"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.
Oh this hurricane’s blowing us thin
This never ending swirl of American sin
Where I strayed on my knees to a bottomless cage
Where they throw dollar bills and hope to be saved
The poshest scarf on the warmest day…
Its enough to make you give up ….she says...
I know I know I know …it shows
As we sleep in this broken Cadillac
We watch the world leave it doesn’t look back
I gotta say that…when my heart attacks
Don’t return it…it will fire right back...
So let’s just lie here as they paint us black…
Oh this earthquake is shaking our hands
Free at the wrists just as we started a dance
The hardest thing next to diamond rings
Is the coats we have to wear just to make ends meet
I got this year and fifty more to beat…
Its enough to make you give up….she says…
I know I know I know….so let go…
The nervous ticks only the holy get
The country treats as the cities get sick
The lunatics and the Harlem tricks
The country treats as we all get sick…
This never ending swirl of American sin
Where I strayed on my knees to a bottomless cage
Where they throw dollar bills and hope to be saved
The poshest scarf on the warmest day…
Its enough to make you give up ….she says...
I know I know I know …it shows
As we sleep in this broken Cadillac
We watch the world leave it doesn’t look back
I gotta say that…when my heart attacks
Don’t return it…it will fire right back...
So let’s just lie here as they paint us black…
Oh this earthquake is shaking our hands
Free at the wrists just as we started a dance
The hardest thing next to diamond rings
Is the coats we have to wear just to make ends meet
I got this year and fifty more to beat…
Its enough to make you give up….she says…
I know I know I know….so let go…
The nervous ticks only the holy get
The country treats as the cities get sick
The lunatics and the Harlem tricks
The country treats as we all get sick…
Lyrics submitted by stere0atypical
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Fast Car
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Stevenatfe, the song was written and released online before the hurricane hit the gulf. The lyrics were posted on songmeanings by August 27th and Katrina hit land on August 25th in Florida, but didn't compare to the impact that it would make in New Orleans, on August 29th. I doubt that there was even time for Cassino to write, record, and post the song online even just based on the events in Florida, & have someone find out about them & post their lyrics in 2 days. I guess the the first line could have been inspired by the news reports of the large upcoming storm, but I think it was just an unfortunate coincidence. However, what you said has a lot of truth and it is very odd how similar the lyrics are to the situation in NO. I don't believe it to be an attack on "America" however, but rather a cultural comment about Western Culture. If you follow the band much they have mentioned that they are pretty broke themselves, and I definetly think this song is about their own poverty (especially if you listen to it with "Gin War" and "Platona").