"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.
Welcome to Nellyville
Where all newborns get a half a mil'
Sons get sedan DeVilles, soon as they can reach the wheel
And daughters get diamonds the size of their age
Help me out now, one year get one carat, two years get two carats
Three years get three carats, and so on into marriage
Nobody livin' average, everybody jang-a-lang
Nobody livin' savage, e'rybody got change
Even the paperboy deliver out the back of a Range
It's not a game, it's a beautiful thang
Imagine blocks and blocks of no cocaine, blocks with no gunplay
Ain't nobody shot, so ain't no news that day
Ain't nobody snitchin', they refuse to say
Every month we take a vote on what the weather should be
And if we vote it rains, know how wet we want it to be
And if we vote it snow, know how deep we want it to get
But the sun gon' shine 99 percent, in Nellyville
There's no way I could explain (I could explain, I could explain)
The way I feel right now
There's no way that I could explain (I could explain, I could explain)
The way I feel about livin' in Nellyville
I got that good at e'ry gas station, pull on up
Give me a half a ounce of that shit, fill it up
We got straws for the bottles, outlawed the cups
And we gon' make it happen, ain't no need for no luck
Ain't no lotteries, no pick 3's or pick 2's
Keep the money in your family, gamble amongst your crew
'Cause the dice gon' do what the dice gon' do
And if you take a life, you gon' lose yours too
Ain't no trials, it's automatic, you drop 'em right where it happen
You do unto others if you don't want it don't do the cappin'
Think that's cool? 40 Acres and a mule
Fuck that, Nellyville, 40 acres and a pool
Six bedrooms, four bath with a jacuzz'
Six-car garage, pavement smooth
Both front and back deck 'nough room to land a jet
And you ain't reached the city, that's just the projects
There's no way I could explain (I could explain, I could explain)
The way I feel right now
There's no way that I could explain (check it, check it)
The way I feel about livin' in Nellyville
Well, I wanna go
Please let me go, I need to go
Down to Nellyville
I need to see what I can see
Won't you and me go to Nellyville?
I wanna go so bad
I just wanna go and look
Won't you please take me on in?
I just know I gotta be there
No unexpectancy, like teenage pregnancy
And physical mental attraction your only ecstasy
Your own destiny, create your own recipe
If you ain't livin' accordin' to dirty then you stressin' me
"And who are you?" Who me? I'm the mayor
And any problems you got, I live up there (where's that?)
The house on the hill, welcome mat of fur
When you pass by that thang, be polite and don't stare
There's no way I could explain (I could explain, I could explain)
The way I feel right now
There's no way that I could explain
The way I feel about livin' in Nellyville
Yeah
There's no (there's no) way (way, way), yeah
There's no (there's no) way (way, way), yeah
There's no (there's no) way (way, way), yeah
There's no (there's no) way (way, way)
Where all newborns get a half a mil'
Sons get sedan DeVilles, soon as they can reach the wheel
And daughters get diamonds the size of their age
Help me out now, one year get one carat, two years get two carats
Three years get three carats, and so on into marriage
Nobody livin' average, everybody jang-a-lang
Nobody livin' savage, e'rybody got change
Even the paperboy deliver out the back of a Range
It's not a game, it's a beautiful thang
Imagine blocks and blocks of no cocaine, blocks with no gunplay
Ain't nobody shot, so ain't no news that day
Ain't nobody snitchin', they refuse to say
Every month we take a vote on what the weather should be
And if we vote it rains, know how wet we want it to be
And if we vote it snow, know how deep we want it to get
But the sun gon' shine 99 percent, in Nellyville
There's no way I could explain (I could explain, I could explain)
The way I feel right now
There's no way that I could explain (I could explain, I could explain)
The way I feel about livin' in Nellyville
I got that good at e'ry gas station, pull on up
Give me a half a ounce of that shit, fill it up
We got straws for the bottles, outlawed the cups
And we gon' make it happen, ain't no need for no luck
Ain't no lotteries, no pick 3's or pick 2's
Keep the money in your family, gamble amongst your crew
'Cause the dice gon' do what the dice gon' do
And if you take a life, you gon' lose yours too
Ain't no trials, it's automatic, you drop 'em right where it happen
You do unto others if you don't want it don't do the cappin'
Think that's cool? 40 Acres and a mule
Fuck that, Nellyville, 40 acres and a pool
Six bedrooms, four bath with a jacuzz'
Six-car garage, pavement smooth
Both front and back deck 'nough room to land a jet
And you ain't reached the city, that's just the projects
There's no way I could explain (I could explain, I could explain)
The way I feel right now
There's no way that I could explain (check it, check it)
The way I feel about livin' in Nellyville
Well, I wanna go
Please let me go, I need to go
Down to Nellyville
I need to see what I can see
Won't you and me go to Nellyville?
I wanna go so bad
I just wanna go and look
Won't you please take me on in?
I just know I gotta be there
No unexpectancy, like teenage pregnancy
And physical mental attraction your only ecstasy
Your own destiny, create your own recipe
If you ain't livin' accordin' to dirty then you stressin' me
"And who are you?" Who me? I'm the mayor
And any problems you got, I live up there (where's that?)
The house on the hill, welcome mat of fur
When you pass by that thang, be polite and don't stare
There's no way I could explain (I could explain, I could explain)
The way I feel right now
There's no way that I could explain
The way I feel about livin' in Nellyville
Yeah
There's no (there's no) way (way, way), yeah
There's no (there's no) way (way, way), yeah
There's no (there's no) way (way, way), yeah
There's no (there's no) way (way, way)
Lyrics submitted by WildCherry84
Nellyville Lyrics as written by Cornell Haynes Waiel Yaghnam
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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Fast Car
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This is one of my favorite songs. https://fnfgo.io
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me tooooooooooooooo!