"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.
This is a story about a little man named Rodney.....
Just went along with his pathetic, lonely life. Even when he went to school, Teacher said "jump" and he jumped and he jumped and he jumped. He fell on the floor.
.....
It was not to be, the world for him to see. Mercy. Oh, Mercy.
He wanted to go somewhere, relax for a while. Went to work on a boat as a cabin boy. "Get on your knees and scrub the decks, I wanna see you sweating, Make sure you're in my cabin at around 'alf past ten this evening."
He didn't like this one bit, HE'S GOTTA GET ANOTHER JOB! So he jumped off the boat and swam to the shore to work in a beach at a bar. He met a chick working there, just like him. Not too pretty, not too pretty! Sad and lonely... just like him. They went to the cinema together and then...went to his room, went to his room and made sweet lovin' to each other's only friend.
Night after, he walked out of his room, heard a voice shout...
Barman:" GO PICK THE DEAD RATS OUTTA THE DRAIN!"
First day, but it's ok. But Rod doesn't do anything just sits there. He thinks: "Fuck it, I'll put up with this shit, I've got a girl and a friend I don't need nothing else".
Barman: "How you doing my good friend? You like the ladies, eh? I see you have good taste. Miranda very nice girl, very nice girl."
Rod: "What's that supposed to mean, you tryin' to say something, say it! Very friendly girl, VERY FRIENDLY GIRL?? What's that supposed to mean??" *mumbling*
Barman: "Miranda your girl?"
Rod: "Yeah, what of it?!"
Barman: "She very good at expressing her affection for her friends, she's my girl, your girl, everybody's girl."
Rod: "So you're saying that you and all the other people that have come in this here bar have been with her? But no-one's come in here for days... APART FROM A COUPLE OF PISS-HEADS!"
Piss-head: "She 'ad lovely tight cheeks"
Sailor: "Not after I saw to her"
Rod was furious, Rod said to Miranda:
Rod: "How could you do this to me?"
Miranda: "Because of you, my whole life changed"
Rod: "So you have the confidence to disgrace yourself? No longer do I want to be a slave."
Miranda: "What? What did you say?"
Asked Miranda, would she say sorry:
Miranda: "You're weird, stay away from me"
So he put some laxatives in their tea.... and he was all alone again.
Just went along with his pathetic, lonely life. Even when he went to school, Teacher said "jump" and he jumped and he jumped and he jumped. He fell on the floor.
.....
It was not to be, the world for him to see. Mercy. Oh, Mercy.
He wanted to go somewhere, relax for a while. Went to work on a boat as a cabin boy. "Get on your knees and scrub the decks, I wanna see you sweating, Make sure you're in my cabin at around 'alf past ten this evening."
He didn't like this one bit, HE'S GOTTA GET ANOTHER JOB! So he jumped off the boat and swam to the shore to work in a beach at a bar. He met a chick working there, just like him. Not too pretty, not too pretty! Sad and lonely... just like him. They went to the cinema together and then...went to his room, went to his room and made sweet lovin' to each other's only friend.
Night after, he walked out of his room, heard a voice shout...
Barman:" GO PICK THE DEAD RATS OUTTA THE DRAIN!"
First day, but it's ok. But Rod doesn't do anything just sits there. He thinks: "Fuck it, I'll put up with this shit, I've got a girl and a friend I don't need nothing else".
Barman: "How you doing my good friend? You like the ladies, eh? I see you have good taste. Miranda very nice girl, very nice girl."
Rod: "What's that supposed to mean, you tryin' to say something, say it! Very friendly girl, VERY FRIENDLY GIRL?? What's that supposed to mean??" *mumbling*
Barman: "Miranda your girl?"
Rod: "Yeah, what of it?!"
Barman: "She very good at expressing her affection for her friends, she's my girl, your girl, everybody's girl."
Rod: "So you're saying that you and all the other people that have come in this here bar have been with her? But no-one's come in here for days... APART FROM A COUPLE OF PISS-HEADS!"
Piss-head: "She 'ad lovely tight cheeks"
Sailor: "Not after I saw to her"
Rod was furious, Rod said to Miranda:
Rod: "How could you do this to me?"
Miranda: "Because of you, my whole life changed"
Rod: "So you have the confidence to disgrace yourself? No longer do I want to be a slave."
Miranda: "What? What did you say?"
Asked Miranda, would she say sorry:
Miranda: "You're weird, stay away from me"
So he put some laxatives in their tea.... and he was all alone again.
Lyrics submitted by noneedfordav
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Fast Car
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Great version of a great song,
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the lyrics explain the whole thing =D. love the song though it sounds really good when you he shouts "how could you do this to me"