"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.
Frankie and Johnny were sweethearts
They had a quarrel one day
Johnny he vowed he would leave her
Said he was goin' away
He's never comin' home
He's goin' away to roam
Frankie she begged and pleaded
Cried "Oh Johnny, please stay"
She says, "My honey I have done you wrong
But please don't go away"
Then Johnny sighed
And to his Frankie cried:
"Oh I'm a goin' away and I'm a goin' to stay
I'm never coming home
You're goin' to miss me hon'
In the days to come
When the winter winds begin to blow
The ground is covered up with snow
You'll think of me and you will wish to be
Back with your lovin' man
You're goin' to miss me hon'
In the days, days, days to come"
Frankie says, "Listen now Johnny
To prove my love is true
Every dollar I can save, dear
I'm goin' to give to you
So I think now, dear
That ought to keep you here"
Johnny says, "Listen now Frankie
Don't want to tell you no lie
I've lost my heart to another queen
Her name is Nellie Bly"
Then Frankie groaned
As her Johnny moaned:
"Oh, I'm a goin' away and I'm a goin' to stay
I'm never coming home
You're goin' to miss me hon'
In the days to come
When the winter winds begin to blow
The ground is covered up with snow
You'll think of me and you will wish to be
Back with your lovin' man
You're goin' to miss me hon'
In the days, days, days to come
Frankie then said to her Johnny
"Say man, your hour has come"
From underneath her silk kimono
She drew a forty-four gun
Oh, it was bear, 'twas quite a large affair
Johnny he dashed down the stairway
Cryin' "Oh Frankie, don't shoot"
Frankie took aim with her forty-four
Five times with a rooty-toot-toot
As Johnny fell, then miss Frankie yelled:
"Oh, you're a goin' away and you're a goin' to stay
You're never coming home
I'm goin' to miss you hon', in the days to come
When the winter winds begin to blow
The ground is covered up with snow
I'll think of thee and I will wish to be
Back with my lovin' man
I'm goin' to miss you hon'
In the days, days, days to come
"Send for your rubber-tired hearses
Go get your rubber-tired hacks
Take lovin' Johnny to the graveyard
I shot him in the back
With my great big gun
Just as he went to run
Send for a thousand policemen
Detectives right away
Lock me way down in the dungeon cell
And throw the keys away
My Johnny's dead, just because he said:
"Oh, I'm a goin' away and I'm a goin' to stay
I'm never coming home
You're goin' to miss me hon' in the days to come
When the winter winds begin to blow
The ground is covered up with snow
You'll think of me and you will wish to be
Back with your lovin' man
You're goin' to miss me hon'
In the days, days, days to come
They had a quarrel one day
Johnny he vowed he would leave her
Said he was goin' away
He's never comin' home
He's goin' away to roam
Frankie she begged and pleaded
Cried "Oh Johnny, please stay"
She says, "My honey I have done you wrong
But please don't go away"
Then Johnny sighed
And to his Frankie cried:
"Oh I'm a goin' away and I'm a goin' to stay
I'm never coming home
You're goin' to miss me hon'
In the days to come
When the winter winds begin to blow
The ground is covered up with snow
You'll think of me and you will wish to be
Back with your lovin' man
You're goin' to miss me hon'
In the days, days, days to come"
Frankie says, "Listen now Johnny
To prove my love is true
Every dollar I can save, dear
I'm goin' to give to you
So I think now, dear
That ought to keep you here"
Johnny says, "Listen now Frankie
Don't want to tell you no lie
I've lost my heart to another queen
Her name is Nellie Bly"
Then Frankie groaned
As her Johnny moaned:
"Oh, I'm a goin' away and I'm a goin' to stay
I'm never coming home
You're goin' to miss me hon'
In the days to come
When the winter winds begin to blow
The ground is covered up with snow
You'll think of me and you will wish to be
Back with your lovin' man
You're goin' to miss me hon'
In the days, days, days to come
Frankie then said to her Johnny
"Say man, your hour has come"
From underneath her silk kimono
She drew a forty-four gun
Oh, it was bear, 'twas quite a large affair
Johnny he dashed down the stairway
Cryin' "Oh Frankie, don't shoot"
Frankie took aim with her forty-four
Five times with a rooty-toot-toot
As Johnny fell, then miss Frankie yelled:
"Oh, you're a goin' away and you're a goin' to stay
You're never coming home
I'm goin' to miss you hon', in the days to come
When the winter winds begin to blow
The ground is covered up with snow
I'll think of thee and I will wish to be
Back with my lovin' man
I'm goin' to miss you hon'
In the days, days, days to come
"Send for your rubber-tired hearses
Go get your rubber-tired hacks
Take lovin' Johnny to the graveyard
I shot him in the back
With my great big gun
Just as he went to run
Send for a thousand policemen
Detectives right away
Lock me way down in the dungeon cell
And throw the keys away
My Johnny's dead, just because he said:
"Oh, I'm a goin' away and I'm a goin' to stay
I'm never coming home
You're goin' to miss me hon' in the days to come
When the winter winds begin to blow
The ground is covered up with snow
You'll think of me and you will wish to be
Back with your lovin' man
You're goin' to miss me hon'
In the days, days, days to come
Lyrics submitted by SongMeanings
Frankie and Johnny Lyrics as written by Sammy Cahn John Waldo Green
Lyrics © GULF COAST MUSIC LLC , Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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