"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.
When it begins, sound rushes in and drowns out everything
Sideways in bed, you cover your ears, the roar is deafening
When it won’t quit you stagger up and into the hall
But out there it’s louder. somebody’s party? you start to yell
“Hey, buddy, hey! Hey, buddy, please!
Would you quiet down? You’re killing me!
It’s 2 AM, I'm trying to sleep!”
But the sound keeps going, ‘til the walls are shaking
And no one answers though you keep running around and banging on doors
And it seems strange there’s no one home, you start to wonder
“Who’s making that noise if I’m up here all alone?”
But then the pitch hits and you stop caring
Cause what was piercing is now controlled
And there’s no who and no why and there’s no conflict
You breathe it out and let it go.
You start a song and when you sing the sound is gone!
And when you sing the lights come on!
And then the doors all open wide!
And then the whole hall staggers out and sings along!
You rub your eyes…they come closer… it’s
a party?
Sideways in bed, you cover your ears, the roar is deafening
When it won’t quit you stagger up and into the hall
But out there it’s louder. somebody’s party? you start to yell
“Hey, buddy, hey! Hey, buddy, please!
Would you quiet down? You’re killing me!
It’s 2 AM, I'm trying to sleep!”
But the sound keeps going, ‘til the walls are shaking
And no one answers though you keep running around and banging on doors
And it seems strange there’s no one home, you start to wonder
“Who’s making that noise if I’m up here all alone?”
But then the pitch hits and you stop caring
Cause what was piercing is now controlled
And there’s no who and no why and there’s no conflict
You breathe it out and let it go.
You start a song and when you sing the sound is gone!
And when you sing the lights come on!
And then the doors all open wide!
And then the whole hall staggers out and sings along!
You rub your eyes…they come closer… it’s
a party?
Lyrics submitted by sethbrown
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Fast Car
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the perfect paranoid song! can't get enough.