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I wanna ticket to anywhere
Maybe we can make a deal
Maybe together we can get somewhere
Any place is better
Starting from zero, got nothing to lose
Maybe we'll make something
Me, myself, I've got nothing to prove
You've got a fast car
I've got a plan to get us out of here
Been working at the convenience store
Managed to save just a little bit of money
Won't have to drive too far
Just cross the border and into the city
You and I can both get jobs
And finally see what it means to be living
See my old man's got a problem
Live with the bottle, that's the way it is
He says his body's too old for working
His body's too young, to look like his
When mama went off and left him
She wanted more from life than he could give
I said somebody's got to take care of him
So I quit school and that's what I did
You've got a fast car
Is it fast enough so we can fly away?
We gotta make a decision
Leave tonight or live and die this way
Say remember when we were driving, driving in your car
Speed so fast it felt like I was drunk
City lights lay out before us
And your arm felt nice wrapped 'round my shoulder
And I had a feeling that I belonged
I had a feeling I could be someone, be someone, be someone
You've got a fast car
We go cruising entertain ourselves
You still ain't got a job
Now I work in the market as a checkout girl
I know things will get better
You'll find work and I'll get promoted
We'll move out of the shelter
Buy a bigger house and live in the suburbs
Say remember when we were driving, driving in your car
Speeds so fast it felt like I was drunk
City lights lay out before us
And your arm felt nice wrapped 'round my shoulder
And I had a feeling that I belonged
I had a feeling I could be someone, be someone, be someone
You've got a fast car
I've got a job that pays all our bills
You stay out drinking late at the bar
See more of your friends than you do of your kids
I'd always hoped for better
Thought maybe together you and me'd find it
I got no plans and I ain't going nowhere
So take your fast car and keep on driving
Say remember when we were driving, driving in your car
Speeds so fast it felt like I was drunk
City lights lay out before us
And your arm felt nice wrapped 'round my shoulder
And I had a feeling that I belonged
I had a feeling I could be someone, be someone, be someone
You've got a fast car
Is it fast enough so you can fly away?
You gotta make a decision
Leave tonight or live and die this way
3 chords and the truth some poet said.
what are the other 2 chords for?
Seeing and hearing Tracy at the Grammys this year was a real treat. This has to be one of the best songs of all time. 10!
Seeing her smile in the beginning at the audience reaction to her being on stage warms my heart each time I watch it.
I can still remember where i was when i first heard the song, that is how strong the impact was on me.
Same. 4th of July 1988 in a Houston park, holding my son, waiting for the fireworks to start, and someone was playing a radio nearby and this song instantly caught my attention in a way that I will always remember but never fully understand.
Doesn't change the goosebumps on my forearms. This song is chillingly realistic authentic
Own Your Songs, you never know when they will come back.
the test of time... No cover can compare.
The list of female artists represented here on Radio Paradise isn't "eclectic",
it's EXCLUSIVE.
And yet no-one's *forcing* you to listen to RP.....
Feel free to find / found another streaming staion as good as this one.
You *might* be missed - but probably not.
FrankRizzo wrote:
After actually paying attention to the lyrics, I'd argue Carly Simon's "That's The Way I Always Heard It Should Be" is right up there too.
Agreed, but you won't hear any Carly Simon here on RP.
35 songs by Chapman though.
20 by Patti Smith
40 by Bonnie Raitt
50 by Joni Mitchell
The list of female artists represented here on Radio Paradise isn't "eclectic",
it's EXCLUSIVE.
Carly wondering why you're so vain:
I hate this singer!! Is lousy repetitive obnoxious and simplistic to the boring core!
Hate is a strong word. RP caters for a range of tastes so, if you don't like it, try skipping
Agreed. One of those rare songs that seems timeless.
Well that seems sad to me. The fact that people still can relate to the lyrics is sad. It should have been obsolete by now, 34 years on !
To me that last line messes up the whole song: "You gotta make a decision
/ Leave tonight or live and die this way." She already wants him to leave unless he changes and makes things better. So why does she end the song by telling him his life won't get better if he stays? I've always thought that odd twist of hopelessness at the end was misplaced.
I think she is saying to herself "leave tonight or live and die this way" who knows what the truth is.
The world will only become just if we make it so.
/ Leave tonight or live and die this way." She already wants him to leave unless he changes and makes things better. So why does she end the song by telling him his life won't get better if he stays? I've always thought that odd twist of hopelessness at the end was misplaced.
Sad indeed! But also sadly too true!!
I felt the same way when I saw her at Human Rights Now in Philadelphia in 1988. 90,000+ fans in JFK Stadium waiting for Sting, Peter Gabriel, and Bruce Springsteen were taken aback by her performance. Those that came in late... missed out big time!
After actually paying attention to the lyrics, I'd argue Carly Simon's "That's The Way I Always Heard It Should Be" is right up there too.
Thank you for posting that. I just looked up Nelson Mandela's 70th birthday tribute concert (on wikipedia), and now I have a lot of videos to watch. I didn't see a DVD. Anyway, Tracy Chapman's role in the event was notable as you say. Her filler was actually her second, unplanned, set, in a spot Stevie Wonder was supposed to play but was having technical difficulties. And, according to the article, her sales shot up after.
[edit. Just watched the video-- wow...]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
There but for the grace of God go I.
damn.
