"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.
Fine you've shut me out the door is barred that's alright
I know exactly where you are
but the keys are gone
and I'm scared to death you'll take this threat too far
so what was going through your head that day
you hit her deadline and lacked the words that could explain
when I saw it in her face I went straight to you and kept watch through pouring rain
she always swore she'd have her way
and you paid the price it's true
and turned on me but I never betrayed
fist after fist I stuck around
silent I watched you hit the ground
everyday I drove from your hotel to my high school
I talked less and less
made sure none of my friends knew
so when you said it was my fault
I had to believe you
fight because too much blood has stained my hands
please hold on tight I know exactly where you stand
but save your breath cause what you breathe will you kill you faster than I can
she always swore she'd have her way
and you paid the price it's true
and turned on me but I never betrayed
fist after fist I stuck around
silent I watched you hit the ground
so if you will go
just remember you'll be taking away all that I know
you make your choice
but I'll be lying here with my face pressed to the ground
praying to hear your voice
and you said that I should come along
let's fall into the earth together we could finally escape
we could be gone
I know exactly where you are
but the keys are gone
and I'm scared to death you'll take this threat too far
so what was going through your head that day
you hit her deadline and lacked the words that could explain
when I saw it in her face I went straight to you and kept watch through pouring rain
she always swore she'd have her way
and you paid the price it's true
and turned on me but I never betrayed
fist after fist I stuck around
silent I watched you hit the ground
everyday I drove from your hotel to my high school
I talked less and less
made sure none of my friends knew
so when you said it was my fault
I had to believe you
fight because too much blood has stained my hands
please hold on tight I know exactly where you stand
but save your breath cause what you breathe will you kill you faster than I can
she always swore she'd have her way
and you paid the price it's true
and turned on me but I never betrayed
fist after fist I stuck around
silent I watched you hit the ground
so if you will go
just remember you'll be taking away all that I know
you make your choice
but I'll be lying here with my face pressed to the ground
praying to hear your voice
and you said that I should come along
let's fall into the earth together we could finally escape
we could be gone
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Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman
The Night We Met
Lord Huron
Lord Huron
This is a hauntingly beautiful song about introspection, specifically about looking back at a relationship that started bad and ended so poorly, that the narrator wants to go back to the very beginning and tell himself to not even travel down that road. I believe that the relationship started poorly because of the lines:
"Take me back to the night we met:When the night was full of terrors: And your eyes were filled with tears: When you had not touched me yet"
So, the first night was not a great start, but the narrator pursued the relationship and eventually both overcame the rough start to fall in love with each other:
"I had all and then most of you"
Like many relationships that turn sour, it was not a quick decline, but a gradual one where the narrator and their partner fall out of love and gradually grow apart
"Some and now none of you"
Losing someone who was once everything in your world, who you could confide in, tell your secrets to, share all the most intimate parts of your life, to being strangers with that person is probably one of the most painful experiences a person can go through. So Painful, the narrator wants to go back in time and tell himself to not even pursue the relationship.
This was the perfect song for "13 Reasons Why"
Cajun Girl
Little Feat
Little Feat
Overall about difficult moments of disappointment and vulnerability. Having hope and longing, while remaining optimistic for the future. Encourages the belief that with each new morning there is a chance for things to improve.
The chorus offers a glimmer of optimism and a chance at a resolution and redemption in the future.
Captures the rollercoaster of emotions of feeling lost while loving someone who is not there for you, feeling let down and abandoned while waiting for a lover. Lost with no direction, "Now I'm up in the air with the rain in my hair, Nowhere to go, I can go anywhere"
The bridge shows signs of longing and a plea for companionship. The Lyrics express a desire for authentic connection and the importance of Loving someone just as they are. "Just in passing, I'm not asking. That you be anyone but you”
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
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.
Sounds like it's about an adult man gas-lighting an underage girl that he's in a "relationship" with, sung from the perspective of the minor. I love Elizabeth Elmore as a lyricist, because she touches on subject matter like this, that is rarely talked about in song form