"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.
Last night I went to sleep in Detroit City
I dreamed about them cotton fields of home
I dreamed about my mother, dear old pappy, sister and brother
And I dreamed about the girl who's been waitin' for so long
I want to go home
I want to go home
Oh, how I want to go home
Home folks think I'm big in Detroit City
From the letters that I write they think I'm just fine, yes they do
But by day I make the cars and by night I make the bars
If only they could read between the lines
‘cause you know I rode a freight train north to Detroit City
And after all these years I find I've just been wastin' my time
You know what I'm gonna do?
I'm gonna take my foolish pride
Get it on a southbound freight and let it ride
I'm gonna go back to the loved ones
The ones I left waiting so far behind
I want to go home, yeah
I want to go home
Oh, how I want to go home (Can't you hear me?)
I want to go home
Whoa, baby I want to go home
Oh, how I want to go home (Somebody help me)
I want to go home, yeah
I want to go home, whoa oh
Oh, how I want to go home
Hmm, I want to go home...
I dreamed about them cotton fields of home
I dreamed about my mother, dear old pappy, sister and brother
And I dreamed about the girl who's been waitin' for so long
I want to go home
I want to go home
Oh, how I want to go home
Home folks think I'm big in Detroit City
From the letters that I write they think I'm just fine, yes they do
But by day I make the cars and by night I make the bars
If only they could read between the lines
‘cause you know I rode a freight train north to Detroit City
And after all these years I find I've just been wastin' my time
You know what I'm gonna do?
I'm gonna take my foolish pride
Get it on a southbound freight and let it ride
I'm gonna go back to the loved ones
The ones I left waiting so far behind
I want to go home, yeah
I want to go home
Oh, how I want to go home (Can't you hear me?)
I want to go home
Whoa, baby I want to go home
Oh, how I want to go home (Somebody help me)
I want to go home, yeah
I want to go home, whoa oh
Oh, how I want to go home
Hmm, I want to go home...
Lyrics submitted by SongMeanings
Detroit City Lyrics as written by Mel Tillis Danny Dill
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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