"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.
A coarse exhalation of lungs that pray for pity
My two fingers punching the keys diligently
Trembling ground pushes my glass off the table
Spilling the blood of the son of your idol
If it were not for this
Extensive bug collection
I would know not what I've found
This world would still be flat
Mary would be a virgin
And I would still be sleeping sound
If every word is a dead symbol
Empowered by the carriers expression
I'll bury my instrument, citing this incident
I'm a flickering bulb that keeps blaming the filament
The most honest telling of this boyish fable
Is that on level ground, I'm never feeling stable
I've got to try to outlast this candle
Or trust department to fight the inferno
If it were not for this
Extensive book collection
I would know not what I've found
This world would still be flat
Mary would be a virgin
And I would still be sleeping sound
It's an endless quest to maintain
When no one is ever right
And out on the fertile plains
We bathe in fractured rays of
Sun, sunlight, sun, sunlight, light
If it were not for this
Extensive book collection
I would know not what I've found
This world would still be flat
Mary would be a virgin
And I would still be sleeping sound
My two fingers punching the keys diligently
Trembling ground pushes my glass off the table
Spilling the blood of the son of your idol
If it were not for this
Extensive bug collection
I would know not what I've found
This world would still be flat
Mary would be a virgin
And I would still be sleeping sound
If every word is a dead symbol
Empowered by the carriers expression
I'll bury my instrument, citing this incident
I'm a flickering bulb that keeps blaming the filament
The most honest telling of this boyish fable
Is that on level ground, I'm never feeling stable
I've got to try to outlast this candle
Or trust department to fight the inferno
If it were not for this
Extensive book collection
I would know not what I've found
This world would still be flat
Mary would be a virgin
And I would still be sleeping sound
It's an endless quest to maintain
When no one is ever right
And out on the fertile plains
We bathe in fractured rays of
Sun, sunlight, sun, sunlight, light
If it were not for this
Extensive book collection
I would know not what I've found
This world would still be flat
Mary would be a virgin
And I would still be sleeping sound
Lyrics submitted by SmallWorld
A Goat in Sheep's Rosary Lyrics as written by Brian Mcternan Brian Deneeve
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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Fast Car
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Does anyone know where the quote at the end actually came from?
@edferd I got the opportunity to ask Fran this question about eight years ago when I saw him performing with Tidal Arms. He told me they got the sound clip from a documentary about hobos and railcar graffiti. It's called "Who is Bozo Texino?" You can also hear where they sampled the gear grinding sound at the beginning of Underpass Tutorial.