"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 man who thirsts for milk in the unwed regions of his mouth
And finds nothing but sand in an old red pail from his youth
That he's long since ceased to recognize
Hanging heavy by a crooked tooth
Will always thirst like that
Yeah, he will thirst like that always
He will always thirst like that
Yeah, he will thirst like that always
Hidden down in a pyre smoke
Of old movie posters
G4 motherboards with 90s porn in their cache
And barber's trash
Mixed in with the light floating paper ash
And rest is only just some more smoke rising
No fleeting omen for your eyes only waiting
No ancient mystic spirits writhing
Or translucent sage ghosts calmly speaking truths
No you will always thirst like that
Yeah, you will thirst like that always
You will always thirst like that
Yeah, you will thirst like that always
The last black cowboy
Careful to never utter "howdy" or draw fire
Keeps his last crisp Stetson
In a locked drawer at his father's house
Unworn, still in its box
And he will always thirst like that
Yeah, he will thirst like that always
He will always thirst like that
Yeah, he will thirst like that always
And finds nothing but sand in an old red pail from his youth
That he's long since ceased to recognize
Hanging heavy by a crooked tooth
Will always thirst like that
Yeah, he will thirst like that always
He will always thirst like that
Yeah, he will thirst like that always
Hidden down in a pyre smoke
Of old movie posters
G4 motherboards with 90s porn in their cache
And barber's trash
Mixed in with the light floating paper ash
And rest is only just some more smoke rising
No fleeting omen for your eyes only waiting
No ancient mystic spirits writhing
Or translucent sage ghosts calmly speaking truths
No you will always thirst like that
Yeah, you will thirst like that always
You will always thirst like that
Yeah, you will thirst like that always
The last black cowboy
Careful to never utter "howdy" or draw fire
Keeps his last crisp Stetson
In a locked drawer at his father's house
Unworn, still in its box
And he will always thirst like that
Yeah, he will thirst like that always
He will always thirst like that
Yeah, he will thirst like that always
Lyrics submitted by SisterCity
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