"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.
He was nobly born
Had a spanish bull's horn
And not one scar on his hansom face
He stood like a prince
And he had ever since
He had grandly walked into the place
Though the girls of Madrid
Tonight were forbid
For tomorrow he must fight once more
Before he left the bar
He would dance with them all
Cause he was El Toreador
The day of the feast
Was just a lie in the east
When he left Maria's warm bed
Her dark eyes said more
But he walked through the door
Shaking cobwebs of dreams from his head
And later that day
As he knelt to pray
He said God grant me this nothing more
If it is the way
And I must die today
Let me die like a Toreador
The pageant he chose
Shook from the roar
As the band played the Toreador's theme
Alarmed by the sound
The bull paws the ground
As the Toreador enters the ring
Up and down, round and round
On and on, all alone
The Plaza del Toros
Shook from the roar
As the band played the Toreador's theme
Alarmed by the sound
The bull paws the ground
As the Toreador enters the ring
Up and down,
Round and round
On and on, all alone
The shouts of ole
In the heat of the day
Rushed the hot blood to his Spanish heart
And the crowd held their breath
As he flirted with death
And the bull fighter's sword found it's mark
And trying to hide
The wound in his side
He walked from the ring standing tall
And a crowd gathered round
As he fell to the ground
A priest held his hand
Where he lay in the sand
And he was heard to say
A brave bull died today
But he died like a Toreador
Had a spanish bull's horn
And not one scar on his hansom face
He stood like a prince
And he had ever since
He had grandly walked into the place
Though the girls of Madrid
Tonight were forbid
For tomorrow he must fight once more
Before he left the bar
He would dance with them all
Cause he was El Toreador
The day of the feast
Was just a lie in the east
When he left Maria's warm bed
Her dark eyes said more
But he walked through the door
Shaking cobwebs of dreams from his head
And later that day
As he knelt to pray
He said God grant me this nothing more
If it is the way
And I must die today
Let me die like a Toreador
The pageant he chose
Shook from the roar
As the band played the Toreador's theme
Alarmed by the sound
The bull paws the ground
As the Toreador enters the ring
Up and down, round and round
On and on, all alone
The Plaza del Toros
Shook from the roar
As the band played the Toreador's theme
Alarmed by the sound
The bull paws the ground
As the Toreador enters the ring
Up and down,
Round and round
On and on, all alone
The shouts of ole
In the heat of the day
Rushed the hot blood to his Spanish heart
And the crowd held their breath
As he flirted with death
And the bull fighter's sword found it's mark
And trying to hide
The wound in his side
He walked from the ring standing tall
And a crowd gathered round
As he fell to the ground
A priest held his hand
Where he lay in the sand
And he was heard to say
A brave bull died today
But he died like a Toreador
Lyrics submitted by SongMeanings
El Toreador Lyrics as written by William J. Digregorio Charlie Daniels
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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