"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.
It was a cold and wet December day
When we touched the ground at JFK
Snow was melting on the ground
On BLS I heard the sound
Of an angel
New York, like a Christmas tree
Tonight this city belongs to me
Angel
Soul love, this love won't let me go
So long, angel of Harlem
Birdland on fifty three
The street sounds like a symphony
We got John Coltrane and a love supreme
Miles, and she's got to be an angel
Lady Day got diamond eyes
She sees the truth behind the lies
Angel
Soul love this love won't let me go
So long angel of Harlem
Angel of Harlem
She says it's heart, heart and soul
Yeah yeah (yeah)
Yeah yeah (right now)
Blue light on the avenue
God knows they got to you
An empty glass, the lady sings
Eyes swollen like a bee sting
Blinded you lost your way
Through the side streets and the alleyway
Like a star exploding in the night
Falling to the city in broad daylight
An angel in Devil's shoes
Salvation in the blues
You never looked like an angel
Yeah yeah angel of Harlem
Angel angel of Harlem
Angel angel of Harlem
Angel angel of Harlem
Angel angel of Harlem
When we touched the ground at JFK
Snow was melting on the ground
On BLS I heard the sound
Of an angel
New York, like a Christmas tree
Tonight this city belongs to me
Angel
Soul love, this love won't let me go
So long, angel of Harlem
Birdland on fifty three
The street sounds like a symphony
We got John Coltrane and a love supreme
Miles, and she's got to be an angel
Lady Day got diamond eyes
She sees the truth behind the lies
Angel
Soul love this love won't let me go
So long angel of Harlem
Angel of Harlem
She says it's heart, heart and soul
Yeah yeah (yeah)
Yeah yeah (right now)
Blue light on the avenue
God knows they got to you
An empty glass, the lady sings
Eyes swollen like a bee sting
Blinded you lost your way
Through the side streets and the alleyway
Like a star exploding in the night
Falling to the city in broad daylight
An angel in Devil's shoes
Salvation in the blues
You never looked like an angel
Yeah yeah angel of Harlem
Angel angel of Harlem
Angel angel of Harlem
Angel angel of Harlem
Angel angel of Harlem
Lyrics submitted by yuri_sucupira
Angel of Harlem Lyrics as written by David Evans Adam Clayton
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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Fast Car
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"Take me back to the night we met:When the night was full of terrors: And your eyes were filled with tears: When you had not touched me yet"
So, the first night was not a great start, but the narrator pursued the relationship and eventually both overcame the rough start to fall in love with each other:
"I had all and then most of you"
Like many relationships that turn sour, it was not a quick decline, but a gradual one where the narrator and their partner fall out of love and gradually grow apart
"Some and now none of you"
Losing someone who was once everything in your world, who you could confide in, tell your secrets to, share all the most intimate parts of your life, to being strangers with that person is probably one of the most painful experiences a person can go through. So Painful, the narrator wants to go back in time and tell himself to not even pursue the relationship.
This was the perfect song for "13 Reasons Why"
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I'm amazed this song had only 2 posts on it at the time I'm writing. For those who aren't familiar with the story, Bono heard Billie Holliday on WBLS at the beginning of their 86' tour in NYC and was inspired. Typical of the entire Rattle & Hum record, I think this song is really a love song to Amerikana in general, and Billie Holliday in particular. One of my favorite songs where every part of U2 is rocking: Vocal, Guitar, Bass, and Drums.
I have heard that this is one of Bono's fav songs... i am not sure why. To me this song is ok, but IMO it has no place being on any best of... it would not even make my 'best of rattle n hum'
I am sure that there is a certain deeper meaning in this song but here is mine (And sorry, for me it is the best):
2002 and two I went to NY and been to Harlem. Friend lives there and at night we have been to a party. Met a girl and I think I felt in love with her. We had "something" for 5 days and so she is still in my mind as my "Angel of Harlem". And beleive me she still ist.
Today we are just writing E-Mails. I am from Europe, so - long way. But always when I hear that song it makes me.................
Jamila, if you ever read this, this is your song - I hope th others don´t mind.
For some unknown reason this song always reminds me of the motorcycle gangs and their Hell's Angels :)
It's about the late great Billie Holliday, who lived in Harlem.
Lady Day is Billie Holiday ladyday.net
In a lie show bono sings got bloodshot eyes (instead of diamond) possibly referencing her heroin addiction.
I don't even care what it's about, it's KICKIN' ...easily one of their best.
In the Rattle and Hum film, they do a different version:
It was a cold a cold and wet December day When we touched the ground at JFK Sunset on the Uncle Sam Charlie the Birdman And an angel New York like a Christmas tree Tonight this city belongs to me Angel
Soul Love, this love won't let me go So long, Angel of Harlem
Moonlight on the avenue God knows when they got to you Strung out, you learned to sing Eyes swollen like a bee sting Birdland on 53, the street sounds like a symphony We got Jon Coltrane and a love supreme Miles and she’s got to be an angel
Soul Love, this love won't let me go So long, Angel of Harlem
Angel of Harlem is abut Billie Holiday period. Yes she was great and had a sordid past. But great. This song kicks so much ass that it's sick. Good good bluesy tune. Awesome.
what a great song ......... truly U2 are the best band ever ......... i never thought music can say so much .......