"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.
I can't stand to fly
I'm not that naive
I'm just out to find
The better part of me
I'm more than a bird?I'm more than a plane
More than some pretty face beside a train
It's not easy to be me
Wish that I could cry
Fall upon my knees
Find a way to lie
About a home I'll never see
It may sound absurd?but don't be naive
Even Heroes have the right to bleed
I may be disturbed?but won't you concede
Even Heroes have the right to dream
It's not easy to be me
Up, up and away?away from me
It's all right?You can all sleep sound tonight
I'm not crazy?or anything?
I can't stand to fly
I'm not that naive
Men weren't meant to ride
With clouds between their knees
I'm only a man in a silly red sheet
Digging for kryptonite on this one way street
Only a man in a funny red sheet
Looking for special things inside of me
It's not easy to be me.
I'm not that naive
I'm just out to find
The better part of me
I'm more than a bird?I'm more than a plane
More than some pretty face beside a train
It's not easy to be me
Wish that I could cry
Fall upon my knees
Find a way to lie
About a home I'll never see
It may sound absurd?but don't be naive
Even Heroes have the right to bleed
I may be disturbed?but won't you concede
Even Heroes have the right to dream
It's not easy to be me
Up, up and away?away from me
It's all right?You can all sleep sound tonight
I'm not crazy?or anything?
I can't stand to fly
I'm not that naive
Men weren't meant to ride
With clouds between their knees
I'm only a man in a silly red sheet
Digging for kryptonite on this one way street
Only a man in a funny red sheet
Looking for special things inside of me
It's not easy to be me.
Lyrics submitted by SongMeanings
It's Not Easy Lyrics as written by John Ondrasik
Lyrics © Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd., Reservoir Media Management, Inc.
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