"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.
It comes from Mississippi, and down in Alabam'
Creepin' like a fever all across the land
From deep in the Delta on the Louisiana shore
The people got to have it, they want to hear some more
It's the Hillbilly Rock, beat it with a drum
Playin' them guitars like shootin' from a gun
Keepin' up the rhythm, steady as a clock
Doin' a little thing called the Hillbilly Rock
Some say it came from Memphis down in Tennessee
Or it drifted in from Georgia 'bout 1953
Just as long as it's greasy, as long as it's fast
As long as it's pumpin', honey, it's gonna last
It's the Hillbilly Rock, beat it with a drum
Playin' them guitars like shootin' from a gun
Keepin' up the rhythm, steady as a clock
Doin' a little thing called the Hillbilly Rock
Way back in old Kentucky where the bluegrass grows
Through the Carolinas on them dirt red roads
Burnin like a fire runnin' wild in the woods
From Arkansas to Texas, it sounds so good
It's the Hillbilly Rock, beat it with a drum
Playin' them guitars like shootin from a gun
Keepin' up the rhythm, steady as a clock
Doin' a little thing called the Hillbilly Rock
So when the heat starts to risin' and you gotta blow some steam
Take a ride down the river, you'll see just what I mean
The juke joint's jumpin', when that cat goes on
The whole place is shakin', there's a something goin' on
It's the Hillbilly Rock, beat it with a drum
Playin' them guitars like shootin from a gun
Keepin' up the rhythm, steady as a clock
Doin' a little thing called the Hillbilly Rock
Doin' a little thing called the Hillbilly Rock
Doin' a little thing called the Hillbilly Rock
Creepin' like a fever all across the land
From deep in the Delta on the Louisiana shore
The people got to have it, they want to hear some more
It's the Hillbilly Rock, beat it with a drum
Playin' them guitars like shootin' from a gun
Keepin' up the rhythm, steady as a clock
Doin' a little thing called the Hillbilly Rock
Some say it came from Memphis down in Tennessee
Or it drifted in from Georgia 'bout 1953
Just as long as it's greasy, as long as it's fast
As long as it's pumpin', honey, it's gonna last
It's the Hillbilly Rock, beat it with a drum
Playin' them guitars like shootin' from a gun
Keepin' up the rhythm, steady as a clock
Doin' a little thing called the Hillbilly Rock
Way back in old Kentucky where the bluegrass grows
Through the Carolinas on them dirt red roads
Burnin like a fire runnin' wild in the woods
From Arkansas to Texas, it sounds so good
It's the Hillbilly Rock, beat it with a drum
Playin' them guitars like shootin from a gun
Keepin' up the rhythm, steady as a clock
Doin' a little thing called the Hillbilly Rock
So when the heat starts to risin' and you gotta blow some steam
Take a ride down the river, you'll see just what I mean
The juke joint's jumpin', when that cat goes on
The whole place is shakin', there's a something goin' on
It's the Hillbilly Rock, beat it with a drum
Playin' them guitars like shootin from a gun
Keepin' up the rhythm, steady as a clock
Doin' a little thing called the Hillbilly Rock
Doin' a little thing called the Hillbilly Rock
Doin' a little thing called the Hillbilly Rock
Lyrics submitted by SongMeanings
Hillbilly Rock Lyrics as written by Paul Kennerley
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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