"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.
Nothing changes cause it's all the same
The world you get's the one you give away
It all just happens again
Way down the line
There is a chain that's never broken
You know the story it's sad but true
An angry man gets drunk and beats his kids
The same old way his drunken father did
What comes around well it goes around
Nothing changes cause it's all the same
The world you get's the one you give away
It all just happens again
Way down the line
At 17 Shannon is pregnant
As young as her mom when she had her
Her kid is never gonna have a dad
The same old way that Shannon never had
What comes around well it goes around
Nothing changes cause it's all the same
The world you get's the one you give away
It all just happens again
Way down the line
And all the things you learn when you're a kid
You'll fuck up just like your parents did
It all just happens again
Way down the line
And welfare moms have kids on welfare
And fat parents they have fat kids too
You know it's never gonna end
The same old cycle's gonna start again
What comes around well it goes around
The world you get's the one you give away
It all just happens again
Way down the line
There is a chain that's never broken
You know the story it's sad but true
An angry man gets drunk and beats his kids
The same old way his drunken father did
What comes around well it goes around
Nothing changes cause it's all the same
The world you get's the one you give away
It all just happens again
Way down the line
At 17 Shannon is pregnant
As young as her mom when she had her
Her kid is never gonna have a dad
The same old way that Shannon never had
What comes around well it goes around
Nothing changes cause it's all the same
The world you get's the one you give away
It all just happens again
Way down the line
And all the things you learn when you're a kid
You'll fuck up just like your parents did
It all just happens again
Way down the line
And welfare moms have kids on welfare
And fat parents they have fat kids too
You know it's never gonna end
The same old cycle's gonna start again
What comes around well it goes around
Lyrics submitted by NothingMan
Way Down the Line Lyrics as written by Greg Kriesel Dexter Holland
Lyrics © Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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This song is just amazing. the riff's awesome to play on guitar. And yea, the meaning's quite obvious, i dont think i need to repeat it. But does anyone else remeber jamming out to this song on crazy taxi? Man that game was friggin amazing...