"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.
There are colors on the street...red, white, and blue
People shufflin' their feet, people sleepin' in their shoes
There's a warnin' sign in the road ahead
There's a lot of people sayin' we'd be better off dead
Don't feel like Satan, but I am to them
So I try to forgive 'em, any way I can, yeah...
I see a girl in the night with a baby in her hands
Under an old street light, oh, near a garbage can
Now she put her kid away, she's gone to get a hit
She hates her life, and what she's done with it
That's one more kid, that'll never go to school
Never get to fall in love, never get to be cool
Keep on rockin' in the free world (3x)
( The US of A, the United States )
( Ain't a free place, it's not a free place )
( Ain't got the right to choose, barely got the right to vote )
( There they got the right to make an honest buck )
( The USA ain't a free, free place )
There's a thousand points of light for the colored man
There's a kinder, gentler police man's hand
There's department stores, and toilet paper
Styrofoam garbage for the Ozone layer
There's a man of the people, said 'keep hope alive'
Got fuel to burn, got roads to drive
Keep on rockin' in the free world (4x)
People shufflin' their feet, people sleepin' in their shoes
There's a warnin' sign in the road ahead
There's a lot of people sayin' we'd be better off dead
Don't feel like Satan, but I am to them
So I try to forgive 'em, any way I can, yeah...
I see a girl in the night with a baby in her hands
Under an old street light, oh, near a garbage can
Now she put her kid away, she's gone to get a hit
She hates her life, and what she's done with it
That's one more kid, that'll never go to school
Never get to fall in love, never get to be cool
Keep on rockin' in the free world (3x)
( The US of A, the United States )
( Ain't a free place, it's not a free place )
( Ain't got the right to choose, barely got the right to vote )
( There they got the right to make an honest buck )
( The USA ain't a free, free place )
There's a thousand points of light for the colored man
There's a kinder, gentler police man's hand
There's department stores, and toilet paper
Styrofoam garbage for the Ozone layer
There's a man of the people, said 'keep hope alive'
Got fuel to burn, got roads to drive
Keep on rockin' in the free world (4x)
Lyrics submitted by rpggamerjmb
Rockin' in the Free World Lyrics as written by Neil Young Frank M. Sampedro
Lyrics © Hipgnosis Songs Group
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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