"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.
Evelyn sits by the elevator doors
It's been thirty seven years since James dies on St. Patrick's Day in 1964
But she could not hold it against him
There were times when there was nothing she could do
But lie in bed all day beside a picture of them together
A picture of better days
And just like James, I'll be drinking Irish tonight
And the memory of his last work week will be gone forever
Evelyn I'm not coming home tonight!
If we're never together
If I'm never back again
Well I swear to God that I'll love you forever
Evelyn I'm not coming home tonight!
In all the years that went by she said
She'd always love him
And from the day that he died
She never loved again
In his wallet she kept in her nightstand
An A.A. card and a lock of red hair
She kept secrets of pride locked so tight in her heart
It killed a part of her before the rest was gone.
She said, "If I would have known just how things would have ended up, I just would have let myself die."
And just like James, I'll be drinking Irish tonight
And the memory of his last work week will be gone forever
Evelyn I'm not coming home tonight!
If we're never together
If I'm never back again
Well I swear to God that I'll love you forever
Evelyn I'm not coming home tonight!
It's been thirty seven years since James dies on St. Patrick's Day in 1964
But she could not hold it against him
There were times when there was nothing she could do
But lie in bed all day beside a picture of them together
A picture of better days
And just like James, I'll be drinking Irish tonight
And the memory of his last work week will be gone forever
Evelyn I'm not coming home tonight!
If we're never together
If I'm never back again
Well I swear to God that I'll love you forever
Evelyn I'm not coming home tonight!
In all the years that went by she said
She'd always love him
And from the day that he died
She never loved again
In his wallet she kept in her nightstand
An A.A. card and a lock of red hair
She kept secrets of pride locked so tight in her heart
It killed a part of her before the rest was gone.
She said, "If I would have known just how things would have ended up, I just would have let myself die."
And just like James, I'll be drinking Irish tonight
And the memory of his last work week will be gone forever
Evelyn I'm not coming home tonight!
If we're never together
If I'm never back again
Well I swear to God that I'll love you forever
Evelyn I'm not coming home tonight!
Lyrics submitted by fugazifathead, edited by GLaDOSexe
Pints of Guinness Make You Strong Lyrics as written by
Lyrics © ROUGH TRADE PUBLISHING
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Fast Car
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