"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 was young and I was stupid, I had just turned seventeen
I took my hits on a dumb road trip to Nashville Tennessee
I packed my antihistamines and Tupperware drums
A harmonica and a box guitar
In a canvas covered wagon stuff with apples and with guns
We quietly slipped across the border into Arkansas
But still we couldn't find what it was we were looking for
So we trucked on down to try our luck along the Rio Grande
But I couldn't help but notice how
The little things that used to make us happy, made us sad
But still I'm glad I hitched my apple wagon to your star
I never would've got here if I'd followed my heart
I didn't think much of it till I took it apart
I'm glad I hitched my apple wagon to your star
We never ever made it down to Nashville in the end
And no one ever signed our stupid country disco band
However hard we tried, it never seemed to be enough
We never did get famous
Still it made us kind of happy and it kept me off of drugs
And now I'm glad I hitched my apple wagon to your star
I never would've got here if I'd followed my heart
I didn't think much of it till I took it apart
I'm glad I hitched my apple wagon to your star
But still I'm glad I hitched my apple wagon to your star
I'm happy if you're happy but it breaks my heart
I didn't even notice it 'til it fell apart
I'm glad I hitched my apple wagon to your star
I took my hits on a dumb road trip to Nashville Tennessee
I packed my antihistamines and Tupperware drums
A harmonica and a box guitar
In a canvas covered wagon stuff with apples and with guns
We quietly slipped across the border into Arkansas
But still we couldn't find what it was we were looking for
So we trucked on down to try our luck along the Rio Grande
But I couldn't help but notice how
The little things that used to make us happy, made us sad
But still I'm glad I hitched my apple wagon to your star
I never would've got here if I'd followed my heart
I didn't think much of it till I took it apart
I'm glad I hitched my apple wagon to your star
We never ever made it down to Nashville in the end
And no one ever signed our stupid country disco band
However hard we tried, it never seemed to be enough
We never did get famous
Still it made us kind of happy and it kept me off of drugs
And now I'm glad I hitched my apple wagon to your star
I never would've got here if I'd followed my heart
I didn't think much of it till I took it apart
I'm glad I hitched my apple wagon to your star
But still I'm glad I hitched my apple wagon to your star
I'm happy if you're happy but it breaks my heart
I didn't even notice it 'til it fell apart
I'm glad I hitched my apple wagon to your star
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Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
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Mountain Song
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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."
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I think this song is about how he fell in love with someone who changed him for the better. In the beginning he talks about being angsty and doing drugs, and how that wasn't really taking him anywhere or making him happy on its own.
The lyrics follow the theme of being in a band who doesn't make it big, but this could just be a metaphor for one way of life not working out so he tries this other one which does.
Correct lyrics are:
I packed my anti-histamines and tuppa'ware drums
So we trecked on down to try our luck, along the Rio Grande
And noone ever signed our stupid country disco band However hard we tried it never seemed to be enough We never did get famous, still it made us kinda happy
Correct lyrics are:
I packed my anti-histamines and tuppa'ware drums
So we trecked on down to try our luck, along the Rio Grande
And noone ever signed our stupid country disco band However hard we tried it never seemed to be enough We never did get famous, still it made us kinda happy
is it not "kept" rather than "get" him off the drugs?
i adore this song, it's such a sweet sounding melody.
i agree with schernak... it's the right lyric.. but dang..i'm not understand the meaning..to me they just tell their road to their music right know.. and maybe this person whose apple wagon being hitched is someone who push and support and encourage them to this line of music / career...
This song is so freaking amazing! I love TBLLT! Whoa, but the lyrics are deceptively scarier than the melody! :)
Really! The beat and the music is so sweet and upbeat, but the lyrics...don't fit exactly right. But I do think they are, ultimately, positive lyrics. I mean, the title alone is upbeat. I think it's about going through a lot of disappointments but, in the end, being happy with what you have, even if what you have is really small in simple. But really, it's the smallest and simplest of things that make people the happiest, and I think this song perfectly captures that.
Didn't they both belong to other bands before? I thought they sort of fell together as a band. I see the song as an ode to the unexpected things that come from Plan B. This isn't where they were going, but it's a good place to be, maybe better. It applies to other situations as well. The relationship that you've put all your faith in crashes and burns and yet eventually you find someone else fall in love again.
"But I couldn't help but notice how the little things that used to make us happy make us sad" The things we expect to makes us happy, the things we want aren't always what we need.