"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.
Where have all our heroes gone what's come over our great land
America is still my home sweet home but where have all our heroes gone
I saw a group of boys the other day standing in the corner of a playground
Looking and laughin' at a magazine
And I overheard one of the boys said man is he ever cool
And he pointed to the man who's picture was on the magazine cover
And everybody kinda said under their breath yeah he's cool alright
And I got sick to my stomach
Because I'd seen the cover and the man that they were talking about
Had instigated a riot in one of our major cities last summer
And the magazine was writing about how the police were unkind to him
The judges were not fair with him
And how he talked back and slung his long hair about and cussed
And did his things and they made him into a regular hero
And inside this magazine was the story of a baseball player
Who got involted with the gamblers
Of the football player who said that football was not the end
Just a mean to an end meanin' the girls and the good times
And a story of a folk singer who proudly claims
To be both a member of a party ailen to our government and a nontax payin' citizen
These young boys read with open eyes and open minds
And I thought to myself my God
Are these the people that these young boys look up to
Are these their idols are these the heroes of the now generation
(America is still my home sweet home but where have all our heroes gone)
I had heroes when I was a kid we all did and our heroes did their thing too
Like General Douglas McArthur who returned like he said he would
Like Gene Autry and Roy Rogers who chased the bad guys right off the screen
Like Lindberg who flew the ocean and Jesse Owens who showed Hitler
And John Wayne and Gerry Cooper after all didn't they really win the war
And General Ike bless your soul cause he made us feel safe
We've killed some of our recent heroes the Kennedys and Kings
And even as great as their space feats are
How many of the astronauts can you name huh how many
My heroes were people like Joe DiMaggio who proved that nice guys can finish first
And Stan Musian who never had an unkind word for anybody
And Winston Churchill who's two fingers raised together meant victory
Not just a let-your-enemy-have-it-all kind of artificial peace
This country needs a lotta things today friends
But it doesn't need any one thing anymore than it needs some real heroes
Men who know what it means to be looked up to by a griny faced kid
Men who want to sign autograph books and not deal under the table
Men who are willing to play the game with the people who made them heroes
Men who don't mind putting on a white hat and saying thank you and please
I wish I knew more men that I'd be proud of for my son to look up to and say
Daddy when I grow up I want to be just-like-him (Where have all our heroes gone)
America is still my home sweet home but where have all our heroes gone
I saw a group of boys the other day standing in the corner of a playground
Looking and laughin' at a magazine
And I overheard one of the boys said man is he ever cool
And he pointed to the man who's picture was on the magazine cover
And everybody kinda said under their breath yeah he's cool alright
And I got sick to my stomach
Because I'd seen the cover and the man that they were talking about
Had instigated a riot in one of our major cities last summer
And the magazine was writing about how the police were unkind to him
The judges were not fair with him
And how he talked back and slung his long hair about and cussed
And did his things and they made him into a regular hero
And inside this magazine was the story of a baseball player
Who got involted with the gamblers
Of the football player who said that football was not the end
Just a mean to an end meanin' the girls and the good times
And a story of a folk singer who proudly claims
To be both a member of a party ailen to our government and a nontax payin' citizen
These young boys read with open eyes and open minds
And I thought to myself my God
Are these the people that these young boys look up to
Are these their idols are these the heroes of the now generation
(America is still my home sweet home but where have all our heroes gone)
I had heroes when I was a kid we all did and our heroes did their thing too
Like General Douglas McArthur who returned like he said he would
Like Gene Autry and Roy Rogers who chased the bad guys right off the screen
Like Lindberg who flew the ocean and Jesse Owens who showed Hitler
And John Wayne and Gerry Cooper after all didn't they really win the war
And General Ike bless your soul cause he made us feel safe
We've killed some of our recent heroes the Kennedys and Kings
And even as great as their space feats are
How many of the astronauts can you name huh how many
My heroes were people like Joe DiMaggio who proved that nice guys can finish first
And Stan Musian who never had an unkind word for anybody
And Winston Churchill who's two fingers raised together meant victory
Not just a let-your-enemy-have-it-all kind of artificial peace
This country needs a lotta things today friends
But it doesn't need any one thing anymore than it needs some real heroes
Men who know what it means to be looked up to by a griny faced kid
Men who want to sign autograph books and not deal under the table
Men who are willing to play the game with the people who made them heroes
Men who don't mind putting on a white hat and saying thank you and please
I wish I knew more men that I'd be proud of for my son to look up to and say
Daddy when I grow up I want to be just-like-him (Where have all our heroes gone)
Lyrics submitted by SongMeanings
Where Have All Our Heroes Gone Lyrics as written by Talbert Anderson
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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