"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.
My airbag light's been on for weeks
And I keep having dreams where I go through the windshield
But I don't fix it
Patsy Cline came and sang to me
She told everybody how she knew she would die soon before she did
I hear you cry on Faded Love
The air in August is heavy
With salt and smoke and stings my lungs
My airbag light's been on for weeks
And I can feel it mock me
It's bittersweet like laughter through crooked teeth
I wanna move so far from everything
That they could hear my heart beat and then break as I lay dying in the street
They'll fix the ice cracked at the lake
They'll think the tire blew out in a car crash on the interstate
It's hard to watch you walk away
You saw the vultures that were circling just yesterday
It's hard to watch you walk away
(It's hard to watch you walk away)
Picking the bones of what's left of your misery
Whoa oh
So when my vocal chords rip
So when my knees give in
So when I bury all of this
Who's gonna give a shit if I'm breathing?
It's hard to watch you walk away
You saw the vultures that were circling just yesterday
It's hard to watch you walk away
(It's hard to watch you walk away)
Picking the bones of what's left of your misery
My airbag light's been on for weeks
My airbag light's been on for weeks
And I keep having dreams where I go through the windshield
But I don't fix it
Patsy Cline came and sang to me
She told everybody how she knew she would die soon before she did
I hear you cry on Faded Love
The air in August is heavy
With salt and smoke and stings my lungs
My airbag light's been on for weeks
And I can feel it mock me
It's bittersweet like laughter through crooked teeth
I wanna move so far from everything
That they could hear my heart beat and then break as I lay dying in the street
They'll fix the ice cracked at the lake
They'll think the tire blew out in a car crash on the interstate
It's hard to watch you walk away
You saw the vultures that were circling just yesterday
It's hard to watch you walk away
(It's hard to watch you walk away)
Picking the bones of what's left of your misery
Whoa oh
So when my vocal chords rip
So when my knees give in
So when I bury all of this
Who's gonna give a shit if I'm breathing?
It's hard to watch you walk away
You saw the vultures that were circling just yesterday
It's hard to watch you walk away
(It's hard to watch you walk away)
Picking the bones of what's left of your misery
My airbag light's been on for weeks
My airbag light's been on for weeks
Lyrics submitted by x-Grinchy-x, edited by FlamingoSwag
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