"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.
Has anybody ever been to Lebanon?
Does anybody really care to go, at all?
Anybody want to go to Lebanon
Where you can read the writings on the wall?
Do the caravans still ride across the sand
Or is the season causing everything sacred to fall?
Do the sages sing their chant throughout the land
Or has their song been silenced over the centuries, to all?
Does the sun still kiss the earth in Lebanon?
Does the moonlight still reflect the sand at night?
Can a prophet still come out of Lebanon
Or has the thirst for profit changed the times?
Do Phoenecian spirits dance across the sand?
Do the cedar trees still standing next to the ocean still grow?
Do the sages sing their chant throughout the land
Or has their song been silenced?
Does the temple still exist in Lebanon
Or have the winds of time been blowing hard, for all?
Does the mosque still sing the hymn of Lebanon
Reciting old inscriptions from the wall?
Do the caravans now crawl across the sand
And is the season causing everyone sacred to cry?
Can the people of the land still hear the call
Or has the song been silenced over the centuries, to all?
Does anybody really care to go, at all?
Anybody want to go to Lebanon
Where you can read the writings on the wall?
Do the caravans still ride across the sand
Or is the season causing everything sacred to fall?
Do the sages sing their chant throughout the land
Or has their song been silenced over the centuries, to all?
Does the sun still kiss the earth in Lebanon?
Does the moonlight still reflect the sand at night?
Can a prophet still come out of Lebanon
Or has the thirst for profit changed the times?
Do Phoenecian spirits dance across the sand?
Do the cedar trees still standing next to the ocean still grow?
Do the sages sing their chant throughout the land
Or has their song been silenced?
Does the temple still exist in Lebanon
Or have the winds of time been blowing hard, for all?
Does the mosque still sing the hymn of Lebanon
Reciting old inscriptions from the wall?
Do the caravans now crawl across the sand
And is the season causing everyone sacred to cry?
Can the people of the land still hear the call
Or has the song been silenced over the centuries, to all?
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A beautiful look at Lebanon today. Although I've never been there, this song describes it with unimaginable power.