"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.
Shandy was somebody's daughter
Driving to something insane
They busted her crossing the border
Quick as a sniff of cocaine
All she could pay was attention
So all they could take was her time
Proving an ounce of possession
Ain't worth a piece of your mind.
[Chorus:]
'Cause nightmares are somebody's daydreams
Daydreams are somebody's lies
Lies ain't no harder than telling the truth
Truth is the perfect disguise
Locked in the goldhandle bathroom
Martin was changing his mind
Shedding his humble pretensions
One careful toke at a time
And wiping the mask off the man in the mirror
Who really was Billy the Kid
Smiling at somebody dying
For something that he never did
[Chorus]
As soon as he sat down beside her
Shining like Saturday night
Shandy was his for the saving
Sweet as she looked in the light
And maybe they moved from the bar to the bedroom
Maybe just stood there instead
Martin woke up wet and screaming
Dreaming of blood on the bed.
[Chorus]
Driving to something insane
They busted her crossing the border
Quick as a sniff of cocaine
All she could pay was attention
So all they could take was her time
Proving an ounce of possession
Ain't worth a piece of your mind.
[Chorus:]
'Cause nightmares are somebody's daydreams
Daydreams are somebody's lies
Lies ain't no harder than telling the truth
Truth is the perfect disguise
Locked in the goldhandle bathroom
Martin was changing his mind
Shedding his humble pretensions
One careful toke at a time
And wiping the mask off the man in the mirror
Who really was Billy the Kid
Smiling at somebody dying
For something that he never did
[Chorus]
As soon as he sat down beside her
Shining like Saturday night
Shandy was his for the saving
Sweet as she looked in the light
And maybe they moved from the bar to the bedroom
Maybe just stood there instead
Martin woke up wet and screaming
Dreaming of blood on the bed.
[Chorus]
Lyrics submitted by hourafterdark
Shandy (The Perfect Disguise) Lyrics as written by Kris Kristofferson
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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