"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.
Sweet Dempsey waiting on a number,
Cups his sweating hand around dice and blows,
Breathes his reeking trust on tumbling bones,
In love with the air around a hundred thousand bad throws.
All nerve and no brain,
All nerve, no brain;
It’s jackpot plus in which he trusts. Someday I--
Someday I--
Sweet baby sucking on a number,
Sweet Dempsey gladly trips switch after switch.
He can feel himself drain out through his fingertips.
Uneasy union;
The conception of a near miss.
All nerve and no brain,
All nerve, no brain,
It’s jackpot plus in which he trusts.
Someday I--
Someday I--
Keep dropping it in cool on the machine,
Keep dropping it in,
Dropping it in,
Dropping it in,
Someday I--
Someday I--
Someday I--
Cups his sweating hand around dice and blows,
Breathes his reeking trust on tumbling bones,
In love with the air around a hundred thousand bad throws.
All nerve and no brain,
All nerve, no brain;
It’s jackpot plus in which he trusts. Someday I--
Someday I--
Sweet baby sucking on a number,
Sweet Dempsey gladly trips switch after switch.
He can feel himself drain out through his fingertips.
Uneasy union;
The conception of a near miss.
All nerve and no brain,
All nerve, no brain,
It’s jackpot plus in which he trusts.
Someday I--
Someday I--
Keep dropping it in cool on the machine,
Keep dropping it in,
Dropping it in,
Dropping it in,
Someday I--
Someday I--
Someday I--
Lyrics submitted by DevMinor
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