"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.
In the attics of my life
Full of cloudy dreams; unreal
Full of tastes no tongue can know
And lights no eye can see
When there was no ear to hear
You sang to me
I have spent my life
Seeking all that's still unsung
Bent my ear to hear the tune
And closed my eyes to see
When there were no strings to play
You played to me
In the book of love's own dreams
Where all the print is blood
Where all the pages are my days
And all my lights grow old
When I had no wings to fly
You flew to me
You flew to me
In the secret space of dreams
Where I dreaming lay amazed
When the secrets all are told
And the petals all unfold
When there was no dream of mine
You dreamed of me
Full of cloudy dreams; unreal
Full of tastes no tongue can know
And lights no eye can see
When there was no ear to hear
You sang to me
I have spent my life
Seeking all that's still unsung
Bent my ear to hear the tune
And closed my eyes to see
When there were no strings to play
You played to me
In the book of love's own dreams
Where all the print is blood
Where all the pages are my days
And all my lights grow old
When I had no wings to fly
You flew to me
You flew to me
In the secret space of dreams
Where I dreaming lay amazed
When the secrets all are told
And the petals all unfold
When there was no dream of mine
You dreamed of me
Lyrics submitted by itsmyownmind
Attics of My Life Lyrics as written by Robert Hunter Jerry Garcia
Lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
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The Night We Met
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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
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Led Zeppelin
This is about bronies. They communicate by stomping.
Mountain Song
Jane's Addiction
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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."
I Can't Go To Sleep
Wu-Tang Clan
Wu-Tang Clan
This song is written as the perspective of the boys in the street, as a whole, and what path they are going to choose as they get older and grow into men. (This is why the music video takes place in an orphanage.) The seen, and unseen collective suffering is imbedded in the boys’ mind, consciously or subconsciously, and is haunting them. Which path will the boys choose? Issac Hayes is the voice of reason, maybe God, the angel on his shoulder, or the voice of his forefathers from beyond the grave who can see the big picture and are pleading with the boys not to continue the violence and pattern of killing their brothers, but to rise above. The most beautiful song and has so many levels. Racism towards African Americans in America would not exist if everyone sat down and listened to this song and understood the history behind the words. The power, fear, pleading in RZA and Ghostface voices are genuine and powerful. Issac Hayes’ strong voice makes the perfect strong father figure, who is possibly from beyond the grave.
Attics is a very spiritual song, almost hymn-like in its presentation, and in its lyrics. I'm not a very spiritual person myself, but nevertheless I've always found the song enthralling. If I'm not mistaken, I've read a Robert Hunter quote that this song dealt with the concept of "grace". My personal interpretation of the lyric is that it's about creation. That God created us from nothing. The closing lines in each stanza (if that is the proper poetic term) seem to signify this:
When there was no ear to hear, you sang to me
When there were no strings to play, you played to me
When I had no wings to fly, you flew to me
When there was no dream of mine, you dreamed of me
Other potential symbols include the book of love (perhaps the bible), and the secret space of dreams, when the secrets all are told.. is that heaven? At any rate, that's how I see the song, kind of a companion to Ripple, another spiritual Hunter lyric. :)
The first performance of the tune was at Meramec Community College, in Kirkwood MO, May 14, 1970.
the poetry of this song amazes me everytime. i just love how the words unfold and paint this beautiful picture. the perfect love song... talking about the one person who is there always... sigh...
wow this is one of my favorite dead songs ever for obvious reasons...the whole american beauty album is ridiculously amazing.
urlostinspacelikeme is right on this one. i agree with him...the song is not my favorite, its very slow unlike more of the deads stuff but the lyrics are AMAZING!
very mellow and dreamy song. Take it as you wish, its great no matter what.
John Pareles used this song in his great eulogy to Jerry in the New York times which made the main editorial page as an obituary. Try to find that one.
In the attics of my life Full of cloudy dreams unreal Full of tastes no tongue can know
Man those first few lines give me chills! so good
Great reflection song. An attic is used to store things, like memories. Good thing for all the hippies that listen to this song, smoking that shit and not remembering things. lol, just kidding...
To me, this song is a love song, like Snow White or Sleeping Beauty. The harmonies are complex and dissonent throughout the verses but resolve on the last lines to imply salvation. I get the image of a person lost in exploring the mysteries of life, and, in his own mind everything starts to seem unreal, un-tangible, and lacking in substance. Just at the point when this soul lacks the ability to create, to act in the world, when the ego is being abandoned so completely that the Self might be lost as well, someone or something else acts for him, saves him, replaces the ego with something greater, love. The last verse is the most powerful. given that the idea at the time was that all reality was "just a dream we dreamed one afternoon long ago", losing the ability to dream, which is the ability to call yourself into existence, would represent a point on the edge of nothingness. But, right at this point, when the ego leaves, when it can no longer even dream, the realization that something greater than the self occurs, the realization that it is through the vision and the dreams of that which surrounds you that creates reality.