"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.
I think I'll quit my job today,
Spend the money that I saved
I think I'll build a boat for me
And sail myself across the sea
Cause' every night the sun goes down
And the morning helps me come around
The coffee likes to chase the booze
The booze it likes to chase the blues
I kept your picture in a frame
I kept your heart out on a chain
But hearts don't belong on chains
And pictures don't belong in frames
People come and people go
Foe to friend and friend to foe
And you do just what yer supposed to do
Cause the clock don't ever stop for you
She thinks she knows me oh so well
For six nights in a cheap motel,
She gave her heart away for free
She gave it all away to me
But im needle dancin' on a pin
Match under my heels again
Not every bird will sing for you
Don't matter how you ask her to
Can't believe the way she acts
She doesn't even know the facts
But ain't that just the way it goes
When you're telling truth in liars clothes
Born and raised and born again
And I can't tell you why or when
But everything will happen twice
Sure as fire, sure as ice
So it's broken hearts and dusty roads
And somewhere there my soul explodes
With every piece of every day
And everything I meant to say
And where I'll be, no one can tell
I'm fishing in a wishing well
And I'm doing the very best I can
I just hope you'll understand
Now I seen all the lights that shine
Countless colors in my mind
They climb and swim and spark and glow
And ask me what it is I know
I know a thing called love
A thing called thunder in the sky above
Now I know a thing called pain
Now I know a thing called rain
Spend the money that I saved
I think I'll build a boat for me
And sail myself across the sea
Cause' every night the sun goes down
And the morning helps me come around
The coffee likes to chase the booze
The booze it likes to chase the blues
I kept your picture in a frame
I kept your heart out on a chain
But hearts don't belong on chains
And pictures don't belong in frames
People come and people go
Foe to friend and friend to foe
And you do just what yer supposed to do
Cause the clock don't ever stop for you
She thinks she knows me oh so well
For six nights in a cheap motel,
She gave her heart away for free
She gave it all away to me
But im needle dancin' on a pin
Match under my heels again
Not every bird will sing for you
Don't matter how you ask her to
Can't believe the way she acts
She doesn't even know the facts
But ain't that just the way it goes
When you're telling truth in liars clothes
Born and raised and born again
And I can't tell you why or when
But everything will happen twice
Sure as fire, sure as ice
So it's broken hearts and dusty roads
And somewhere there my soul explodes
With every piece of every day
And everything I meant to say
And where I'll be, no one can tell
I'm fishing in a wishing well
And I'm doing the very best I can
I just hope you'll understand
Now I seen all the lights that shine
Countless colors in my mind
They climb and swim and spark and glow
And ask me what it is I know
I know a thing called love
A thing called thunder in the sky above
Now I know a thing called pain
Now I know a thing called rain
Lyrics submitted by Mondenkind
A Thing Called Rain Lyrics as written by Jackie Greene
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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Great stuff. Jackie is the man. Like how he ties it together in the end