"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.
The streets were all empty
Like a bad Western movie
And we're stuck calling it home.
Drinkin' to blackout
Days pass and fade out
It's how you know you should go
You sold me on leavin'
And for no reason
You told me, \"Let's paint this town red.\"
Speedin' past cop cars
Fake guns and fake scars
Forgot Bonnie and Clyde
Wound up dead
And I can see you're the bouncing ball,
And I found love with no sense at all.
So we took a road trip
From Boston to Memphis
To see what we'd find
Jesus on billboards
And triple-X book stores
Are what stuck in my mind
Forgot feeling shameless
Go straight to Vegas
And try to seem cool
Now I like my sinnin',
But husks of old women
Were all that I could afford.
I can see you're the bouncing ball
And I found love with no sense at all.
Keep me from crashin',
From burning and smashin'
My way through.
If I had a savior
Not old books and paper
Maybe I wouldn't need you.
Oh, and I can see you're the bouncing ball
And I found love with no sense at all.
Like a bad Western movie
And we're stuck calling it home.
Drinkin' to blackout
Days pass and fade out
It's how you know you should go
You sold me on leavin'
And for no reason
You told me, \"Let's paint this town red.\"
Speedin' past cop cars
Fake guns and fake scars
Forgot Bonnie and Clyde
Wound up dead
And I can see you're the bouncing ball,
And I found love with no sense at all.
So we took a road trip
From Boston to Memphis
To see what we'd find
Jesus on billboards
And triple-X book stores
Are what stuck in my mind
Forgot feeling shameless
Go straight to Vegas
And try to seem cool
Now I like my sinnin',
But husks of old women
Were all that I could afford.
I can see you're the bouncing ball
And I found love with no sense at all.
Keep me from crashin',
From burning and smashin'
My way through.
If I had a savior
Not old books and paper
Maybe I wouldn't need you.
Oh, and I can see you're the bouncing ball
And I found love with no sense at all.
Lyrics submitted by makeitmorphine, edited by meglaspell
Bouncing Ball Lyrics as written by Suzanne Santosuosso Ben Jaffe
Lyrics © Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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Fast Car
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I think your first comment is closer to being accurate. The singer/song writers state "Millions of eyes can see, yet why am i so blind!? When the someone else is me, its unkind its unkind". I believe hes referring to the girl toying with him and using him. He wants something deeper with her, thats why he allows himself to be as a puppet (even though for her fun and games) as long as it makes her happy. But he knows deep down that she doesnt really want to be serious with him and thats what makes him.
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Magical
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i thought it was "and i can't see you're the bouncing ball; i found love with no sense at all." but i'm hearing impaired, probably.
so, i think this song is really beautiful. i think it's about a couple who keeps trying to fool fate to be together, but they forgot all those love stories didn't end happily. what they do is run off together, "painting the town red." and in the end, they realize they can't do it, anymore. i love the line "if i had a savior, not rule books and paper, maybe i wouldn't need you." i think it means she needs him, because she doesn't have anything else to believe in.