"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.
No girl my man
He don't have a million dollars in his hand
And he don't have a eighty thousand-dollar Benz
But he does for me not like all the majority
(Who) don't have a three story plushed-out pad
Living on a hill even if he drove a cab
I would ride with him and he would still
Be my boyfriend (neva)
Neva owned a drop top or any diamond rings
Don't ride no yachts and those expensive things
Neva seen a big mansion and no private planes
But he has my heart
Neva slept in a Four Seasons suite in France
And he doesn't have any high rolling friends
But he has his twenty-inch chromed-out rims
To add to my heart
No my man don't drive any Bentleys
Works a nine ta five to make ends meet
But faithfully steadily going to places
I'm not lettin' him go
No my man don't drive any Bentleys
Works a nine ta five to make ends meet
But faithfully steadily going to places
I'm not lettin' him go nowhere
Love him from head to toe
And he spends quality time with me though
And he plays ball on the weekend with his folks
And he rubs my feet
When I get off from work
Sometimes we fight
And have arguments from time to time
But when we make up
It feels so right
'Cause he is for me and I am here for him oh baby
Neva owned a drop top or any diamond rings
Don't ride no yachts and those expensive things
Neva seen a big mansion and no private planes
But he has my heart
Neva slept in a Four Seasons suite in France
And he doesn't have any high rolling friends
But he has his twenty-inch chromed-out rims
To add to my heart
No my man don't drive any Bentleys
Works a nine ta five to make ends meet
But faithfully steadily going to places
I'm not lettin' him go
No my man don't drive any Bentleys
Works a nine ta five to make ends meet
But faithfully steadily going to places
I'm not lettin' him go nowhere
I'm satisfied and so content
Stayin' here with my man
I have no need to search for a new I got a man
I'm overjoyed when folks see me out there
With him
So happily I feel complete
Together for the rest of our lives
No my man don't drive any Bentleys
Works a nine ta five to make ends meet
But faithfully steadily going to places
I'm not lettin' him go
No my man don't drive any Bentleys
Works a nine ta five to make ends meet
But faithfully steadily going to places
I'm not lettin' him go nowhere
He don't have a million dollars in his hand
And he don't have a eighty thousand-dollar Benz
But he does for me not like all the majority
(Who) don't have a three story plushed-out pad
Living on a hill even if he drove a cab
I would ride with him and he would still
Be my boyfriend (neva)
Neva owned a drop top or any diamond rings
Don't ride no yachts and those expensive things
Neva seen a big mansion and no private planes
But he has my heart
Neva slept in a Four Seasons suite in France
And he doesn't have any high rolling friends
But he has his twenty-inch chromed-out rims
To add to my heart
No my man don't drive any Bentleys
Works a nine ta five to make ends meet
But faithfully steadily going to places
I'm not lettin' him go
No my man don't drive any Bentleys
Works a nine ta five to make ends meet
But faithfully steadily going to places
I'm not lettin' him go nowhere
Love him from head to toe
And he spends quality time with me though
And he plays ball on the weekend with his folks
And he rubs my feet
When I get off from work
Sometimes we fight
And have arguments from time to time
But when we make up
It feels so right
'Cause he is for me and I am here for him oh baby
Neva owned a drop top or any diamond rings
Don't ride no yachts and those expensive things
Neva seen a big mansion and no private planes
But he has my heart
Neva slept in a Four Seasons suite in France
And he doesn't have any high rolling friends
But he has his twenty-inch chromed-out rims
To add to my heart
No my man don't drive any Bentleys
Works a nine ta five to make ends meet
But faithfully steadily going to places
I'm not lettin' him go
No my man don't drive any Bentleys
Works a nine ta five to make ends meet
But faithfully steadily going to places
I'm not lettin' him go nowhere
I'm satisfied and so content
Stayin' here with my man
I have no need to search for a new I got a man
I'm overjoyed when folks see me out there
With him
So happily I feel complete
Together for the rest of our lives
No my man don't drive any Bentleys
Works a nine ta five to make ends meet
But faithfully steadily going to places
I'm not lettin' him go
No my man don't drive any Bentleys
Works a nine ta five to make ends meet
But faithfully steadily going to places
I'm not lettin' him go nowhere
Lyrics submitted by SongMeanings
Not Letting Him Go Lyrics as written by Billy Lawrence Billy Lawrence Moss
Lyrics © Warner/Chappell Music, Inc., BMG RIGHTS MANAGEMENT US, LLC
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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Fast Car
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This song was originally written by a guy called Peter Gutteridge. He was one of the founders of the "Dunedin Sound" a musical scene in the south of New Zealand in the early 80s. From there it was covered by "The Clean" one of the early bands of that scene (he had originally been a member of in it's early days, writing a couple of their best early songs). The Dunedin sound, and the Clean became popular on american college radio in the mid to late 80s. I guess Yo La Tengo heard that version.
Great version of a great song,
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