Sunday, March 20, 2011

You got a fast car

Fast Car – Tracy Chapman
This is a very powerful song. It’s a classic sung by a famous feminist singer.  This song is so profound; every time I listen to it I get chills. Chapman is an amazing lyricist with true artistic ability. Fast car is a ballad sung from a female’s perspective.
The first words of the song go, “You got a fast car” followed by, “I want a ticket to anywhere.”
These two lines tell the meaning of the song; desire.  The metaphor of the car is really expressing her desire for a different life.   She thinks a man can help her to get it. Wants strongly motivate people and drive their actions. Universally everyone wants love and I think that this is the core of the song. The lack of feeling loved or cared about is a very real problem for a lot of women.  Everyone can relate to wanting things.  What will people, especially women do to feel loved? Women are nurturers, we give love more freely and in exchange we want to receive it. Women will go out of their way and sometimes beyond their comfort zone to feel loved.  Once they do whatever they have to in order to feel loved life might be great, but then like in the song, unhappiness returns. It’s a trap that the woman in the song managed to crawl into and current problems reflect ones from her childhood. Why is this so frequently true? In this fast paced world changing at an amazing rate, I think that more women are realizing that love comes from within.
She speaks from a lower class perspective with problems similar to so many people.  Often when difficult times arise people try to find an escape; something to get their mind off of the difficulty and feelings that inflicts them. All too commonly for women the escape is men.  This is a classic example of a tragic story that plagues the average woman.  The chorus of this song brings hope, and a great example of the power of youth. Your entire life is ahead of you and there are so many options.  This can be a blessing as well as a curse. In the chorus of this song she says that she had a feeling that she belonged and could be someone, to paraphrase. Obviously that is important to her and once she found a man that filled her desires she stuck with him.
Everything that happens in your life is a reflection of your decisions. Most people do not want to be accountable for their choices and choose to blame others for the situations that they are in. Unfortunately no one grows with that attitude. Once you change your perspective and become introspective your world will change dramatically. The problem is accountability for situations. Everyone has difficult times in their life; it’s about how you deal with them that determines how your life will unfold.  Unfortunately for the woman in this song, it does not unfold the way she imagined. She talks about having to quit school to take care of her father, and that is a noble thing to do. Everyone has responsibilities, but the key is not to use them as excuses.  Although this song might seem like a sad tale, it’s really not. It ends with these lines,
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
This is an empowering song showing that it’s never too late to take control of your life. It might’ve taken the woman in this song half or more of her life, but it’s a triumph. No one has an easy life. We all face challenges every day. I think that slowly but surely women are realizing the power they possess and taking independence to a whole new level. 

3 comments:

  1. You're a wise woman Jessica! I agree with you. --Kat

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  2. Great entry! Wow- you know, I've never stopped to really look at that song enough to really consider what it was saying, but that is a really good analysis!

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  3. Your article is so convincing that I never stop myself to say something about it. You’re doing a great job Man, Keep it up. Your Unwanted Car Removal Canberra can also be facilitated by a free car removal company that can remove the vehicle at your home or place of work. You can request for free pick-up and delivery.

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