"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.
Guess you're old enough to know
The kids out on the east coast
Roughly twenty years old
They got coaxed out by a certain perfect ratio
Warm beer to the summer smoke
And the Meat Loaf to the Billy Joel
Certain songs they get so scratched into our souls
She goes low on the seats when she gets high in her car
She looks shallow
But she's neck deep in the steamy dreams of the guys along the harbor bars
She's pulling out her shirttails and she's jacking up her socks
Stern and stoned and confident, coming up towards the jukebox
Born into the only songs that everybody finally sings along
B-1 is for the good girls and it's "Only The Good Die Young"
C-9 is for the making eyes, it's "Paradise By The Dashboard Light"
B-12 is for the speeders and D-4 is for the lovers
And the hard drugs are for the bartenders
And the kitchen workers and the bartender's friends
And they're playing it again
And Ellen Foley gives 'em hope
And certain songs they get scratched into our souls
Guess you're old enough to know
Kids out on the west coast are taking off their clothes
Screwing in the surf and going out to shows
They get high and they ride around in GTOs
Certain songs they get so scratched into our souls
Certain songs they get so scratched into our souls
The kids out on the east coast
Roughly twenty years old
They got coaxed out by a certain perfect ratio
Warm beer to the summer smoke
And the Meat Loaf to the Billy Joel
Certain songs they get so scratched into our souls
She goes low on the seats when she gets high in her car
She looks shallow
But she's neck deep in the steamy dreams of the guys along the harbor bars
She's pulling out her shirttails and she's jacking up her socks
Stern and stoned and confident, coming up towards the jukebox
Born into the only songs that everybody finally sings along
B-1 is for the good girls and it's "Only The Good Die Young"
C-9 is for the making eyes, it's "Paradise By The Dashboard Light"
B-12 is for the speeders and D-4 is for the lovers
And the hard drugs are for the bartenders
And the kitchen workers and the bartender's friends
And they're playing it again
And Ellen Foley gives 'em hope
And certain songs they get scratched into our souls
Guess you're old enough to know
Kids out on the west coast are taking off their clothes
Screwing in the surf and going out to shows
They get high and they ride around in GTOs
Certain songs they get so scratched into our souls
Certain songs they get so scratched into our souls
Lyrics submitted by leonperkin
Certain Songs Lyrics as written by Craig Finn
Lyrics © Reservoir Media Management, Inc.
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman
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Silent Planet
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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.
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,
Magical
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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.
Blue
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
“Blue” is a song about a love that is persisting in the discomfort of the person experiencing the emotion. Ed Sheeran reflects on love lost, and although he wishes his former partner find happiness, he cannot but admit his feelings are still very much there. He expresses the realization that he might never find another on this stringed instrumental by Aaron Dessner.
i think this song is lyrically the best hold steady song. its pretty self explanatory, basically how songs become engrained into everyone's life. when you hear a song it reminds you of a certain time in your life, certain people and senses. simple and brilliant.
here is what craig finn (the lead singer of the hold steady) said about this song:
"Tad called this song Kramer vs. Kramer rock. It's what you listen to in your mid-life-crisis sports car while you are driving through Long Island to your divorce proceedings. Ellen Foley is the woman who duets with Meat Loaf on "Paradise by the Dashboard Light". She also dated Mick Jones from the Clash. And when I say, "D4 is for lovers," I mean Dillinger Four, not that embarassing band from New Zealand."
craig finn, our saint of the weary and the beaten. the kerouac comparisons are impossible to deny, especially in songs like this.