"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.
Is there a way out of this?
If there is I don't see it
Can heaven and hell coexist?
Not when both battle for dominance
Brush back my tears and he said "girl
We have to soldier on
Yes girl even when we don't feel strong"
So how many young men have to lay down
Their life and their love of their woman
For some sick promise of a heaven
Lies go back now to the garden
Even the four horses say all bets are off
We're on the dark side of the sun
We're on the dark side of the sun
We're on the dark side of the sun
Soon there'll be fast food on the moon
Painted in neon with For Sale signs up
You say "I'm more afraid of what
Tomorrow could bring to us"
Brushed back my tears and he said "girl
You have to soldier on
Yes girl even when you don't feel strong"
So how many young men have to lay down
Their life and their love of their woman
For some sick promise of a heaven
Bushes burn there on the mountain
Abraham and Ishmael turn back the clock
We're on the dark side of the sun
We're on the dark side of the sun
We're on the dark side of the sun
If there is I don't see it
Can heaven and hell coexist?
Not when both battle for dominance
Brush back my tears and he said "girl
We have to soldier on
Yes girl even when we don't feel strong"
So how many young men have to lay down
Their life and their love of their woman
For some sick promise of a heaven
Lies go back now to the garden
Even the four horses say all bets are off
We're on the dark side of the sun
We're on the dark side of the sun
We're on the dark side of the sun
Soon there'll be fast food on the moon
Painted in neon with For Sale signs up
You say "I'm more afraid of what
Tomorrow could bring to us"
Brushed back my tears and he said "girl
You have to soldier on
Yes girl even when you don't feel strong"
So how many young men have to lay down
Their life and their love of their woman
For some sick promise of a heaven
Bushes burn there on the mountain
Abraham and Ishmael turn back the clock
We're on the dark side of the sun
We're on the dark side of the sun
We're on the dark side of the sun
Lyrics submitted by stentorian
Dark Side of the Sun Lyrics as written by Tori Ellen Amos
Lyrics © Downtown Music Publishing, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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Does anyone else get an old-school Tori vibe from this song? The background vocals remind me of "Crucify".
Anyway, this seems pretty straight-forward. It's not approving how so many people are dying for a cause that doesn't seem just anymore, or a cause that was never just in the first place. And all this dying has put them in a bad place, the "dark side of the sun."