"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.
Oooooh yeah, oooooh yeah
Dress you up
Take me down
Like you love me
Red light on
Won't you come
You've got the beat
I'm spinning on it
It's so atomic, kid, you're looking like the bomb
Oooooh yeah, oooooh yeah
You're so exotic, show me where you're comin' from
Ooh, just for tonight
You're number one baby
You're number one
You're number one in heaven (x2)
Rip it up
Make this night
Extended version
Till it's light
Turn it on
Just flip the beat, I'll spin you on it
I feel electric when you look into my eyes
Oooooh yeah, ooooh yeah
I'm so ecstatic, kid, you've got me on the rise
Just for tonight
You're number one baby
You're number one
You're number one in heaven (x2)
Oooooooh, you're number one
Oooooooh, you're number one
It's so atomic, kid, you're looking like the bomb
Oooooh yeah, oooooh yeah
You're so exotic, show me where you're coming from
Ooh, just for tonight
You're number one baby
You're number one
You're number one in heaven (x4)
Oooh
Dress you up
Take me down
Like you love me
Red light on
Won't you come
You've got the beat
I'm spinning on it
It's so atomic, kid, you're looking like the bomb
Oooooh yeah, oooooh yeah
You're so exotic, show me where you're comin' from
Ooh, just for tonight
You're number one baby
You're number one
You're number one in heaven (x2)
Rip it up
Make this night
Extended version
Till it's light
Turn it on
Just flip the beat, I'll spin you on it
I feel electric when you look into my eyes
Oooooh yeah, ooooh yeah
I'm so ecstatic, kid, you've got me on the rise
Just for tonight
You're number one baby
You're number one
You're number one in heaven (x2)
Oooooooh, you're number one
Oooooooh, you're number one
It's so atomic, kid, you're looking like the bomb
Oooooh yeah, oooooh yeah
You're so exotic, show me where you're coming from
Ooh, just for tonight
You're number one baby
You're number one
You're number one in heaven (x4)
Oooh
Lyrics submitted by rainingpaperlilies
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Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
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I think much like another song “Anti-Matter” (that's also on the same album as this song), this one is also is inspired by a horrifying van crash the band experienced on Nov 3, 2022. This, much like the other track, sounds like it's an extension what they shared while huddled in the wreckage, as they helped frontman Garrett Russell stem the bleeding from his head wound while he was under the temporary effects of a concussion. The track speaks of where the mind goes at the most desperate & desolate of times, when it just about slips away to all but disconnect itself, and the aftermath.
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This song was originally written by a guy called Peter Gutteridge. He was one of the founders of the "Dunedin Sound" a musical scene in the south of New Zealand in the early 80s. From there it was covered by "The Clean" one of the early bands of that scene (he had originally been a member of in it's early days, writing a couple of their best early songs). The Dunedin sound, and the Clean became popular on american college radio in the mid to late 80s. I guess Yo La Tengo heard that version.
Great version of a great song,
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i have a feeling thet these guys are gay.. i don't have anything against it, but it just seems like in the video, the first scene, is the first guy taking the sheets off from the second guy... is that it? or am i just crazy?