"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.
If we give the horses blinders they won’t see the approaching ledge
Too much time and effort spent on just another bridge
We trust the local doctor
We trust the medicine
our child gets a scratch we give our child a BRAND NEW HEAD
We eat what’s on our plate
we drink what’s in our cup
We like the shiny T.V. screen it spits we lap it up
And so they push the product and they know we’ll buy it
They sing a song we hum along we sing but we don’t understand the words to the song
and they fill our heads with sugar coated shit
there’s no need for talk when we have medicine
There’s a pill for every fucked up thought and a cure for every fucked up child
When the mind starts running be sure it won’t cross the finish line
and if the wanders bring it back and cage it for some time
and if it stretches it will only one day rip, to prevent excessive thought just keep it up on the shelf
And when the shelves are full
and supplies are short and quickly running out
you’ve got 1.000.000.000.000.000.000.000 mindless zombies and terrified horses on your hands
Oh it was a damn good plan!
Oh it was a damn good plan!
Too much time and effort spent on just another bridge
We trust the local doctor
We trust the medicine
our child gets a scratch we give our child a BRAND NEW HEAD
We eat what’s on our plate
we drink what’s in our cup
We like the shiny T.V. screen it spits we lap it up
And so they push the product and they know we’ll buy it
They sing a song we hum along we sing but we don’t understand the words to the song
and they fill our heads with sugar coated shit
there’s no need for talk when we have medicine
There’s a pill for every fucked up thought and a cure for every fucked up child
When the mind starts running be sure it won’t cross the finish line
and if the wanders bring it back and cage it for some time
and if it stretches it will only one day rip, to prevent excessive thought just keep it up on the shelf
And when the shelves are full
and supplies are short and quickly running out
you’ve got 1.000.000.000.000.000.000.000 mindless zombies and terrified horses on your hands
Oh it was a damn good plan!
Oh it was a damn good plan!
Lyrics submitted by theTyrant
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Fast Car
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this song to me is about the corporate america..
look here
"And so they push the product and they know we’ll buy it They sing a song we hum along we sing but we don’t understand the words to the song"
This could be about many of one things. It could be about the mindlessness of the population. or, to go along with touch_me it could be about prescription. If you see commercials for prescription drugs you know. they tell you that it will greatly increase your whatever whatever, so they know we will buy it because we THINK we need it when in actuality we dont. Actually this reminds me of an episode of south park where stans dad is told he has a disease (hes just an alcoholic) so he thinks he has to take all this medication and he rides around in a wheelchair because his psyche is telling him he has an incurable problem.
so yeah thats my look at it..