"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 know it's too late
I went and called your number by mistake
Like a habit that's hard to break
I wear my cold heart on my sleeve
'Cause you're where I wanna be, yeah
I wish you'd still be there
But I'm a mess and I know you don't care
A long way from anywhere
I walk these rainy streets
And drown my misery
Baby, it's over now
Maybe my ups are all downtown
So far away
I'm too lost to be found
Baby, this time we're through
Maybe I guess you knew
Nothing matters anymore
And that's the secret to New York
Broadway in my brain
The corner where my dreams became mistakes
It was written all over your face
You said I don't know who you are
Remember Union Square was always ours?
It all went by so fast
Now I got no girl, no place to crash
And I can't erase the past
'Cause I walked these rainy streets
Drowning you and me
Baby, it's over now
Maybe my ups are all downtown
So far away
I'm too lost to be found
Baby, this time we're through
Maybe I guess you knew
Nothing matters anymore
And that's the secret to New York
I'm stuck on this train
Every stop, I see your face
Who's crying now?
You're begging me to stay
Reflections don't lie
I keep you here, hidden in my eyes
Baby, it's over now
Maybe my ups are all downtown
So far away
I'm too lost to be found
Baby, this time we're through
Maybe I guess you knew
Nothing matters anymore
And that's the secret to New York
Nothing matters anymore
That's the secret to New York
I went and called your number by mistake
Like a habit that's hard to break
I wear my cold heart on my sleeve
'Cause you're where I wanna be, yeah
I wish you'd still be there
But I'm a mess and I know you don't care
A long way from anywhere
I walk these rainy streets
And drown my misery
Baby, it's over now
Maybe my ups are all downtown
So far away
I'm too lost to be found
Baby, this time we're through
Maybe I guess you knew
Nothing matters anymore
And that's the secret to New York
Broadway in my brain
The corner where my dreams became mistakes
It was written all over your face
You said I don't know who you are
Remember Union Square was always ours?
It all went by so fast
Now I got no girl, no place to crash
And I can't erase the past
'Cause I walked these rainy streets
Drowning you and me
Baby, it's over now
Maybe my ups are all downtown
So far away
I'm too lost to be found
Baby, this time we're through
Maybe I guess you knew
Nothing matters anymore
And that's the secret to New York
I'm stuck on this train
Every stop, I see your face
Who's crying now?
You're begging me to stay
Reflections don't lie
I keep you here, hidden in my eyes
Baby, it's over now
Maybe my ups are all downtown
So far away
I'm too lost to be found
Baby, this time we're through
Maybe I guess you knew
Nothing matters anymore
And that's the secret to New York
Nothing matters anymore
That's the secret to New York
Lyrics submitted by thoseguiltyeyes
The Secret to New York Lyrics as written by Robert Schwartzman David Katz
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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Fast Car
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