"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.
There's a man on the corner
Coming on like Moses
Flogging new religion
Like a bunch of plastic roses
He's found his path
To the bleeding heart of Jesus
You tell him
You've found yours
Heir to a future you never made
There is nothing less amusing
Than the amusement arcade
In a city without a soul
Newspaper boys selling you the hard truth
Lucifer employs idle hands by night and day
Stub out the dog-end of a day gone by, boy
Stub out the dog-end of a day gone by
Stub out the dog-end of a day gone by, boy
Don't let the smoke get in your eyes
Well the drunk outside the Wendy
Is becoming less than friendly
A dog is barking at the moon
The drunk outside the Wendy
Is becoming less than friendly
A dog is barking at the moon
You want to get away
From the city of light
Then when you've gone
You want to get back
It is some strange addiction
When you need to put yourself
Back on the rack
Stub out the dog-end of a day gone by, boy
Stub out the dog-end of a day gone by
Stub out the dog-end of a day gone by, boy
Don't let the smoke get in your eye
Stub out the dog-end of a day gone by, boy
Stub out the dog-end of a day gone by
Stub out the dog-end of a day gone by, boy
Don't let the smoke get in your
Stub out the dog-end of a day gone by, boy
Stub out the dog-end of a day gone by, boy
Stub out the dog-end of a day gone by, boy
Stub out the dog-end of a day gone by, boy
Stub out the dog-end of a day gone by, boy
Stub out the dog-end of a day gone by, boy
Stub out the dog-end of a day gone by, boy
Stub out the dog-end of a day gone by, boy
Coming on like Moses
Flogging new religion
Like a bunch of plastic roses
He's found his path
To the bleeding heart of Jesus
You tell him
You've found yours
Heir to a future you never made
There is nothing less amusing
Than the amusement arcade
In a city without a soul
Newspaper boys selling you the hard truth
Lucifer employs idle hands by night and day
Stub out the dog-end of a day gone by, boy
Stub out the dog-end of a day gone by
Stub out the dog-end of a day gone by, boy
Don't let the smoke get in your eyes
Well the drunk outside the Wendy
Is becoming less than friendly
A dog is barking at the moon
The drunk outside the Wendy
Is becoming less than friendly
A dog is barking at the moon
You want to get away
From the city of light
Then when you've gone
You want to get back
It is some strange addiction
When you need to put yourself
Back on the rack
Stub out the dog-end of a day gone by, boy
Stub out the dog-end of a day gone by
Stub out the dog-end of a day gone by, boy
Don't let the smoke get in your eye
Stub out the dog-end of a day gone by, boy
Stub out the dog-end of a day gone by
Stub out the dog-end of a day gone by, boy
Don't let the smoke get in your
Stub out the dog-end of a day gone by, boy
Stub out the dog-end of a day gone by, boy
Stub out the dog-end of a day gone by, boy
Stub out the dog-end of a day gone by, boy
Stub out the dog-end of a day gone by, boy
Stub out the dog-end of a day gone by, boy
Stub out the dog-end of a day gone by, boy
Stub out the dog-end of a day gone by, boy
Lyrics submitted by ChampionLover, edited by Keeton
The Dog-End of a Day Gone By Lyrics as written by David Jay Daniel Gaston Ash
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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LOL! Those lyrics are embarrassingly inaccurate. The first two verses goes like this:
There's a man on the corner Coming on like Moses FLOGGING NEW religion LIKE A BUNCH OF plastic roses He's found his path To the BLEEDING heart of Jesus You tell him You've found yours
HEIR to a future You never made There is nothing LESS AMUSING Then the amusement arcade In a city without a soul Newspaper boys selling you the hard truth Lucifer employs IDLE HANDS BY NIGHT AND DAY
@Apskaft thank you!! I tried to submit changes but they said the lyrics were taken from a licensed source so they have to look into it.
David J stated in 1990 in the Chicago Tribune that it's: You want to get away From the city of LIES Also it was stated: You need to put yourself Back ON THE RACK
it's "stub out the dog-end". a dog-end is a cig butt. you stub it out.
I'd like to know what the 'windy' is that the unfriendly drunk is outside of.
I'd always sing the song as "the drunk outside the Wendy's."
There's no "s" sound, though. And do they have Wendy's in the UK?
@ChampionLover windy in British slang was children playhouses.
The dog-end in British slang is a Ciggarette butt. Hence, "Don't let the smoke get in your eye." And it is windy not Wendy's, a windy in British slang is a children's playhouse. It's tiresome to see such beautiful lyrics butchered by people trying to force fit it to mean a commercial burger joint in the US. And I'm American, I just asked my British friends and read a few articles.
@Keeton A friend of mine had a Twitter exchange with David J a couple of years ago about this very line. It's definitely Wendy's.
Great song. The lyrics are sufficiently vague, but I surmise they're referencing Los Angeles when they say "City of Lights" and "City without a Soul". Most musicians have a love-hate relationship with the town. Plenty of kooks flogging religion and every Wendy's in Los Angeles has drunks and panhandlers. Still, the amusement arcade is addictive, and that's why so many musicians end up living there.
What a joke of a lyric submission. I'd laugh, but the bigger joke is funnier, and it's really sad that people hide such beautiful lyrics from others.
This song is about doing the devils work - but remembering to take a break because at the end of the day, you're not a demon, though you may be beset by them. It's an argument for the Sabbath.
I always sang it as "drunk outside of Wendy's" as well.