"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.
Well, you wouldn't read my letters if I wrote you
You asked me not to call you on the phone
There's something I've been waiting for to tell you
So I wrote it in the words of this song
You never knew there were honky tonk angels
Or you might have known I'd never make a wife
You walked out on the only one who ever loved you
So I went back to the wild side of life
Now the glamor of the good life always lead me
To the places where the wild liquor flows
I tried to be your one and only angel
But I'm not that kind of angel, heaven knows
I cried so hard the day you went and left me
'Cause some things you said, they cut me like a knife
What you wanted was another kind of angel
And you should be back to the wild side of life
No, well, I guess I'm just a honky tonk angel
I might have known I'd never make a wife
Well, you left the only one who ever loved you
And I'm back here on the wild side of life
I'm only a honky tonk angel
I might have known I'd never make a wife
You walked out on the only one who ever loved you
And you left me here on the wild side of life
You asked me not to call you on the phone
There's something I've been waiting for to tell you
So I wrote it in the words of this song
You never knew there were honky tonk angels
Or you might have known I'd never make a wife
You walked out on the only one who ever loved you
So I went back to the wild side of life
Now the glamor of the good life always lead me
To the places where the wild liquor flows
I tried to be your one and only angel
But I'm not that kind of angel, heaven knows
I cried so hard the day you went and left me
'Cause some things you said, they cut me like a knife
What you wanted was another kind of angel
And you should be back to the wild side of life
No, well, I guess I'm just a honky tonk angel
I might have known I'd never make a wife
Well, you left the only one who ever loved you
And I'm back here on the wild side of life
I'm only a honky tonk angel
I might have known I'd never make a wife
You walked out on the only one who ever loved you
And you left me here on the wild side of life
Lyrics submitted by SongMeanings
The Wild Side of Life Lyrics as written by Buddy Guy
Lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
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