"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 met her sadly in the slowly falling rain
Crying softly in her loneliness and pain
Knowing no one needin' someone bad as me
And she told me as I held her trembling hand
Walking slowly how she'd never known a man
Living lonely in her cottage by the sea
When the morning came her tears had changed to laughter
And before the night her heart beat close to mine
And I thought as she lay sleeping of the secrets she was keeping
Hidden somewhere in the silence of the shadows of her mind
In the morning as I wakened with the dawn
Without warning I could feel that she was gone
Leaving nothing but her silence next to me
And lonely footprints that I followed in the sand
Walking slowly for I knew where they would end
Disappearing in the silence of the sea
And I sometimes hear the echo of her laughter
As I search for what I know I'll never find
For the answer I was seeking was the secrets she's still keeping
Hidden somewhere in the silence of the shadows of her mind
Hidden somewhere in the silence of the shadows of her mind
Crying softly in her loneliness and pain
Knowing no one needin' someone bad as me
And she told me as I held her trembling hand
Walking slowly how she'd never known a man
Living lonely in her cottage by the sea
When the morning came her tears had changed to laughter
And before the night her heart beat close to mine
And I thought as she lay sleeping of the secrets she was keeping
Hidden somewhere in the silence of the shadows of her mind
In the morning as I wakened with the dawn
Without warning I could feel that she was gone
Leaving nothing but her silence next to me
And lonely footprints that I followed in the sand
Walking slowly for I knew where they would end
Disappearing in the silence of the sea
And I sometimes hear the echo of her laughter
As I search for what I know I'll never find
For the answer I was seeking was the secrets she's still keeping
Hidden somewhere in the silence of the shadows of her mind
Hidden somewhere in the silence of the shadows of her mind
Lyrics submitted by SongMeanings
Shadows of Her Mind Lyrics as written by Kristoffer Kristofferson
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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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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