"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.
White sheets, calm sun
My beauty there feigns sleep
And in the night we had our fun
I wanted to know what it felt like in her arms
But she showed me so much more
Wake up love in time
Never enough time to spend or spare with her
And there is so much more we have to pray for
The minute we rise
As this music hums I gaze into your picture
Taking time to appreciate the finer parts
Waiting until they adhere to my heart
I close my eyes and I think of you
Baby there you are in my dreams
No matter how far I am away from you
They’re you are in my dreams
And baby, sweet baby, please don’t ever leave
Wake up love in time
Never enough time to spend or spare with her
And there is so much more we have to pray for
The minute we rise
There’s an overlay of thought
And its humming bounds my brain
And my mind it begins to strain
It drips on you it drips on me
We bathe in each other’s mortality
Wake up love in time
Never enough time to spend or spare with her
And there is so much more we have to pray for
The minute we rise
My beauty there feigns sleep
And in the night we had our fun
I wanted to know what it felt like in her arms
But she showed me so much more
Wake up love in time
Never enough time to spend or spare with her
And there is so much more we have to pray for
The minute we rise
As this music hums I gaze into your picture
Taking time to appreciate the finer parts
Waiting until they adhere to my heart
I close my eyes and I think of you
Baby there you are in my dreams
No matter how far I am away from you
They’re you are in my dreams
And baby, sweet baby, please don’t ever leave
Wake up love in time
Never enough time to spend or spare with her
And there is so much more we have to pray for
The minute we rise
There’s an overlay of thought
And its humming bounds my brain
And my mind it begins to strain
It drips on you it drips on me
We bathe in each other’s mortality
Wake up love in time
Never enough time to spend or spare with her
And there is so much more we have to pray for
The minute we rise
Lyrics submitted by meestro
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Fast Car
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This, to me, is one of those quintessential 'morning after' songs...Waking up after a great night together, sun shining through the blinds...Knowing that responsibility of daily life lies ahead, but wanting to postpone its necessities just to have one more moment with the partner. It's a bit of a 'dream-state' song in the sense that it winds in and out of consciousness. For the bridge part of 'overlay of thought...', it seems like the couple has 'one more go' so to speak, before enduring the mundane day ahead. Great tune!