"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.
While horsemen ride across the green
And Snow White still remains unseen.
Pegasus, the winged horse,
Relays his messages by Morse.
And like some pirate sailor
We crossed the Spanish Main
And brought our magic carpet
To a marble staircased plain.
While Handel plays his melody
Doctors cause uncertainty
And though I know the lifeguard's brave
There is no one for him to save.
And like some pirate sailor
We crossed the Spanish Main
And brought our magic carpet
To a marble staircased plain.
Cock Robin views his frozen feet
And wraps them in a winding sheet
And calls out for his favourite drink
The Persian that's as warm as mink.
And like some pirate sailor
We crossed the Spanish Main
And brought our magic carpet
To a marble staircased plain.
And Snow White still remains unseen.
Pegasus, the winged horse,
Relays his messages by Morse.
And like some pirate sailor
We crossed the Spanish Main
And brought our magic carpet
To a marble staircased plain.
While Handel plays his melody
Doctors cause uncertainty
And though I know the lifeguard's brave
There is no one for him to save.
And like some pirate sailor
We crossed the Spanish Main
And brought our magic carpet
To a marble staircased plain.
Cock Robin views his frozen feet
And wraps them in a winding sheet
And calls out for his favourite drink
The Persian that's as warm as mink.
And like some pirate sailor
We crossed the Spanish Main
And brought our magic carpet
To a marble staircased plain.
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Fast Car
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Its possibly about Spanish Conquistadors again similar to the song Conquistador. The marbled plain could be Incan or Aztec walkway, road or building. I think the Spanish plain was a term used for the main stream or path of Spanish ships across the ocean. Pegasus, Morse code, cock robin & frozen feet is a puzzle no one will ever figure out. Who cares, its a fantastic song.
historical and literary refs to evil and hope eg verse 3 c s lewis and edmunds first meeting with the white witch