"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.
This is the place where all
The junkies go
Where time gets fast
But everything gets slow
Can I get some Vaseline
Step into a modern scene
Take a chance of that
Which seems to be
The making of a dream
I don't want to do it
Like my daddy did
I don't want to give it
To my baby's kid
This is my calling
I said my darling
Shocking, appalling
All I can do to you
Hammers are falling
I said my darling
Shocking, appalling
All I can do to you
This is the place where all
The devils plead
Their case to take from you
What they need
Can I isolate your gene
Can I kiss your dopamine
In a way I wonder
If she's living in a magazine
I don't want to say it
If it isn't so
I don't want to weigh it
But I've got to know
This is my calling
I said my darling
Shocking, appalling
All I can do to you
Hammers are falling
I said my darling
Shocking, appalling
All I can do to you
I saw you out there yesterday
What did you want to say
A perfect piece of DNA
Caught in a flashing ray
I caught you out there in the fray
What did you want to say
A master piece of DNA
Caught in a flashing ray
Can I smell your gasoline
Can I pet your wolverine
On the day my best friend died
I could not get my copper clean
I don't want to take it up
With little Joe
I don't want to fake it
But I've gotta know
This is my calling
I said my darling
Shocking, appalling
All I can do to you
Hammers are falling
I said my darling
Shocking, appalling
All I can do to you
I am a misfit
I'm born with all of it
The fucking ultimate
Of love inside the atom split
I'm in a flash ray
A mash of DNA
Another poppin' Jay
Who thinks he's got
Something to say
The junkies go
Where time gets fast
But everything gets slow
Can I get some Vaseline
Step into a modern scene
Take a chance of that
Which seems to be
The making of a dream
I don't want to do it
Like my daddy did
I don't want to give it
To my baby's kid
This is my calling
I said my darling
Shocking, appalling
All I can do to you
Hammers are falling
I said my darling
Shocking, appalling
All I can do to you
This is the place where all
The devils plead
Their case to take from you
What they need
Can I isolate your gene
Can I kiss your dopamine
In a way I wonder
If she's living in a magazine
I don't want to say it
If it isn't so
I don't want to weigh it
But I've got to know
This is my calling
I said my darling
Shocking, appalling
All I can do to you
Hammers are falling
I said my darling
Shocking, appalling
All I can do to you
I saw you out there yesterday
What did you want to say
A perfect piece of DNA
Caught in a flashing ray
I caught you out there in the fray
What did you want to say
A master piece of DNA
Caught in a flashing ray
Can I smell your gasoline
Can I pet your wolverine
On the day my best friend died
I could not get my copper clean
I don't want to take it up
With little Joe
I don't want to fake it
But I've gotta know
This is my calling
I said my darling
Shocking, appalling
All I can do to you
Hammers are falling
I said my darling
Shocking, appalling
All I can do to you
I am a misfit
I'm born with all of it
The fucking ultimate
Of love inside the atom split
I'm in a flash ray
A mash of DNA
Another poppin' Jay
Who thinks he's got
Something to say
Lyrics submitted by on_a_plain_11, edited by Mellow_Harsher
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Great version of a great song,
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yeah when hillell died anthony went of on a boat and did a ton of heroin