"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.
Hey Yo !
Can't you see
Everybody wanna be
Crying to be
Dying to be
Trying to be
Can't you see?
You can't be me!
Ah!
Lord-a-mercy, One time, for the crime, hey... niggaz got to pay the fine
Chorus:
A who ? Coulda neva Mista Wanna be
Me a guh kill yuh free
Mek everybody see
A you ? People seh dress up fi look like me
Me aguh done you too
And yuh friend mek three
Repeat
Verse 1:
Unu wanna be me!
Weh tek dem insect
True mi tek Spring Break, si dem a impress
Hear this likkle punk guh sing a battyman concept
Seh him hood Deanie, a deh suh mi object
And him guh pon Mirage, and guh dis-respect
bout dem box man a foreign dem nuh tek nuh bet yet
Tell dem if dem do dat World War woulda re-flex
Yuh lef' Clarendon and come drop ina wasp nest
with Guerilla warfare yuh caught mi interest
War mi start dat by reservation and request
To kill dis yah fool, to me dat is no stress
Murder dem fast just like a Federal Express
And mi run wild west
Chorus
Verse 2:
Unu done know further
Talk fact not fiction, that's what yuh heard of
'Fore mi tell yuh seh mi hear yuh nyam fur burger
Yuh jus a realize right yah suh yuh get murder
A from yuh gal friend lips, mi hear dem word yah
Di likkle careless punk, weh dem call name Merva
Seh yuh dida guh dung and a sight observer
Mek haste emerge yah
Hey yow...
Chorus
Verse 3:
Unu grudging to be
Mista Wannabe
Everybody sight that you wanna be me
Go as far and plan fi tek all plastic surgery
Wah day yuh friend a seh him nah guh run and flee
Mi fix him ina Mirage, him run, him neva agree
Unu nuh hear bout me
Mi nuh want a cent fi kill yuh, mi will kill yuh fi free
Send yuh mumma di fee fi mek sure yuh bury
When gunshot tek yuh 96 degree
Unu fi guh a Spanglers corner or T.G
Unu nuh hear bout we?
I ask...
Chorus 2x
Can't you see
Everybody wanna be
Crying to be
Dying to be
Trying to be
Can't you see?
You can't be me!
Ah!
Lord-a-mercy, One time, for the crime, hey... niggaz got to pay the fine
Chorus:
A who ? Coulda neva Mista Wanna be
Me a guh kill yuh free
Mek everybody see
A you ? People seh dress up fi look like me
Me aguh done you too
And yuh friend mek three
Repeat
Verse 1:
Unu wanna be me!
Weh tek dem insect
True mi tek Spring Break, si dem a impress
Hear this likkle punk guh sing a battyman concept
Seh him hood Deanie, a deh suh mi object
And him guh pon Mirage, and guh dis-respect
bout dem box man a foreign dem nuh tek nuh bet yet
Tell dem if dem do dat World War woulda re-flex
Yuh lef' Clarendon and come drop ina wasp nest
with Guerilla warfare yuh caught mi interest
War mi start dat by reservation and request
To kill dis yah fool, to me dat is no stress
Murder dem fast just like a Federal Express
And mi run wild west
Chorus
Verse 2:
Unu done know further
Talk fact not fiction, that's what yuh heard of
'Fore mi tell yuh seh mi hear yuh nyam fur burger
Yuh jus a realize right yah suh yuh get murder
A from yuh gal friend lips, mi hear dem word yah
Di likkle careless punk, weh dem call name Merva
Seh yuh dida guh dung and a sight observer
Mek haste emerge yah
Hey yow...
Chorus
Verse 3:
Unu grudging to be
Mista Wannabe
Everybody sight that you wanna be me
Go as far and plan fi tek all plastic surgery
Wah day yuh friend a seh him nah guh run and flee
Mi fix him ina Mirage, him run, him neva agree
Unu nuh hear bout me
Mi nuh want a cent fi kill yuh, mi will kill yuh fi free
Send yuh mumma di fee fi mek sure yuh bury
When gunshot tek yuh 96 degree
Unu fi guh a Spanglers corner or T.G
Unu nuh hear bout we?
I ask...
Chorus 2x
Lyrics submitted by DallasLeigh
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