"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.
Just bein' honest --
sucker swallow every time
Airplane come erase your mind
Seems there's been an accident
Telephone costs 50 cents
to find out the retail
Gory detail
Nothing here for me
I get all of my kicks for free
mangy dog without a collar
Buy me love for forty dollars
I got love for sale
Come on, get some before it gets stale again
I win the double for a lie
I get my money on the fly
We're throwin' down
So come on by, I'll be around
I've got 3, 6, 9,
'nother dollar makes a dime
Yeah all in double dutch again
Notify your next of kin
I say:
mangy dog without a collar
Buy me love for forty dollars
I got love for sale
Come on, get some before it gets stale, now
love don't mean a thing
But 2 a.m. and a telephone ring
love is all you need
And all you need is love
Love is all you need
And all you need is love
we go underground
'cause there's emptiness above
she loves you, yeah, yeah, yeah
She loves you, yeah, yeah, yeah,
She loves you, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
I'm just bein'
I'm just bein'
I'm just bein'
I'm just bein'
honest, honest, honest
Honest, honest, honest . . .
yeah yeah, yeah yeah
Yeah yeah, yeah yeah
Yeah yeah, yeah yeah,
Yeah yeah, yeah, yeah
sucker swallow every time
Airplane come erase your mind
Seems there's been an accident
Telephone costs 50 cents
to find out the retail
Gory detail
Nothing here for me
I get all of my kicks for free
mangy dog without a collar
Buy me love for forty dollars
I got love for sale
Come on, get some before it gets stale again
I win the double for a lie
I get my money on the fly
We're throwin' down
So come on by, I'll be around
I've got 3, 6, 9,
'nother dollar makes a dime
Yeah all in double dutch again
Notify your next of kin
I say:
mangy dog without a collar
Buy me love for forty dollars
I got love for sale
Come on, get some before it gets stale, now
love don't mean a thing
But 2 a.m. and a telephone ring
love is all you need
And all you need is love
Love is all you need
And all you need is love
we go underground
'cause there's emptiness above
she loves you, yeah, yeah, yeah
She loves you, yeah, yeah, yeah,
She loves you, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
I'm just bein'
I'm just bein'
I'm just bein'
I'm just bein'
honest, honest, honest
Honest, honest, honest . . .
yeah yeah, yeah yeah
Yeah yeah, yeah yeah
Yeah yeah, yeah yeah,
Yeah yeah, yeah, yeah
Lyrics submitted by tammynelson
Forty Dollars Lyrics as written by Gregory E Dulli
Lyrics © Hipgnosis Songs Group
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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More Featured Meanings
Fast Car
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Overall about difficult moments of disappointment and vulnerability. Having hope and longing, while remaining optimistic for the future. Encourages the belief that with each new morning there is a chance for things to improve.
The chorus offers a glimmer of optimism and a chance at a resolution and redemption in the future.
Captures the rollercoaster of emotions of feeling lost while loving someone who is not there for you, feeling let down and abandoned while waiting for a lover. Lost with no direction, "Now I'm up in the air with the rain in my hair, Nowhere to go, I can go anywhere"
The bridge shows signs of longing and a plea for companionship. The Lyrics express a desire for authentic connection and the importance of Loving someone just as they are. "Just in passing, I'm not asking. That you be anyone but you”
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Amazing
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Page
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GD embedded himself with drug dealers for a script and this song is the result. He carried a gun and saw a man killed. Interesting article here: independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/features/greg-dulli-a-rock-survivor-404123.html