"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.
As the waves crash in
On the western shore
The wind blows fierce from the east
The wave tops torn into flying spindrift, spindrift
As the waves crash in
On the western shore
It makes me feel uneasy
The spray that's torn away
Is an image of the way I feel
What am I supposed to say?
Where are the words to answer you
When you talk that way?
Ooh-ooh, oh
As the sun goes down
On the western shore
The wind blows hard from the east
It whips the sand into a flying spindrift, spindrift
As the sun goes down
On the western shore
It makes me feel uneasy
In the hot dry rasp of the devil winds
Who cares what a fool believes?
What am I supposed to say?
Where are the words to answer you
When you talk that way?
Words that fly against the wind and waves
A little closer to you
Where is the wave that will carry me
A little closer to you?
Where is the wave that will carry me?
What am I supposed to say?
Where are the words to answer you
When you talk that way?
Ooh-ooh, oh
What am I supposed to do?
Where are the words that will make you see
What I believe is true?
Where is the wave that will carry me
A little closer to you?
Where is the wave that will carry me
A little closer to you?
Where is the wave that will carry me
A little closer to you?
Where is the wave that will carry me
A little closer to you?
On the western shore
The wind blows fierce from the east
The wave tops torn into flying spindrift, spindrift
As the waves crash in
On the western shore
It makes me feel uneasy
The spray that's torn away
Is an image of the way I feel
What am I supposed to say?
Where are the words to answer you
When you talk that way?
Ooh-ooh, oh
As the sun goes down
On the western shore
The wind blows hard from the east
It whips the sand into a flying spindrift, spindrift
As the sun goes down
On the western shore
It makes me feel uneasy
In the hot dry rasp of the devil winds
Who cares what a fool believes?
What am I supposed to say?
Where are the words to answer you
When you talk that way?
Words that fly against the wind and waves
A little closer to you
Where is the wave that will carry me
A little closer to you?
Where is the wave that will carry me?
What am I supposed to say?
Where are the words to answer you
When you talk that way?
Ooh-ooh, oh
What am I supposed to do?
Where are the words that will make you see
What I believe is true?
Where is the wave that will carry me
A little closer to you?
Where is the wave that will carry me
A little closer to you?
Where is the wave that will carry me
A little closer to you?
Where is the wave that will carry me
A little closer to you?
Lyrics submitted by stephanierush07
Spindrift Lyrics as written by Neil Elwood Peart Geddy Lee Weinrib
Lyrics © Anthem Entertainment
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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I think this song is about the clash between the West and the Islamic Middle East. "As the waves crash in on the western shore the wind blows fierce from the east" is about the terrorist attacks on the West and the extreme and fierce fundamentalism of Islam (from the East). "Where are the words to answer when you talk that way" is a reference to the helplessness of meaningful dialogue with extreme fundamentalists who are not interested in dialogue but mere adherence to their faith.
Ultimately, this song is about the clash between values of Western liberal tolerance and extreme religious intolerance. As someone said, "one can tolerate anything other than the intolerant".