"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.
I met a man out on a bridge pier
He said he's gonna jump to save his soul
I said what's the world done to make you mad man
He said sit down son now here's the dope
I can't find work 'cause I'm a blind man
I can't see but sometimes I can see the light
Now is my life a labor of love or is my life a love of labor
I still got a hollow feeling in my life
What a way to go
What a way to go
What a way to go
What a way to go
I met this girl her name escapes me
Said son I'd love you to be my man
She wrote her name out on a dollar
I spent that dollar on a shot of jim
Spent it on a shot of jim
I talked him down and then I walked off
I turned around and he was gone himself
A mile down the road it came upon me
It was me I talked off that ledge
It was me I talked off that ledge
It was me I talked off that ledge
What a way to go
What a way to go
What a way to go
He said he's gonna jump to save his soul
I said what's the world done to make you mad man
He said sit down son now here's the dope
I can't find work 'cause I'm a blind man
I can't see but sometimes I can see the light
Now is my life a labor of love or is my life a love of labor
I still got a hollow feeling in my life
What a way to go
What a way to go
What a way to go
What a way to go
I met this girl her name escapes me
Said son I'd love you to be my man
She wrote her name out on a dollar
I spent that dollar on a shot of jim
Spent it on a shot of jim
I talked him down and then I walked off
I turned around and he was gone himself
A mile down the road it came upon me
It was me I talked off that ledge
It was me I talked off that ledge
It was me I talked off that ledge
What a way to go
What a way to go
What a way to go
Lyrics submitted by Tuesdayz_gone
What a Way to Go Lyrics as written by
Lyrics © TUNECORE INC
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Fast Car
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