"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.
It's just a bad movie where there's no crying
Handing the keys to me in this Red Lion
Where the lock that you locked in the suite
Says there's no prying
When the breath that you breathed in the street
Screams there's no science
When you look how you looked then to me
Then I cease lying and fall into silence
It's just a life story, so there's no climax
No more new territory, so pull away the IMAX
In the slot that you sliced through the scene
There was no shyness
In the plot that you passed through your teeth
There was no pity
No fade in, film begins on a kid in the big city
And no cut to a costly parade, that's for him only
No dissolve to a sliver of gray, that's his new lady
Where she glows just like grain on the flickering pane
Of some great movie
Hey, I didn't watch it
It's just a house burning, but it's not haunted
It was your heart hurting but not for too long, kid
In the socket you spin from with ease
There is no sticking
From the speakers your fake masterpiece
Comes serenely dribbling
And when the air 'round your chair fills with heat
That's the flames licking
Beneath the clock on the clean mantelpiece
It's got a calm clicking
Like a pro at his editing suite takes two weeks stitching
Up some bad movie
Handing the keys to me in this Red Lion
Where the lock that you locked in the suite
Says there's no prying
When the breath that you breathed in the street
Screams there's no science
When you look how you looked then to me
Then I cease lying and fall into silence
It's just a life story, so there's no climax
No more new territory, so pull away the IMAX
In the slot that you sliced through the scene
There was no shyness
In the plot that you passed through your teeth
There was no pity
No fade in, film begins on a kid in the big city
And no cut to a costly parade, that's for him only
No dissolve to a sliver of gray, that's his new lady
Where she glows just like grain on the flickering pane
Of some great movie
Hey, I didn't watch it
It's just a house burning, but it's not haunted
It was your heart hurting but not for too long, kid
In the socket you spin from with ease
There is no sticking
From the speakers your fake masterpiece
Comes serenely dribbling
And when the air 'round your chair fills with heat
That's the flames licking
Beneath the clock on the clean mantelpiece
It's got a calm clicking
Like a pro at his editing suite takes two weeks stitching
Up some bad movie
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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."
"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."
American Town
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Ed Sheeran shares a short story of reconnecting with an old flame on “American Town.” The track is about a holiday Ed Sheeran spends with his countrywoman who resides in America. The two are back together after a long period apart, and get around to enjoying a bunch of fun activities while rekindling the flames of their romance.
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.
"And no cut to a costly parade (that’s for him only!)." -Reminds me of Bueller every time
Fantastic! People make the banal things in life out to be much more dramatic and important than they actually are... just like a movie editor painstakingly takes weeks trying to make a boring film into something exciting- and fails.
Take a listen to the acoustic version of this song; it completely changes the mood and is SO wonderful!
they do make allusions to movies, though, right? like for example-- "No fade in: film begins on a kid in the big city. And no cut to a costly parade (that’s for him only!)"
Ferris Bueller's Day Off?
@regretably Of course.
Does anyone know what the Red Lion refers to? I know Okkervil were in Texas, but I'm near Silverlake, Ca and there's a Red Lion Tavern local bands and just us regular common people meet up at. Anyway, that's what I always think of when I hear it. "Hand your keys over cos you've been drinking."
This is just great writing and epic sounds. The "Maybe" part gets me. In many ways our lives ARE like movies...the climax, the let-down, the resolution. Or maybe you've had a boring, bland life so you can't relate and your life is not a movie, that's why you like watching them! Stop watching them! Go out and make your life something! :)
The Red Lion is just a stereotypical name for a bar. For example the Red Lion is the name of the bar in Animal Farm and in other literary works.
