"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.
So here she's actin' happy inside her handsome home
And me, I'm flyin' in my taxi, takin' tips and gettin' stoned
I got into town a little early
Had eight hours to kill before the show
First I thought about heading up north of the bay
Then I knew where I had to go
I thought about taking a limousine
Or at least a fancy car
But I ended up taking a taxi
'Cause that's how I got this far
You see, ten years ago it was the front seat
Drivin' stoned and feelin' no pain
Now here I am straight and sittin' in the back
Hitting 16 Parkside Lane
The driveway was the same as I remembered
And a butler came and answered the door
He just shook his head when I asked for her
And said, "She doesn't live here anymore"
But he offered to give me the address
That they were forwarding her letters to
I just took it and returned to the cabbie and said
"I got one more fare for you"
And so we rolled back into the city
Up to a five-storey old brownstone
I rang the bell that had her name on the mailbox
The buzzer said somebody's home
And the look on her face as she opened the door
Was like an old joke told by a friend
It'd taken ten more years but she'd found her smile
And I watched the corners start to bend
And she said, "How are you Harry?
Haven't we played this scene before?"
I said, "It's so good to see you, Sue
Had to play it out just once more"
Play it out just once more
She said, "I've heard you flying high on my radio"
I answered "It's not all it seems"
That's when she laughed and she said, "It's better sometimes
When we don't get to touch our dreams"
That's when I asked her, "Where was that actress?"
She said, "That was somebody else"
And then I asked her why she looked so happy now
She said, "I finally like myself, at last I like myself"
So we talked all through that afternoon
Talking about where we'd been
We talked of the tiny difference
Between ending and starting to begin
We talked 'cause talking tells you things
Like what you really are thinking about
But sometimes you can't find what you're feeling
'Til all the words run out
So I asked her to come to the concert
She said, "No, I work at night"
I said, "We've gotten too damn good at leaving, Sue"
She said, "Harry, you're right"
Don't ask me if I made love to her
Or which one of us started to cry
Don't ask me why she wouldn't take the money that I left
If I answered at all I'd lie
So I thought about her as I sang that night
And how the circle keeps rolling around
How I act as I'm facing the footlights
And how she's flying with both feet on the ground
I guess it's a sequel to our story
From the journey 'tween Heaven and Hell
With half the time thinking of what might have been
And half thinkin' just as well
I guess only time will tell
And me, I'm flyin' in my taxi, takin' tips and gettin' stoned
I got into town a little early
Had eight hours to kill before the show
First I thought about heading up north of the bay
Then I knew where I had to go
I thought about taking a limousine
Or at least a fancy car
But I ended up taking a taxi
'Cause that's how I got this far
You see, ten years ago it was the front seat
Drivin' stoned and feelin' no pain
Now here I am straight and sittin' in the back
Hitting 16 Parkside Lane
The driveway was the same as I remembered
And a butler came and answered the door
He just shook his head when I asked for her
And said, "She doesn't live here anymore"
But he offered to give me the address
That they were forwarding her letters to
I just took it and returned to the cabbie and said
"I got one more fare for you"
And so we rolled back into the city
Up to a five-storey old brownstone
I rang the bell that had her name on the mailbox
The buzzer said somebody's home
And the look on her face as she opened the door
Was like an old joke told by a friend
It'd taken ten more years but she'd found her smile
And I watched the corners start to bend
And she said, "How are you Harry?
Haven't we played this scene before?"
I said, "It's so good to see you, Sue
Had to play it out just once more"
Play it out just once more
She said, "I've heard you flying high on my radio"
I answered "It's not all it seems"
That's when she laughed and she said, "It's better sometimes
When we don't get to touch our dreams"
That's when I asked her, "Where was that actress?"
She said, "That was somebody else"
And then I asked her why she looked so happy now
She said, "I finally like myself, at last I like myself"
So we talked all through that afternoon
Talking about where we'd been
We talked of the tiny difference
Between ending and starting to begin
We talked 'cause talking tells you things
Like what you really are thinking about
But sometimes you can't find what you're feeling
'Til all the words run out
So I asked her to come to the concert
She said, "No, I work at night"
I said, "We've gotten too damn good at leaving, Sue"
She said, "Harry, you're right"
Don't ask me if I made love to her
Or which one of us started to cry
Don't ask me why she wouldn't take the money that I left
If I answered at all I'd lie
So I thought about her as I sang that night
And how the circle keeps rolling around
How I act as I'm facing the footlights
And how she's flying with both feet on the ground
I guess it's a sequel to our story
From the journey 'tween Heaven and Hell
With half the time thinking of what might have been
And half thinkin' just as well
I guess only time will tell
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Fast Car
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I really love this song, besides it being great in itself it really adds to 'Taxi'. I find it very interesting that in this song he sings:
"How I act as I'm facing the footlights And how she's flying with both feet on the ground."
when in 'Taxi' he and Sue have the opposite roles:
"You see, she was gonna be an actress And I was gonna learn to fly. She took off to find the footlights, And I took off for the sky."
that really caught my attention the first time I heard the song -- it's absolutely amazing -- one of my favorites!
i always liked this song more than Taxi for some reason
I have listened to Mr. Chap in most of my adult life. As with all of his songs I'm always amazed how there will be one or two lines in his songs that seem to tie the story together. With Sequel, I find the line, ........"we talked cause talking tells you things, like what you really are thinking about, but sometimes you can't find what feeling till all the words run out....... It takes me to a time in a relationship when I have found myself looking into the eyes of the special someone and without having to speak, both people conect. I hope everyone gets the chance to run out of words....
The follow up to the story of Harry & Sue introduced in Chapin's first hit song "Taxi", finds the two characters in somewhat of a role reversal, Harry, who in Taxi is a down on his luck cab driver is now a successful entertainer, and Sue, the supposed wealthy married actress, is now single, living alone, and working a regular job in relative obscurity. Harry seeks her out in "Sequel". armed with confidence from his success that he clearly lacked when he last saw her in Taxi, and is surprised to find Sue living so quietly in obscurity (the way he used to).
He eventually questions her as to why she seems OK with her now more modest lot in life...
"So I asked why she looked so happy now and she said I Finally Like Myself, At Last I Like Myself"
In essence, Sue didn't need the fame or the "footlights" which are referenced here but originally are part of Taxi's lyrics to be happy in life, Harry however needed the confidence boast provided by the character's new found success, which he clearly lacked in Taxi.
HC leaves the final verse of the song somewhat open, as if there might be another installment in the story, which there never was.
If you are familiar with the original song Taxi then you notice several references to the original story such as Sue's old address 16 Parkside Lane, the reference to Harry taking a taxi to Sue's home ("10 years ago it was the front seat, driving stoned & feeling no pain, now Im straight & sitting in the back....") which harks back not only to Harry;s old job from the first song but the closing verse ("I go flying so high when Im stoned..."), as well as the footlights reference in the final verse, which here refers to Harry's character's new career but in Taxi was a repeated verse referencing the end of the original relationship ("She took off to find the footlights, and I took off to find the sky").
The song was HC last hit single, just missing the US Top 20 in late 1980.
Great song. Reminds me of the saying that;
"You should be careful of what you wish for, because you just might get it"
Also reminds me of the lines spoken by Leonard Nimoy (as Spock);
“After a time, you may find that having is not so pleasing a thing after all as wanting. It is not logical, but is often true".
Many times we really do not know what we want or more importantly need.