"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.
Well, big bad man come into town
Gave sweets to the children
Pushed their daddies around
Made the streets so bright in the zones of blight
No more fear in the hearts of whites
He built a hall
Put on a show
From high above watched his boulders roll
Then he bought Main Street and the old town hall
He named his price: his face on every wall.
His face on every wall
Oh, his face on every wall
Now the factories have all shut down
No more cloth stitched in this town
So the only job for the boy and I
In the prison making tile shine
Someday that man will come here too
With that magic hat, spit and glue
He'll wash the stone
Paint the brick
Rename the streets
And make the clocks all tick on time
He'll make us run on time
And every town will celebrate someday
Waving sweatshop flags and grande lattes
Wearing culture on their backs
Wearing spirit on their hats
One by one they'll join the parade
And celebrate
Every town will celebrate someday
Now corners near and corners far
Are somehow the same coffee bar
And community is felt again
Thanks to folks I've never met
They slayed the artists
Sold their arts
Gave the toddlers shopping carts
Raised the prices
Raised the rent
Some days I wish that I could go back again
No, I can't go back again
And every town will celebrate someday
Waving sweatshop flags and grande lattes
Wearing culture on their backs
Wearing spirit on their hats
One by one they'll join the parade
And celebrate
Every town will celebrate someday
Just like they do in Florida
Down in Celebration, Florida
And when every road is Main Street, USA
We'll be safely kept at bay
From any disruption or display
Of truth, adventure, love and rage
Of truth, adventure, love and rage
Of truth, adventure, love and rage, HEY!
Every town will celebrate someday
Waving sweatshop flags and grande lattes
Wearing culture on their backs
Wearing spirit on their hats
One by one they'll join the parade
And celebrate
Every town will celebrate someday
Every town will celebrate
Every town will celebrate
Every town will celebrate someday
Gave sweets to the children
Pushed their daddies around
Made the streets so bright in the zones of blight
No more fear in the hearts of whites
He built a hall
Put on a show
From high above watched his boulders roll
Then he bought Main Street and the old town hall
He named his price: his face on every wall.
His face on every wall
Oh, his face on every wall
Now the factories have all shut down
No more cloth stitched in this town
So the only job for the boy and I
In the prison making tile shine
Someday that man will come here too
With that magic hat, spit and glue
He'll wash the stone
Paint the brick
Rename the streets
And make the clocks all tick on time
He'll make us run on time
And every town will celebrate someday
Waving sweatshop flags and grande lattes
Wearing culture on their backs
Wearing spirit on their hats
One by one they'll join the parade
And celebrate
Every town will celebrate someday
Now corners near and corners far
Are somehow the same coffee bar
And community is felt again
Thanks to folks I've never met
They slayed the artists
Sold their arts
Gave the toddlers shopping carts
Raised the prices
Raised the rent
Some days I wish that I could go back again
No, I can't go back again
And every town will celebrate someday
Waving sweatshop flags and grande lattes
Wearing culture on their backs
Wearing spirit on their hats
One by one they'll join the parade
And celebrate
Every town will celebrate someday
Just like they do in Florida
Down in Celebration, Florida
And when every road is Main Street, USA
We'll be safely kept at bay
From any disruption or display
Of truth, adventure, love and rage
Of truth, adventure, love and rage
Of truth, adventure, love and rage, HEY!
Every town will celebrate someday
Waving sweatshop flags and grande lattes
Wearing culture on their backs
Wearing spirit on their hats
One by one they'll join the parade
And celebrate
Every town will celebrate someday
Every town will celebrate
Every town will celebrate
Every town will celebrate someday
Lyrics submitted by greenzob
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Fast Car
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I think that this song is attacking how corporate globalisation ruins the individuality of local communities. Stuff like the 'clone street' phenemomena where a street in own town looks exactly the same as a street in another because it is all global companies and brands. The most extreme example of this kind of corproate influence over a town is Celebration, Florida which is a planned community in FLorida that is owned by the Disney Corporation.
I guess the chorus is a pun on every town in the world becoming Celebration.
I wouldn't say this song is about globalization, per say, as much as it is about corporate-based community development/economic revitalization. There is a common problem in economic revitalization approaches to community development that do not take into account the existing population and prefer gentrification and displacement over doing right by the community's current residents. I think this is more in tune with what Erik is saying here.