"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.
you may see me on the corner with a big old smile
that says "don't tread on me"
with my hand on a bottle like a weapon in my hand
that spells my liberty
well, there ain't no work on a hot summer's night
you know there ain't no work at all
and a dollar and a quarter gonna buy another bottle
help me make it to the fall
i was itchin' for a fight when my country come a-callin'
i was educated for that chore
i believed what they said about fightin' them reds
and i marched off to that war
well, the only red i saw was blood on the field
and my bank account when i got home
and the red in the bottle that i thought that i needed
'gainst the nightmares of being alone
well, out in california th'got some very fine wine
and they keep it in the bottle 'til it’s aged
and they know when they bottle that the rich gonna pay
so they place it in a wooden crate
but the poison that they bottle for a dollar and a quarter
you know it comes from the very same grapes
but they play the percentage that no one gonna notice
keep the poor man with nothing on his plate
well, this country it was founded on a flag with a snake
that said "don't tread on me"
and a flag with a chain with thirteen little circles
whose weakest link is me
when cannon fodder sells for a dollar and a quarter
how unlucky can one boy be
but i'm pledging my time when i break this bottle
and i say "don't tread on me"
that says "don't tread on me"
with my hand on a bottle like a weapon in my hand
that spells my liberty
well, there ain't no work on a hot summer's night
you know there ain't no work at all
and a dollar and a quarter gonna buy another bottle
help me make it to the fall
i was itchin' for a fight when my country come a-callin'
i was educated for that chore
i believed what they said about fightin' them reds
and i marched off to that war
well, the only red i saw was blood on the field
and my bank account when i got home
and the red in the bottle that i thought that i needed
'gainst the nightmares of being alone
well, out in california th'got some very fine wine
and they keep it in the bottle 'til it’s aged
and they know when they bottle that the rich gonna pay
so they place it in a wooden crate
but the poison that they bottle for a dollar and a quarter
you know it comes from the very same grapes
but they play the percentage that no one gonna notice
keep the poor man with nothing on his plate
well, this country it was founded on a flag with a snake
that said "don't tread on me"
and a flag with a chain with thirteen little circles
whose weakest link is me
when cannon fodder sells for a dollar and a quarter
how unlucky can one boy be
but i'm pledging my time when i break this bottle
and i say "don't tread on me"
Lyrics submitted by ruben
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