"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.
With life just begun, my sleeping new son
Has eyes that roll back in his head
They flutter and dart, he slows down his heart
And pictures a world past his bed
It's hard to believe
As I watch you breathe
Your mind drifts and weaves
When you dream
What do you dream about?
When you dream
What do you dream about?
Do you dream about music or mathematics
Or planets too far for the eye?
Do you dream about Jesus or quantum mechanics
Or angels who sing lullabies?
His fontanel pulses with lives that he's lived
With memories he'll learn to ignore
And when it is closed, he already knows
He's forgotten all he knew before
But when sleep sets in
History begins
But the future will win
When you dream
What do you dream about?
When you dream
What do you dream about?
Are they color or black and white, Yiddish or English
Or languages not yet conceived?
Are they silent or boisterous?
Do you hear noises just loud enough to be perceived?
Do you hear Del Shannon's 'Runaway' playing
On transistor radio waves?
With so little experience your mind not yet cognizant
Are you wise beyond your few days?
When you dream
What do you dream about?
When you dream
What do you dream about?
When you dream
What do you dream about?
When you dream
What do you dream about? (What do you dream about?)
When you dream
What do you dream about? (What do you dream about?)
When you dream
Has eyes that roll back in his head
They flutter and dart, he slows down his heart
And pictures a world past his bed
It's hard to believe
As I watch you breathe
Your mind drifts and weaves
When you dream
What do you dream about?
When you dream
What do you dream about?
Do you dream about music or mathematics
Or planets too far for the eye?
Do you dream about Jesus or quantum mechanics
Or angels who sing lullabies?
His fontanel pulses with lives that he's lived
With memories he'll learn to ignore
And when it is closed, he already knows
He's forgotten all he knew before
But when sleep sets in
History begins
But the future will win
When you dream
What do you dream about?
When you dream
What do you dream about?
Are they color or black and white, Yiddish or English
Or languages not yet conceived?
Are they silent or boisterous?
Do you hear noises just loud enough to be perceived?
Do you hear Del Shannon's 'Runaway' playing
On transistor radio waves?
With so little experience your mind not yet cognizant
Are you wise beyond your few days?
When you dream
What do you dream about?
When you dream
What do you dream about?
When you dream
What do you dream about?
When you dream
What do you dream about? (What do you dream about?)
When you dream
What do you dream about? (What do you dream about?)
When you dream
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Fast Car
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This is one of my favorite songs. https://fnfgo.io
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This song was originally written by a guy called Peter Gutteridge. He was one of the founders of the "Dunedin Sound" a musical scene in the south of New Zealand in the early 80s. From there it was covered by "The Clean" one of the early bands of that scene (he had originally been a member of in it's early days, writing a couple of their best early songs). The Dunedin sound, and the Clean became popular on american college radio in the mid to late 80s. I guess Yo La Tengo heard that version.
Great version of a great song,
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Why the hell hasn't anyone commented on this song? It's so moving and gentle. It's about the singers newborn son and how he wonders what goes on inside the child's mind before he grows up and forgets it all. Anyone here listen to Jimmy Eat World? You should, if you like BNL. Their styles are different, but they do very well with catchy tunes and harmonies and also with lots of different instruments in their songs, rather than just Guitar, bass, drums.