i learn sooooooooo much from this website. Fuck college, I can get a degree from the useful and meaningful information that is constantly displayed on here. You are sooo smart and should be a professor of music and lifeology. just coined that shit. THanks again, I don't think I could live with your knowledge:)
"THanks again, I don't think I could live with your knowledge:)"...I'm guessin' he mistyped. He's not the sharpest tool in the shed, but he's kind of cute so we keep him around:)
OH WOW THANKS A MILLION. YOU SAY THE MOST DARDIST THINGS. THANKS FOR CLARIFYING THAT. WHAT IS YOUT IQ? DO YOU KNOW? HAVE YOU EVER TAKEN ANY TESTS? I'M CURIOUS. YOUR GREAT AT POTING OUT THE OBVIOUS. YOUR NOT LIKE A PRECOCIOUS LITTLE DUMBWITTED KID THATS CUTE. YOUR THE KIND THAT YOU'D LIKE TO PUT A MUZZLE ON THEIR MOUTHS. I'm just teasin darling. your fabulous woman:)
I do believe you called me a dog. (I've heard worse...and called YOU must worse, so I suppose we're even:)
i think someone needs to get over themselves. if you'd post more interesting things, your journals wouldn't be overridden. Now get on board flighty. remeber that? i kill myself, i do i do
yeah, you're a ruff ruff snuff tuff bluff fluff alright. do you think yoru the ruler of this website and it revolves around you constantly. get off that soapbox my lady love because it ain't all about you. Trust me:) wink wink
Hey, I have boring journals. But YOU post over journals belonging to others that are actually quite good. There's no bigger crime than posting NOTHING (ie. your private journals) over good prose/poetry. You should be hung upside down by your toenails for that crime! And "on board" "flighty" was one of your better ones. In fact, it's the only good one you've ever had:)
I'm crying now that I've learned that everybody wants to rule the world
okay, I don't want to be mean, I really don't. But I'm glad you acknowledge that your personality is bland and annoying. And you couldn't possibly fathom what one of my better anything is because you might not know me as well as you think you do. I agree there is beautiful poetry but yoru so self absorbed that you have been trumphing mine for over an hour, that it kinds of put your point into the wall. So why don't you zip it and let the good peeps post their stuff like you said. and i like to write privately sometimes so shut it
One cannot 'trumph" a private journal. And, yes, you do like to be mean. And, yes, you do like to be insulting. I'm a little shocked at your restrait; you didn't use the word "fat" or "boring." I'll shut it: goodnight.
But some of those journals your referring to are from you aren't they? A bit conceited don't you think? Your whining on another one about how yours aren't being viewed or applauded as much as they should. Please read some more psychology books and eventually you'll get it:):)
are you dense? i mean after mine comes up, yours comes up right after dumb dumb and when i talk about fat im talking about myself not you. sorry im crabby today but sometimes i think your retarted
You're an ass. All my "journals" were messages to you to stop posting private journals that blocked good writing. You don't allow for comments on your journals (which are PRIVATE). Therefore, the ONLY journals mine disrupted were your PRIVATE ones. Get with the program....Ass. Sorry, but the word Ass keeps coming to the forefront and I can't seem to stop myself from calling you it. Ass.
For gawd's sake, spell YOU'RE correctly before calling ME "retarded." Ass.
That would be "retarTed." LOL
going to strike you with an iron fist nimfucknut. i was making the point that you are wasting time by overriding my journals with yoru whines when others could of been up. you made 5 different posts about it. what don't you udnerstand. YOUR NOT AN ASS BUT AN ASSSHOLE A MAJOR ONE. TEASING BUT SERIOUSLY SOMETIMES I WISH YOUD SHUT THAT FUCKING MOUTH BEFOR EI STICK MY YOU KNOW WHAT IN IT
The perverted saying, "I want a meal, not a snack" comes to mind. No, ASS, if anyone had posted a REAL journal entry I would not have posted over them. Hence, that's where we're different (and one of the ways you're an ASS). Have I said "ass" enough times?
YOU TWO? THERES ONLY TWO OF US POSTING CORRECT? IF NOT, MY WORST NIGHTMARE HAS CAME TRUE. OH NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
I don't want a brother. I don't want a sister. My feet get cold at night. And Mr. Ass is the last thing anyone needs. He'd leave me hungry ;)
DO YOU NO COMPREHEND THE TERM THE BIG PICTURE? I'm saying that regardless of how many times my private journal came up, you repeatedly kept posting yorus after mine came up several times. You could of poseted one comment about me taking up the space. But you posted several and it was completly redundant and absurd. you wasted time when other journals could of taken your spot. duh fucking duh duh duh duh duh smakc whack but your so narrow minded you probablt still don't get what im getting at. do you dig or what? otherwise im burying you in the ground.
okay i just had a couple puffs sorry im stressed to the max come over and smack my ass a bit and pull that stick out of it. Too much huh?:)
Cripes, read my response to you above; now I'm acting as stoopid as you! Ass.
this song is pretty solid
This is my favourite song off of the new album.
It really has the feel of someone not being as important as they think they are
ah but it has such an epic sound for a song about how not everything is really that epic afterall. yet it's got this effect on me where i feel more important after i listen to it. even though the words don't really suggest it.
Life doesn't work out like movies do. There's nothing magnificent or pure or happy-ending-movie-esque waiting for us.
...maybe? sorta?
I see it as more just a precursor to the album. It's sort of a concept album (not quite fully realized, but still somewhat), so it's more just an opening to the album that says "This is just what it is, nothing more."
I think the parade line is definitely a reference to Ferris Buller. (Love that movie).
This song sounds like it could be like the anti-theme to some super low budget indie film about sad suburban teenagers... like me. It's like the epiphany song. Plus it'd just be ironic if you put a song in your movie that said, "It’s just a life story, so there’s no climax."
I love this song.