"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.
You try to play cool like you just don't care
But soon I'll be playin' in your underwear
I'm like a mage with the magic spell
You come like a dog when I ring yo' bell
I got the money and I got the fame
You got the hots to ride on my plane
You givin' me all that I desire
'cause down with me I'm taking you higher
I'm the baddest of the bad
I'm the best that you've ever had
I'm the tops, I'm the thing
All the girls get up when I sing, yeah
I'm the meanest in the place
Step up, I'll mess with your face
I don't care where you are
Look up and follow the star
I, I'm gonna tear down the wall
I may not be here when you call
So best be givin' me your all
After the havoc that I'm gonna wreak
No more words will critics have to speak
I've got to answers to the tangled knot
Sleep tight in your cot
Oh baby, I've been told I'm goin' crazy
Oh baby, I can't be held down
Oh baby, somehow I'm keeping it steady
Oh baby, I'm tearing up this town
Hey, this is what I like
Cut my heart with a martyr's spike
Hey, this is nothing new
I've got more than enough for you
I can take on anybody
I can do my thing
I don't wanna hurt nobody
But a bee has got to sting
I'ma fix it if you mix it up
Talk smack, and I'ma gonna shut you up
I am the greatest man that ever lived
I was born to give
I am the greatest man that ever lived, oh
Radioactive
Somebody said all the world's a stage
And each of us is a player
That's what I've been tryin' to tell you
In Act 1 I was struggling to survive
Nobody wanted my action dead or alive
Act 2, I hit the big time
And bodies be all up on my behind
And I can't help myself because I was born to shine
And if you don't like it, you can shove it
But you don't like it, you love it
So I'll be up here in a rage
'til they bring the curtain down on the stage
I'm the greatest man that ever lived
I'm the greatest man that ever lived
I'm the greatest man that ever lived
I am the greatest man that ever lived
I was born to give and give and give
I am the greatest man that ever lived
Radioactive
I am the greatest man that ever lived
I was born to give
But soon I'll be playin' in your underwear
I'm like a mage with the magic spell
You come like a dog when I ring yo' bell
I got the money and I got the fame
You got the hots to ride on my plane
You givin' me all that I desire
'cause down with me I'm taking you higher
I'm the baddest of the bad
I'm the best that you've ever had
I'm the tops, I'm the thing
All the girls get up when I sing, yeah
I'm the meanest in the place
Step up, I'll mess with your face
I don't care where you are
Look up and follow the star
I, I'm gonna tear down the wall
I may not be here when you call
So best be givin' me your all
After the havoc that I'm gonna wreak
No more words will critics have to speak
I've got to answers to the tangled knot
Sleep tight in your cot
Oh baby, I've been told I'm goin' crazy
Oh baby, I can't be held down
Oh baby, somehow I'm keeping it steady
Oh baby, I'm tearing up this town
Hey, this is what I like
Cut my heart with a martyr's spike
Hey, this is nothing new
I've got more than enough for you
I can take on anybody
I can do my thing
I don't wanna hurt nobody
But a bee has got to sting
I'ma fix it if you mix it up
Talk smack, and I'ma gonna shut you up
I am the greatest man that ever lived
I was born to give
I am the greatest man that ever lived, oh
Radioactive
Somebody said all the world's a stage
And each of us is a player
That's what I've been tryin' to tell you
In Act 1 I was struggling to survive
Nobody wanted my action dead or alive
Act 2, I hit the big time
And bodies be all up on my behind
And I can't help myself because I was born to shine
And if you don't like it, you can shove it
But you don't like it, you love it
So I'll be up here in a rage
'til they bring the curtain down on the stage
I'm the greatest man that ever lived
I'm the greatest man that ever lived
I'm the greatest man that ever lived
I am the greatest man that ever lived
I was born to give and give and give
I am the greatest man that ever lived
Radioactive
I am the greatest man that ever lived
I was born to give
Lyrics submitted by whybother737
The Greatest Man That Ever Lived (Variations on a Shaker Hymn) song meanings
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Does anyone else think the line "I got the money and I got the fame" sound like the line "I got the money if you got the time" from Bright Eyes' "Lover I Dont Have To Love"?