher than the rest
The road is dark
and it's a thin thin line
But I want you to know I'll walk it for you any time
Maybe your other boyfriends
couldn't pass the test
Well if you're rough and ready for love
honey I'm tougher than the rest
Well it ain't no secret
I've been around a time or two
Well I don't know baby maybe you've been around too
Well there's another dance
all you gotta do is say yes
And if you're rough and ready for love
honey I'm tougher than the rest
If you're rough enough for love
baby I'm tougher than the rest
Lyrics submitted by oofus
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Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman
Mountain Song
Jane's Addiction
Jane's Addiction
Jane's Addiction vocalist Perry Farrell gives Adam Reader some heartfelt insight into Jane’s Addiction's hard rock manifesto "Mountain Song", which was the second single from their revolutionary album Nothing's Shocking. Mountain song was first recorded in 1986 and appeared on the soundtrack to the film Dudes starring Jon Cryer. The version on Nothing's Shocking was re-recorded in 1988.
"'Mountain Song' was actually about... I hate to say it but... drugs. Climbing this mountain and getting as high as you can, and then coming down that mountain," reveals Farrell. "What it feels to descend from the mountain top... not easy at all. The ascension is tough but exhilarating. Getting down is... it's a real bummer. Drugs is not for everybody obviously. For me, I wanted to experience the heights, and the lows come along with it."
"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."
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.
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.
i think is about a guy that is not willing to give his love away so easily. For some reason i think his heart was broken on a previous relationship and he was very hurted, and now he met somebody else, but he doesnt want to give it all till he is really sure about his own feelings. I guess he had some other relationships that didnt succed : "some girls they want a handsome Dan or some good-lookin' Joe on their arm Some girls like a sweet-talkin Romeo" like he is saying this for experience. Sort of "hang on and we will see"
This is my favourite Springsteen song. Absolutely brilliant. I think its a man admitting his and her faults, but he's asking her to let them be together despite of theses faults and telling her he'll keep her safe tougher than the rest.
This is a true love song. It's real. No bullshit, no fluff, no empty words or meanings within it. Completely underrated as a love song and within Springsteen's collection.
how many of us have wanted to say the words of this song to someone before but couldn't find the right way to say it? I know I have... this song says it all
One of my favorite Springsteen songs. Chris LeDoux's version is also great if you're a country fan. To me, this song is basically about lovin' the one you're with, and accepting their faults and past imperfections.
Good song. One of the best on 'Tunnel of Love'.
Chris Ledoux's country version is awesome.
Some girls they want a handsome Dan or some good-lookin' Joe on their arm Some girls like a sweet-talkin' Romeo
These verses are very obvious but he is pointing out superficial things that superficial women want in "their" man....wonder why her other boyfriends couldn't pass the test?
To me this song is about being a real man to your woman. No one writes songs about the guy who goes to work comes home and stays faitful. He isn't a romantic, model or a millionaire but any women would be happy to have him if they game him a chance.
I think that this song is about finding the courage to start another committment afer some failures in the past. It's about don't give up on love, it's about being ready to give all of you for a person... also if your heart has bleeded before. "Well it ain't no secret I've been around a time or two Well I don't know baby maybe you've been around too Well there's another dance All you gotta do is say yes And if you're rough and ready for love"
I love your comments guys, that really helped me a lot. Much appreciated. One thing took me a while to think about though... the line "Well round here baby, I learned you get what you can get" - I think it says that you may want that handsome Dan, good looking Joe or even both but you have to give first and deserve it first, then you get it. I don't know if it's accurate but it seems OK for me.
@bank_robert Interesting. I've thought of that line as describing a not so glamorous place. An ordinary bar for everyday people, maybe in a smaller city. I.e., "you should not dream to big here, but realize thet what you find here are ordinary guys like me, and amongst them I'm the one who will stay true".
My wife and I saw Springsteen sing this song along with Patti once, and we really got touched by the amazing honest love that they showed to us.
Around 4 years later, we got married, and we opened the dance to the sound of Tougher than the rest.
And still now and always... the road will be dark, the line really thin... but we will walk it for each other anytime.