"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.
Easter day was a holiday
Of all days of the year,
And all the little schoolfellows went out to play
But Sir William was not there.
Mamma went to the School wife house
And knocked at the ring,
Saying, "Little Sir William, if you are there,
Pray let your mother in."
The School wife open'd the door and said:
"He is not here today.
He is with the little schoolfellows out on the green
Playing some pretty play."
Mamma went to the Boyne water
That is so wide and deep,
Saying, "Little Sir William, if you are there,
Oh pity your mother's weep."
"How can I pity your weep, mother,
And I so long in pain?
For the little pen knife sticks close to my heart
And the School wife hath me slain.
"Go home, go home, my mother dear,
And prepare my winding sheet,
For tomorrow morning before eight o'clock,
You with my body shall meet.
"And lay my Prayer Book at my head,
And my grammar at my feet,
That all the little schoolfellows as they pass by
May read them for my sake."
Of all days of the year,
And all the little schoolfellows went out to play
But Sir William was not there.
Mamma went to the School wife house
And knocked at the ring,
Saying, "Little Sir William, if you are there,
Pray let your mother in."
The School wife open'd the door and said:
"He is not here today.
He is with the little schoolfellows out on the green
Playing some pretty play."
Mamma went to the Boyne water
That is so wide and deep,
Saying, "Little Sir William, if you are there,
Oh pity your mother's weep."
"How can I pity your weep, mother,
And I so long in pain?
For the little pen knife sticks close to my heart
And the School wife hath me slain.
"Go home, go home, my mother dear,
And prepare my winding sheet,
For tomorrow morning before eight o'clock,
You with my body shall meet.
"And lay my Prayer Book at my head,
And my grammar at my feet,
That all the little schoolfellows as they pass by
May read them for my sake."
Lyrics submitted by SongMeanings
Little Sir William, for voice & piano (Folk Songs, Vol. I) Lyrics as written by Benjamin Britten
Lyrics © IMAGEM U.S. LLC
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Little Sir William, for voice & piano (Folk Songs, Vol. 1) song meanings
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