"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.
When life's little troubles
Block the road you're going down
Don't beat your head against the wall
Just find another way around
If the bad guys are winning
Everything you're working for
Maybe you should change
The way that you're keeping score
When the weight of the world's
About to run you in the ground
You don't have to stand for that
You just take it lying down
[Chorus]
Kick back - relax
Just let your train of concentration
Go and jump the tracks
At the end of your rope
Just cut yourself some slack
If it's more than you can hack
Kick back
What's the sense of burning up
Your candle at both ends?
Burns twice as bright but half as long
And it won't burn again
Quit living for tomorrow
'Cause it never comes to pass
Even when you take it slow, life's too fast
We're just spinning 'round
So tell me where's the rush?
You only get one ride, so prop your feet up
[Chorus]
When you find you're at the bottom
Of an uphill fight
Don't let your circumstances
Get you down-right-up-tight
[Chorus]
Hey go catch yourself some bass
Kick back
Block the road you're going down
Don't beat your head against the wall
Just find another way around
If the bad guys are winning
Everything you're working for
Maybe you should change
The way that you're keeping score
When the weight of the world's
About to run you in the ground
You don't have to stand for that
You just take it lying down
[Chorus]
Kick back - relax
Just let your train of concentration
Go and jump the tracks
At the end of your rope
Just cut yourself some slack
If it's more than you can hack
Kick back
What's the sense of burning up
Your candle at both ends?
Burns twice as bright but half as long
And it won't burn again
Quit living for tomorrow
'Cause it never comes to pass
Even when you take it slow, life's too fast
We're just spinning 'round
So tell me where's the rush?
You only get one ride, so prop your feet up
[Chorus]
When you find you're at the bottom
Of an uphill fight
Don't let your circumstances
Get you down-right-up-tight
[Chorus]
Hey go catch yourself some bass
Kick back
Lyrics submitted by KungFuChica
Kick Back Lyrics as written by Kevin Ingleson Michael E. Abel
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Universal Music Publishing Group, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Songtrust Ave
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