"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.
You opened up your door
I couldn't believe my luck
You in your new blue dress
Taking away my breath
The cradle is soft and warm
Couldn't do me no harm
You're showing me how to give
Into temptation
Knowing full well the earth will rebel
Into temptation
A muddle of nervous words
Could never amount to betrayal
The sentence is all my own
The price is to watch it fail
As I turn to go
You looked at me for half a second
With an open invitation for me to go
Into temptation
Knowing full well the earth will rebel
Into temptation
Safe in the wide open arms of hell
We can go sailing in
Climb down, lose yourself when you linger long
Into temptation
Right where you belong
The guilty get no sleep
In the last slow hours of morning
Experience is cheap
I should've listened to the warning
But the cradle is soft and warm
Into temptation
Knowing full well the earth will rebel
Into your wide open arms
No way to break the spell
Don't tell
I couldn't believe my luck
You in your new blue dress
Taking away my breath
The cradle is soft and warm
Couldn't do me no harm
You're showing me how to give
Into temptation
Knowing full well the earth will rebel
Into temptation
A muddle of nervous words
Could never amount to betrayal
The sentence is all my own
The price is to watch it fail
As I turn to go
You looked at me for half a second
With an open invitation for me to go
Into temptation
Knowing full well the earth will rebel
Into temptation
Safe in the wide open arms of hell
We can go sailing in
Climb down, lose yourself when you linger long
Into temptation
Right where you belong
The guilty get no sleep
In the last slow hours of morning
Experience is cheap
I should've listened to the warning
But the cradle is soft and warm
Into temptation
Knowing full well the earth will rebel
Into your wide open arms
No way to break the spell
Don't tell
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Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman
The Night We Met
Lord Huron
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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"
Bron-Y-Aur Stomp
Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin
This is about bronies. They communicate by stomping.
Punchline
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran sings about missing his former partner and learning important life lessons in the process on “Punchline.” This track tells a story of battling to get rid of emotions for a former lover, whom he now realized might not have loved him the same way. He’s now caught between accepting that fact and learning life lessons from it and going back to beg her for another chance.
American Town
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
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.
"The guilty get no sleep..." I love that part. Probably doesn't mean much to people who don't mind getting laid by anything on legs, but for any one else, it kind of epitomizes the struggle between what we want and doing what we feel is right.
My fav Crowded House song... The sparseness of the guitar line during the verses can only be described as beautiful. I heard an interview on JJJ that this song was inspired by a hotel Neil stayed at where a football team was housed up alongside a netball team and how Neil was kept awake by their activities...
Anway this song is full of imagery and great lines...
My personal fav is:
A muddle of nervous words Could never amount to betrayal
I can relate to this and everytime I hear it, it is too sharp a reminder of my own failings...
"Knowing full well the earth will rebel"
I love this line.
It's a bit of a hyperbole, but it shows the thoughts of a man tempted to have a affair, but paranoid that if he does he will be found out.
incredibly beautiful. an all-time favorite.
the classic im fucking around on you anthem.
What a great song. Neil Finn, in my opinion, is the best at writing lyrics that capture moments in life. Everyone who has a soul can relate to this song. "Lose yourself when you linger long"...watch out.
"The guilty get no sleep.." Wonder if Neil was influenced by George Michael? "Guilty feet have got no rhythm" Naaaa - no way! This is my favourite Crowded House song
I was reading an interview with Elvis Costello in which he singled out Neil Finn as one of the greatest living songwriters. Costello also said he wished he had written this song.
I complete believe Elvis Costello saying Finn is one of the greatest living songwriters. The Finn Bros. make exquisite pop songs. At their best, and In Temptation is a good example, they remind me of McCartney/ Lennon. Just perfectly crafted songs.
Neil spoke about this song in the early 90s at a concert in Newport/Cardiff ... I recall (heh its 16 years ago now) him mentioning being tempted by the girl in the blue dress and also about the 'earth will rebel' bit being about how Californian excess will lead to the earth rebelling in the form of an earthquake. So I'm going for an analogy between personal temptation and Californian excess - but no soothsaying or moralism just his usual 'wouldn't it be fun or interesting (or intriguing) to see it this way'. So if your tempted be prepared for the consequences. Oh by the way, fantastic song, yeah he's the best songwriter since L&M, I reckon he's inherited the McCartney role and Costello the Lennon role and both have taken them further but still haven't written anywhere near as many classics, but one man's apple is anothers ....