"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.
A sixteen hundred, packed with angry young men
Came burning down main street
I touched the Epiphone that hung on my hip
It knew the sound of my heartbeat
But turning the corner in a twisted heap
They pulled some bodies from an upturned Ford
Some kid looked at me and said, it's only life
Might as well use it while we're young
Might as well use it while we're young
I queued with some friends outside the ABC One
To see the killer with no name
Yeah, De Niro's so great, and you know last week
I saw the universe in flames
But it's always the same like Citizen Kane
Ya end up with nothing and you leave for home
Talking and kicking coke cans in the street
As Fu Manchu looks on
As Fu Manchu looks on
And I thought they must think I'm crazy
The things I'll see for fun
Then in my mind I saw the enemy
And I wasted him with my gun
I thought of my brother working Heathrow
Flying engines in the night
Learning every part, he'll be through in years
When I'm signed on for life
Lying here, waiting for a hero to rise
But a lazy man lies back instead
No one hears the young man when he's alone
Planning to kill someone
Planning to kill someone
And I thought it must be me who's crazy
The things I'll do for fun
Choosing poison to get to paradise
Paradise West one
And I thought it must be me who's crazy
The things I'll do for fun
Choosing poison to get to paradise
Paradise West one
Came burning down main street
I touched the Epiphone that hung on my hip
It knew the sound of my heartbeat
But turning the corner in a twisted heap
They pulled some bodies from an upturned Ford
Some kid looked at me and said, it's only life
Might as well use it while we're young
Might as well use it while we're young
I queued with some friends outside the ABC One
To see the killer with no name
Yeah, De Niro's so great, and you know last week
I saw the universe in flames
But it's always the same like Citizen Kane
Ya end up with nothing and you leave for home
Talking and kicking coke cans in the street
As Fu Manchu looks on
As Fu Manchu looks on
And I thought they must think I'm crazy
The things I'll see for fun
Then in my mind I saw the enemy
And I wasted him with my gun
I thought of my brother working Heathrow
Flying engines in the night
Learning every part, he'll be through in years
When I'm signed on for life
Lying here, waiting for a hero to rise
But a lazy man lies back instead
No one hears the young man when he's alone
Planning to kill someone
Planning to kill someone
And I thought it must be me who's crazy
The things I'll do for fun
Choosing poison to get to paradise
Paradise West one
And I thought it must be me who's crazy
The things I'll do for fun
Choosing poison to get to paradise
Paradise West one
Lyrics submitted by SongMeanings
Paradise West Lyrics as written by Tony James Billy Idol
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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