"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.
So the air's gettin' colder,
and the news keeps us scared,
I still wrestle this summer,
from the bones of our tired, blistered hands,
cause tonight we got drinks,
just a couple of friends,
and the girl that my brother likes is finally talkin' to him,
and his chest is all swelled like he's proud and happy,
like he's got a great idea,
like he's makin' a memory...
Wake up,
and come out to the car,
there's an east swell comin',
and it's howlin' offshore,
and we'll be,
lyin' like lions out in the sand,
but i'll be dead before you put a gun in my brother's hands.
So we make jokes back home,
and we lighten the mood,
but growing up my parents saw,
what sending a kid to fight can really do,
but now with the war I can tell they're a little shook up,
'cause just a few mothers sons will never really be enough,
not 'til half our names are etched out in the wall,
and the other half ruined from the things we saw...
Wake up,
and come out to the car,
there's an east swell comin',
and it's howlin' offshore,
and we'll be,
lyin' like lions out in the sand,
but i'll be dead before you put a gun in my brother's hands.
Wake up,
and come out to the car,
there's an east swell comin',
and it's howlin' offshore,
and we'll be,
lyin' like lions out in the sand,
but i'll be dead before you put a gun in my brother's hands.
and the news keeps us scared,
I still wrestle this summer,
from the bones of our tired, blistered hands,
cause tonight we got drinks,
just a couple of friends,
and the girl that my brother likes is finally talkin' to him,
and his chest is all swelled like he's proud and happy,
like he's got a great idea,
like he's makin' a memory...
Wake up,
and come out to the car,
there's an east swell comin',
and it's howlin' offshore,
and we'll be,
lyin' like lions out in the sand,
but i'll be dead before you put a gun in my brother's hands.
So we make jokes back home,
and we lighten the mood,
but growing up my parents saw,
what sending a kid to fight can really do,
but now with the war I can tell they're a little shook up,
'cause just a few mothers sons will never really be enough,
not 'til half our names are etched out in the wall,
and the other half ruined from the things we saw...
Wake up,
and come out to the car,
there's an east swell comin',
and it's howlin' offshore,
and we'll be,
lyin' like lions out in the sand,
but i'll be dead before you put a gun in my brother's hands.
Wake up,
and come out to the car,
there's an east swell comin',
and it's howlin' offshore,
and we'll be,
lyin' like lions out in the sand,
but i'll be dead before you put a gun in my brother's hands.
Lyrics submitted by tjwells
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amazing.