"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.
someone please save us,
us collage kids!
what my parents told me
is what i did
they said go to school and
be a collage kid
but in the end
i questioned why i did
i'm poor, i'm starving, i'm flat broke
i've got no cash to spend
sell all my books for front row tickets
to dave matthews band
my girlfriends at another school
i know this year will test her
i called, found out she had three other boyfrieds last semester
and that's why i say
oh no! not for me not for me
call it torture call it university
no! arts and crafts is all i need
i'll take calligraphy and
then ill make a fake degree
80 grand later i found out
that all that i had learned
is that you should show up to
take your finals and your midterms
the party scene is kinda mean
i think it's sick and twisted
the navy showed up at my dorm
and clamed that i enlisted
(repeat chorus)
don't get excited she'll say 'no'
without a doubt you see
and i've decided college girls
just won't go out with me
they make me nervous and they
allways catch me off my guard
like cell phone service
i drop out cause college is to hard
it's time to call my father
cause it's his alma mater
good grades arn't what they seem
i think he knows the dean
it's time to call my father
cause it's his alma mater
he said he's proud of me
but college always was his dream
and i would always say it's not for me
(repeat chorus)
phi, beta, delta, kappa
do what will make you happy
do what you feel is right
only but one thing matters
learn how to live your life
do what will make God happy
do what you feel is right
only but one thing matters
learn how to live your life
us collage kids!
what my parents told me
is what i did
they said go to school and
be a collage kid
but in the end
i questioned why i did
i'm poor, i'm starving, i'm flat broke
i've got no cash to spend
sell all my books for front row tickets
to dave matthews band
my girlfriends at another school
i know this year will test her
i called, found out she had three other boyfrieds last semester
and that's why i say
oh no! not for me not for me
call it torture call it university
no! arts and crafts is all i need
i'll take calligraphy and
then ill make a fake degree
80 grand later i found out
that all that i had learned
is that you should show up to
take your finals and your midterms
the party scene is kinda mean
i think it's sick and twisted
the navy showed up at my dorm
and clamed that i enlisted
(repeat chorus)
don't get excited she'll say 'no'
without a doubt you see
and i've decided college girls
just won't go out with me
they make me nervous and they
allways catch me off my guard
like cell phone service
i drop out cause college is to hard
it's time to call my father
cause it's his alma mater
good grades arn't what they seem
i think he knows the dean
it's time to call my father
cause it's his alma mater
he said he's proud of me
but college always was his dream
and i would always say it's not for me
(repeat chorus)
phi, beta, delta, kappa
do what will make you happy
do what you feel is right
only but one thing matters
learn how to live your life
do what will make God happy
do what you feel is right
only but one thing matters
learn how to live your life
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I'm with puddle, that no Christian is perfect (Romans 3:23) But I saw RK in consert a while ago and Matt T. said "This song isn't about not going to college, but think before spending all your parents money