"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.
Pearls and swine bereft of me
Long and weary my road has been
I was lost in the cities
Alone in the hills
No sorrow or pity for leaving I feel
Chorus
I am not your rolling wheels
I am the highway
I am not your carpet ride
I am the sky
Friends and liars don’t wait for me
I’ll get on all by myself
I put millions of miles
Under my heels
And still too close to you
I feel
Chorus
I am not your rolling wheels
I am the highway
I am not your carpet ride
I am the sky
I am not your blowing wind
I am the lightning
I am not your autumn moon
I am the night
The night
I am not your rolling wheels
I am the highway
I am not your carpet ride
I am the sky
I am not your blowing wind
I am the lightning
I am not your autumn moon
I am the night
The night
Long and weary my road has been
I was lost in the cities
Alone in the hills
No sorrow or pity for leaving I feel
Chorus
I am not your rolling wheels
I am the highway
I am not your carpet ride
I am the sky
Friends and liars don’t wait for me
I’ll get on all by myself
I put millions of miles
Under my heels
And still too close to you
I feel
Chorus
I am not your rolling wheels
I am the highway
I am not your carpet ride
I am the sky
I am not your blowing wind
I am the lightning
I am not your autumn moon
I am the night
The night
I am not your rolling wheels
I am the highway
I am not your carpet ride
I am the sky
I am not your blowing wind
I am the lightning
I am not your autumn moon
I am the night
The night
Lyrics submitted by ruben
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Eek! Correct lyrics as appeared in the CD case:
Pearls and swine bereft of me Long and weary my road has been I was lost in the cities Alone in the hills No sorrow or pity for leaving I feel
Chorus I am not your rolling wheels I am the highway I am not your carpet ride I am the sky
Friends and liars don’t wait for me I’ll get on all by myself I put millions of miles Under my heels And still too close to you I feel
Chorus I am not your rolling wheels I am the highway I am not your carpet ride I am the sky I am not your blowing wind I am the lightning I am not your autumn moon I am the night The night
I am not your rolling wheels I am the highway I am not your carpet ride I am the sky I am not your blowing wind I am the lightning I am not your autumn moon I am the night The night
I listen to this song when I'm fed up with people, because that's exactly what this dude is singing about in the verses. At the end of them, though, he throws in that he left someone behind. He's running away.
And the chorus. Somehow he's returning to talk about the person he left behind, but I read it this way: I won't get you there (I am not your rolling wheels), but I'll show you the way (I am the highway). Perhaps he left that person because they wouldn't move on in their life, and he's trying to show them.
Well....anyone else? =)
the first time i heard the song i knew the corous was talking directly about God, he keeps saying I am not this little stuff I'm so much bigger...the verses took me longer but now I think that they are about finding yourself and God within apart from everyone you know both good and bad, kind of the journey to God is a one man mission and other hold a person back