"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 used to see you on every T.V.
Your smiling face looked back at me.
I used to see you on every T.V.
Your smiling face looked back at me.
Then they caught you with the girl next door,
People's money piled on the floor,
Accusations that you try to deny,
Revelations and rumors begin to fly.
Now you think about reaching out
Try to get some help from above.
Now you think about reaching out
Try to get some help from above.
Reporters crowd around your house.
Going through your garbage like a pack of hounds,
Speculating what they may find out,
It don't matter now, you're all washed up.
You wake up in the middle of the night.
Your sheets are wet and your face is white,
You tried to make a good thing last,
How could something so good, go bad,…
Your smiling face looked back at me.
I used to see you on every T.V.
Your smiling face looked back at me.
Then they caught you with the girl next door,
People's money piled on the floor,
Accusations that you try to deny,
Revelations and rumors begin to fly.
Now you think about reaching out
Try to get some help from above.
Now you think about reaching out
Try to get some help from above.
Reporters crowd around your house.
Going through your garbage like a pack of hounds,
Speculating what they may find out,
It don't matter now, you're all washed up.
You wake up in the middle of the night.
Your sheets are wet and your face is white,
You tried to make a good thing last,
How could something so good, go bad,…
Lyrics submitted by SongMeanings, edited by Ford R
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Success is a sandcastle washed up by a wave. How many Americans succeed and make millions, only to have it crumble in their hands because they are weak and give into temptation. As Carlin said, the American Dream is a dream because you'd have to be asleep to believe it. Dreams of success are shattered by the frailties of human error.
This song is about Gary Hart, disgraced US Democratic Presidential nominee.
His tumultuous campaign ended in March of 1988. This album was released in November. “Used to see you on every TV” references Hart’s ubiquitous media coverage at the time. The ambiguous lyrics refer to reporters “Going through your garbage like a pack of hounds.” This signifies the extra-marital affair Hart was having with Donna Rice, and the media frenzy that ensued, resulting in reporters following the candidate around incessantly.
“People’s money piled on the floor” most likely refers to the $1.3 million dollar debt Hart had racked up during his 1984 presidential bid.
The lyric “Don’t know when things went wrong / Might’ve been when you were young and strong” may be up for interpretation. ‘You’ may be Hart, or America itself. Perhaps Neil Young was asking if America went wrong long ago when it was young and strong, and indeed whether the American dream had died long ago.