"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.
Saw an eagle on a pole,
I think it was an eagle.
Watched its' shadow fly 'cross the cement.
I woke up in the snow,
All the trees were crowds of people.
No coat, no shoes, no idea where they went.
I followed the fenceline thin,
Back where the yard begins.
My woman, she stood crying like a man.
Said, where have you been?
Where have you been?
I thought you said that all of that was done.
El Cielo es azul,
Just don't go telling everyone.
Thought the kettle was a train.
Thought that Monday was a door-frame.
I tried so hard to finally settle down.
Heard the fire pop and snap.
Like a tack piano rag.
I never could get used to happy sounds.
Yeah, I hope the world's exposed.
A cruel and elaborate hoax.
It convinces me to walk without a cane.
But what can you do?
What can you do?
I always heard that what is done is done.
El Cielo es azul,
Just don't go telling everyone.
The past don't ever quit.
Those boxes in the attic.
Baby shoes and taxidermy dreams.
While the ashes of the dead, like a dandelion head,
Explode and then are scattered by the breeze.
And it's such a long way back to all the fun I had.
When nothing ever seemed to bother me.
But what can you do?
Child, what can you do?
Sleep with the stars, and toil in the sun.
El Cielo es azul,
Just don't go telling everyone.
El Cielo es azul,
Just don't go telling everyone.
I think it was an eagle.
Watched its' shadow fly 'cross the cement.
I woke up in the snow,
All the trees were crowds of people.
No coat, no shoes, no idea where they went.
I followed the fenceline thin,
Back where the yard begins.
My woman, she stood crying like a man.
Said, where have you been?
Where have you been?
I thought you said that all of that was done.
El Cielo es azul,
Just don't go telling everyone.
Thought the kettle was a train.
Thought that Monday was a door-frame.
I tried so hard to finally settle down.
Heard the fire pop and snap.
Like a tack piano rag.
I never could get used to happy sounds.
Yeah, I hope the world's exposed.
A cruel and elaborate hoax.
It convinces me to walk without a cane.
But what can you do?
What can you do?
I always heard that what is done is done.
El Cielo es azul,
Just don't go telling everyone.
The past don't ever quit.
Those boxes in the attic.
Baby shoes and taxidermy dreams.
While the ashes of the dead, like a dandelion head,
Explode and then are scattered by the breeze.
And it's such a long way back to all the fun I had.
When nothing ever seemed to bother me.
But what can you do?
Child, what can you do?
Sleep with the stars, and toil in the sun.
El Cielo es azul,
Just don't go telling everyone.
El Cielo es azul,
Just don't go telling everyone.
Lyrics submitted by lovenothing__, edited by kutekath27
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Fast Car
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This is one of my favorite songs. https://fnfgo.io
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"El cielo es azul just don't go telling anyone" seems like a beautiful sentiment, like trying to hide the obvious or the concrete truth.
But part of me feels like it's just one of the phrases Conor learned in his "How To Speak Spanish Volume 1" cassette.