"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.
It's 4:00 A.M. I've got the Haffenreffer ale
I've got nothing to lose so I'm pissin' on the third rail
Groggy eyed and fried I'm headed for the station
D-train ride to Coney Island vacation (this one's)
Dedicated to the boofers in the back of the one train
They'll be kicking out windows high on cocaine
And then I jump the turnstile I lost my last token
Riding between the cars pissing smoking
Head for the last car fluorescent light blackout
Policeman told my homeboy put that crack out
You know you light up when the lights go down
And then you read the New York post Fulton St. downtown
Same faces every day but you don't know their names
Party people going placed on the d-train
(Stop that train, I wanna get off)
Check it
Trench coat wing tip going to work
And you'll be pulling a train like Captain Kirk
Pick pocket gangsters paying their debts
I caught a bullet in the lung from Bernie Goetz
Overworked and underpaid staring at the floor
Prostitutes spandex caught in the slide doors
And now you're stuck between the stations and it seems like an eternity
Sweating like sardines in a flophouse fraternity
Got a fifty dollar fine for disturbing the peace
The neck tortoise your Lees are creased
Hot cup of coffee and the donuts are Dunkin'
Friday night and Jamaica queens funkin'
Elevated platform, I'm never gonna conform
Riding over the diner where I always get my toast warm
Bust into the conductor's booth and busted out rhymes
Over the loud speaker about the hard times
Sat across from a man readin' El Diario
Riding the train down from El Barrio
Went from the station straight to Orange Julius
I bought a hot dog from my man George Drakoulias
I've got nothing to lose so I'm pissin' on the third rail
Groggy eyed and fried I'm headed for the station
D-train ride to Coney Island vacation (this one's)
Dedicated to the boofers in the back of the one train
They'll be kicking out windows high on cocaine
And then I jump the turnstile I lost my last token
Riding between the cars pissing smoking
Head for the last car fluorescent light blackout
Policeman told my homeboy put that crack out
You know you light up when the lights go down
And then you read the New York post Fulton St. downtown
Same faces every day but you don't know their names
Party people going placed on the d-train
(Stop that train, I wanna get off)
Check it
Trench coat wing tip going to work
And you'll be pulling a train like Captain Kirk
Pick pocket gangsters paying their debts
I caught a bullet in the lung from Bernie Goetz
Overworked and underpaid staring at the floor
Prostitutes spandex caught in the slide doors
And now you're stuck between the stations and it seems like an eternity
Sweating like sardines in a flophouse fraternity
Got a fifty dollar fine for disturbing the peace
The neck tortoise your Lees are creased
Hot cup of coffee and the donuts are Dunkin'
Friday night and Jamaica queens funkin'
Elevated platform, I'm never gonna conform
Riding over the diner where I always get my toast warm
Bust into the conductor's booth and busted out rhymes
Over the loud speaker about the hard times
Sat across from a man readin' El Diario
Riding the train down from El Barrio
Went from the station straight to Orange Julius
I bought a hot dog from my man George Drakoulias
Lyrics submitted by EscObAR123
Stop That Train Lyrics as written by Adam Nathaniel Yauch Adam Horovitz
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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Fast Car
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