But I think that Kesha's "Spaceship" (if I got the name right) is even sadder. So much magical thinking in that one. I'm not sure if Kesha meant it that way.
I guess it depends on the weight of the baggage you're carrying.
Interesting...I have always loved this song..and...not to brag...but it was effortless and i stiill have never noticed the lyrics...
I've always had a tendency to skip over the lyrics and instead focus on the music, namely the vocals. Without even picking a word out of her delivery, Tracy puts forth such emotion in the way she sings, that you can glean so much of the story. But she is such a storyteller and her vocals are so clear & straightforward that it breaks through and really hits me in the gut.
I've performed her a cappella song Behind The Wall many times at open mike shows. I have a good talent for mimicry and when I replicate the quaver in her voice, it really helps communicate the fear & anguish of the "narrator" (it's a story about domestic violence told by a neighbor).
Agreed. One of those rare songs that seems timeless.
Grayson wrote:
Timeless.
Grayson wrote:
When she broke out with this, I thought it was excruciating.
Now, I just don't think about it.
Disagree, some of her more recent work is stellar. Not much commercial success admittedly but great music nonetheless.
Don't know why.
Such is the way of music.
Lost on me. Not the slightest trace of Dylan that I can tell. More like John Cougar Mellencamp.
"All bad poetry springs from genuine emotion"-Wilde
this is one of the great songs
i suggest Gil Scott Heron's In The Bottle. Not this.
Not sure why this song and "Don't Give Up" (Gabriel/Bush) affect me so much. I've been pretty lucky in my career. But damn, they do.
THIS.
I agree totally, it is not the song per se that I like, but the story just "kills" and is being experienced by untold numbers of youth around the world
Not sure why this song and "Don't Give Up" (Gabriel/Bush) affect me so much. I've been pretty lucky in my career. But damn, they do.
Me too.
You need to listen and understand more.
I agree...not my favorite, but pretty good.
All these many years later and it is still unsettling.
Interesting...I have always loved this song..and...not to brag...but it was effortless and i stiill have never noticed the lyrics...
I think ol' sloggy might have been simply commenting that it is not possible to play this song to death. In his opinion, of course.
You may well be right, Hannio. But if you are, sloggydog's comment is even more incomprehensible to me.
You prefer a "banjo"?
All these many years later and it is still unsettling.
Possible.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tracy_Chapman
Tracy performed on the streets and in the clubs around Harvard Square in Cambridge, MA while a student at Tufts University in the '80s. I may have even heard Tracy perform on the streets there although it seems she moved pretty quickly into music venues like Passim.
She graduated from Tufts in '87 and signed a contract with Elektra records that year. The album "Tracey Chapman" came out in '88. "Fast Car" was the second track on the album and it was her first hit.
Sloggydog, I assure you that I lived and worked in the Boston area when "Fast Car" hit #6 on Billboard's Hot 100 charts in August '88. The Boston-area FM stations beat that song to death. People I worked and played with in Boston, Cambridge and Somerville would change the channel when that and other TC songs came on. There was a big backlash against the overplay and she became the butt of some jokes for being too earnest and tiresome.
If you have any more claims of "simply not possible", rockstar, PM me instead of boring other RPers with this discussion.
I think ol' sloggy might have been simply commenting that it is not possible to play this song to death. In his opinion, of course.
Simply not possible
Possible.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tracy_Chapman
Tracy performed on the streets and in the clubs around Harvard Square in Cambridge, MA while a student at Tufts University in the '80s. I may have even heard Tracy perform on the streets there although it seems she moved pretty quickly into music venues like Passim.
She graduated from Tufts in '87 and signed a contract with Elektra records that year. The album "Tracey Chapman" came out in '88. "Fast Car" was the second track on the album and it was her first hit.
Sloggydog, I assure you that I lived and worked in the Boston area when "Fast Car" hit #6 on Billboard's Hot 100 charts in August '88. The Boston-area FM stations beat that song to death. People I worked and played with in Boston, Cambridge and Somerville would change the channel when that and other TC songs came on. There was a big backlash against the overplay and she became the butt of some jokes for being too earnest and tiresome.
If you have any more claims of "simply not possible", rockstar, PM me instead of boring other RPers with this discussion.
Simply not possible
This song is soooo good for the ears... and the heart...
"You got a fast car
But is it fast enough so you can fly away
You gotta make a decision
You leave tonight or live and die this way"
truth
Well at least you weren't driving past him "at speeds so fast..."
Sounds like something that would happen to me
I have a very emotional response to certain music. Transatlanticism by DCFC never fails to get me, and the last couple of times I've heard The Birds by Elbow on here that one got me too.
I think the bittersweet songs affect me more than sad songs.
unless you define classic as amateurish uninspired singing with overwrought awful poetry
this is about as CLASSIC as hootie and the blowfish
Hootie and the Blowfish will be CLASSIC in the future but not right now...( =
darrenwwwa wrote:
She performed this song a bit fater and with a more of an acoustic sound that worked very well.
"This song is simply beautiful, the melody alone shakes my heart..but she's got a voice that shakes your soul!
Music is SO powerful.
Greatest gift.. "
to listen to this without a tear or two coming to the eye.
She performed this song a bit fater and with a more of an acoustic sound that worked very well.
FlatCat wrote:
This song is just too sad for me to listen to. Lovely song. Love Tracy. I just can't listen.