"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.
What's the matter here? You'll never repair
The lady's cursed with insight
You'll never fix her, with a cold stare
She's all broken inside
She made a good go like a weeping willow
Her limbs clung to the ground
She closed the window and made a pillow
And lay the head down
And as her babies slept, she took a long deep breath
Now they're zipping her up in a bag
Can you hear her blacks crackle & drag?
And the Cadillac's waiting to take her away
Can you hear her blacks crackle & drag?
Another head cold, another spirit old
February
Her hair was dirty and she was thirty in 1963
And while her babies slept, she took a long deep breath
And they're zipping her up in a bag
Can you hear her blacks crackle & drag?
The Cadillac's waiting to take her away
Can you hear her blacks crackle & drag?
And drag, and drag, and drag
And drag, and drag
She made a good go for a weeping willow
She stuffed some rags on the floor
She closed the window
She made a pillow on the oven door
And took a long deep breath while her babies slept
Now they're zipping her up in a bag
Can you hear her blacks crackle & drag?
And the Cadillac's waiting to take her away
Can you hear her blacks crackle & drag?
They're zipping her up in a bag
Can you hear her blacks crackle & drag?
The Cadillac's waiting to take her away
Can you hear her blacks crackle & drag?
Hear her blacks crackle & drag
The lady's cursed with insight
You'll never fix her, with a cold stare
She's all broken inside
She made a good go like a weeping willow
Her limbs clung to the ground
She closed the window and made a pillow
And lay the head down
And as her babies slept, she took a long deep breath
Now they're zipping her up in a bag
Can you hear her blacks crackle & drag?
And the Cadillac's waiting to take her away
Can you hear her blacks crackle & drag?
Another head cold, another spirit old
February
Her hair was dirty and she was thirty in 1963
And while her babies slept, she took a long deep breath
And they're zipping her up in a bag
Can you hear her blacks crackle & drag?
The Cadillac's waiting to take her away
Can you hear her blacks crackle & drag?
And drag, and drag, and drag
And drag, and drag
She made a good go for a weeping willow
She stuffed some rags on the floor
She closed the window
She made a pillow on the oven door
And took a long deep breath while her babies slept
Now they're zipping her up in a bag
Can you hear her blacks crackle & drag?
And the Cadillac's waiting to take her away
Can you hear her blacks crackle & drag?
They're zipping her up in a bag
Can you hear her blacks crackle & drag?
The Cadillac's waiting to take her away
Can you hear her blacks crackle & drag?
Hear her blacks crackle & drag
Lyrics submitted by wheaties409
Crackle And Drag Lyrics as written by Paul Westerberg
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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its about sylvia plath .... the edge .. her final poem .... "shes cursed with insight" is perfect
can someone explain the "blacks crackle and drag" part?
wait... these lyrics are really messed up.