"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.
Long about eighteen twenty-five
I left Tennessee very much alive
Never would've gotten through the Arkansas mud
If I hadn't been a-ridin' on a Tennessee stud
Tennessee stud was long and lean
The color of the sun, his eyes were green
He had the nerve and he had the blood
There never was a horse like Tennessee stud
Had some trouble with my sweetheart's Pa
One of her brothers was a bad outlaw
Sent her a letter about my uncle Fud
And I rode away on a Tennessee stud
I rode on down through a beautiful land
I ran smack into an Indian band
Jumped their necks with a whoop and a yell
And I rode away like a bat out of hell
Circled their camp a time or two
Just to show 'em what a Tennessee horse can do
Redskin bucks couldn't get my bud
'Cause I was riding on a Tennessee stud
So I rode on down through a beautiful land
Across the river called the Rio Grande
Raced my horse with a spaniard's fold
And won me a sack full of silver and gold
Me and a gambler, we couldn't agree
Got in a fight over Tennessee
Drew our guns and he fell with a thud
And I rode away on a Tennessee stud
Tennessee stud is long and lean
The color of the sun, his eyes are green
He had the nerve and he had the blood
There never was a horse like the Tennessee stud
Got just as lonesome as a man can be
Dreamed about my girl back in Tennessee
Tennessee stud's green eyes turned blue
'Cause he was dreaming of his sweetheart, too
So we loped on back 'cross Arkansas
And I whooped her mother and I whooped her pa
Found that girl with the golden hair
And she was riding on a Tennessee mare
Stirrup to stirrup and side by side
We crossed the mountains and the valleys wide
Come to Big Muddy, but we forded the flood
On a Tennessee mare and a Tennessee stud
Pretty little baby on the cabin floor
Little horses colt playing round the door
I love the girl with the golden hair
And the Tennessee stud loves the Tennessee mare
Tennessee stud is long and lean
The color of the sun, his eyes are green
He had the nerve and he had the blood
There never was a horse like the Tennessee stud
Never was a horse like the Tennessee stud
Never was a horse like the Tennessee stud
Never was a horse like the Tennessee stud
There never was a horse like the Tennessee stud
There never was a horse like the Tennessee stud
I left Tennessee very much alive
Never would've gotten through the Arkansas mud
If I hadn't been a-ridin' on a Tennessee stud
Tennessee stud was long and lean
The color of the sun, his eyes were green
He had the nerve and he had the blood
There never was a horse like Tennessee stud
Had some trouble with my sweetheart's Pa
One of her brothers was a bad outlaw
Sent her a letter about my uncle Fud
And I rode away on a Tennessee stud
I rode on down through a beautiful land
I ran smack into an Indian band
Jumped their necks with a whoop and a yell
And I rode away like a bat out of hell
Circled their camp a time or two
Just to show 'em what a Tennessee horse can do
Redskin bucks couldn't get my bud
'Cause I was riding on a Tennessee stud
So I rode on down through a beautiful land
Across the river called the Rio Grande
Raced my horse with a spaniard's fold
And won me a sack full of silver and gold
Me and a gambler, we couldn't agree
Got in a fight over Tennessee
Drew our guns and he fell with a thud
And I rode away on a Tennessee stud
Tennessee stud is long and lean
The color of the sun, his eyes are green
He had the nerve and he had the blood
There never was a horse like the Tennessee stud
Got just as lonesome as a man can be
Dreamed about my girl back in Tennessee
Tennessee stud's green eyes turned blue
'Cause he was dreaming of his sweetheart, too
So we loped on back 'cross Arkansas
And I whooped her mother and I whooped her pa
Found that girl with the golden hair
And she was riding on a Tennessee mare
Stirrup to stirrup and side by side
We crossed the mountains and the valleys wide
Come to Big Muddy, but we forded the flood
On a Tennessee mare and a Tennessee stud
Pretty little baby on the cabin floor
Little horses colt playing round the door
I love the girl with the golden hair
And the Tennessee stud loves the Tennessee mare
Tennessee stud is long and lean
The color of the sun, his eyes are green
He had the nerve and he had the blood
There never was a horse like the Tennessee stud
Never was a horse like the Tennessee stud
Never was a horse like the Tennessee stud
Never was a horse like the Tennessee stud
There never was a horse like the Tennessee stud
There never was a horse like the Tennessee stud
Lyrics submitted by SongMeanings
Tennessee Stud Lyrics as written by James Morris
Lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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Great version of a great song,
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