"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.
goodbye, crazy city
you're too much for me.
give me what you owe me.
i'll take it, then i'll leave.
i never slept so fitful
as bleeding on your sheets.
well, light's outside advertising
somebody else's dreams.
goodbye, crazy city
goodbye, ugly pride.
shadowy companion
who had swaggered by my side.
we fell down together.
i tried, but i could not stand.
watched him spring up to his feet
to hold up another man's hand.
goodbye, crazy city
i thank you for your time
and all the girls and drugs i did
when i was in my prime.
man, i sure was something
the way i laid on low.
and i still got the will,
but the legs ain't there no more.
goodbye, crazy city
we sure had a run.
i really thought i'd made it
in the days when i was dumb.
i thought you were my cradle;
you held me in your hands,
squeezed out every penny,
then you cut me loose and ran.
goodbye, crazy city.
goodbye, goodbye, crazy city.
goodbye, crazy city
i'd cry if i knew how.
but you beat the tears right out of me
when i first came to town.
i'm staring out my window
watching you get small.
sitting through a turbulence
half-hoping that we fall.
goodbye, crazy city
spooled out in the dirt
like golden thread unraveling
from a cheaply _ shirt.
go find some other loser
to dangle from your ropes.
i watched you and your promises
fan away the smoke.
goodbye, crazy city
goodbye, goodbye, crazy city.
you're too much for me.
give me what you owe me.
i'll take it, then i'll leave.
i never slept so fitful
as bleeding on your sheets.
well, light's outside advertising
somebody else's dreams.
goodbye, crazy city
goodbye, ugly pride.
shadowy companion
who had swaggered by my side.
we fell down together.
i tried, but i could not stand.
watched him spring up to his feet
to hold up another man's hand.
goodbye, crazy city
i thank you for your time
and all the girls and drugs i did
when i was in my prime.
man, i sure was something
the way i laid on low.
and i still got the will,
but the legs ain't there no more.
goodbye, crazy city
we sure had a run.
i really thought i'd made it
in the days when i was dumb.
i thought you were my cradle;
you held me in your hands,
squeezed out every penny,
then you cut me loose and ran.
goodbye, crazy city.
goodbye, goodbye, crazy city.
goodbye, crazy city
i'd cry if i knew how.
but you beat the tears right out of me
when i first came to town.
i'm staring out my window
watching you get small.
sitting through a turbulence
half-hoping that we fall.
goodbye, crazy city
spooled out in the dirt
like golden thread unraveling
from a cheaply _ shirt.
go find some other loser
to dangle from your ropes.
i watched you and your promises
fan away the smoke.
goodbye, crazy city
goodbye, goodbye, crazy city.
Lyrics submitted by charcoalsketch
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Fast Car
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This song was originally written by a guy called Peter Gutteridge. He was one of the founders of the "Dunedin Sound" a musical scene in the south of New Zealand in the early 80s. From there it was covered by "The Clean" one of the early bands of that scene (he had originally been a member of in it's early days, writing a couple of their best early songs). The Dunedin sound, and the Clean became popular on american college radio in the mid to late 80s. I guess Yo La Tengo heard that version.
Great version of a great song,
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