"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 my mother was just a girl, seventeen
Oh my mother was just a girl, seventeen
And my dad was passin' through doing things a man will do
Oh my mother was just a girl, seventeen
It's a wonder that I'm in this world at all
It's a wonder that I'm in this world at all
And I have a life to claim though I really don't know my name
It's a wonder that I'm in this world at all
Ain't one soul in the whole world knows my name
Ain't one soul in the whole world knows my name
But it's written up in the sky and I'll see it by and by
Ain't one soul in the whole world knows my name
Well I had a good mother and dad just the same
Well I had a good mother and dad just the same
And they took me to their breast and they surely stood the test
Well I had a good mother and dad just the same
Ain't one soul in the whole world knows my name
Ain't one soul in the whole world knows my name
Just another baby born to a girl lost and lorn
Ain't one soul in the whole world knows my name
Now and then there's a lonesome thought in my mind
Now and then there's a lonesome thought in my mind
And on the crowded street I see a strangers face that looks like me
Now and then there's a lonesome thought in my mind
Ain't one soul in the whole world knows my name
Ain't one soul in the whole world knows my name
But I'll see it by and by cause it's written up in the sky
Ain't one soul in the whole world knows my name
Oh my mother was just a girl, seventeen
And my dad was passin' through doing things a man will do
Oh my mother was just a girl, seventeen
It's a wonder that I'm in this world at all
It's a wonder that I'm in this world at all
And I have a life to claim though I really don't know my name
It's a wonder that I'm in this world at all
Ain't one soul in the whole world knows my name
Ain't one soul in the whole world knows my name
But it's written up in the sky and I'll see it by and by
Ain't one soul in the whole world knows my name
Well I had a good mother and dad just the same
Well I had a good mother and dad just the same
And they took me to their breast and they surely stood the test
Well I had a good mother and dad just the same
Ain't one soul in the whole world knows my name
Ain't one soul in the whole world knows my name
Just another baby born to a girl lost and lorn
Ain't one soul in the whole world knows my name
Now and then there's a lonesome thought in my mind
Now and then there's a lonesome thought in my mind
And on the crowded street I see a strangers face that looks like me
Now and then there's a lonesome thought in my mind
Ain't one soul in the whole world knows my name
Ain't one soul in the whole world knows my name
But I'll see it by and by cause it's written up in the sky
Ain't one soul in the whole world knows my name
Lyrics submitted by smallwonderrobot
No One Knows My Name Lyrics as written by Gillian Howard Welch David Todd Rawlings
Lyrics © Wixen Music Publishing, Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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