"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.
Hit it
This ain't no disco
And it ain't no country club either
This is L.A.
All I want to do is have a little fun before I die
Says the man next to me out of nowhere
It's apropos of nothing he says his name is William
But I'm sure he's Bill or Billy or Mac or Buddy
And he's plain ugly to me, and I wonder if he's ever
Had a day of fun in his whole life
We are drinking beer at noon on Tuesday
In the bar that faces the giant car wash
And the good people of the world
Are washing their cars on their lunch breaks
Hosing and scrubbing as best they can
In skirts and suits
They drive their shiny Datsun's and Buick's
Back to the phone company, the record store, too
Well, they're nothing like Billy and me
'Cause all I wanna do is have some fun
I got a feeling I'm not the only one
All I wanna do is have some fun
I got a feeling I'm not the only one
All I wanna do is have some fun
Until the sun comes up over
Santa Monica Boulevard
I like a good beer buzz, early in the morning
And Billy likes to peel the labels from his bottles of Bud
He shreds them on the bar then he lights every match
In an over-sized pack letting each one burn
Down to his thick fingers before blowing and
Cursing them out, he's watching
The bottles of Bud as they spin on the floor
And a happy couple enters the bar
Dangerously, close to one another
The bartender looks up from his wanted ads
But all I wanna do is have some fun
I got a feeling I'm not the only one
All I wanna do is have some fun
I got a feeling I'm not the only one
All I wanna do is have some fun
Until the sun comes up over
Santa Monica Boulevard
Otherwise the bar is ours
The day and the night
And the car wash, too
The matches and the Bud's
And the clean and dirty cars
The sun and the moon
But, all I wanna do is have some fun
I got a feeling I'm not the only one
All I wanna do is have some fun
I got a feeling I'm not the only one
All I wanna do is have some fun
I got a feeling the party has just begun
All I wanna do is have some fun
I won't tell you that you're the only one
All I wanna do is have some fun
Until the sun comes up over
Santa Monica Boulevard
Until the sun comes up over
Santa Monica Boulevard
This ain't no disco
And it ain't no country club either
This is L.A.
All I want to do is have a little fun before I die
Says the man next to me out of nowhere
It's apropos of nothing he says his name is William
But I'm sure he's Bill or Billy or Mac or Buddy
And he's plain ugly to me, and I wonder if he's ever
Had a day of fun in his whole life
We are drinking beer at noon on Tuesday
In the bar that faces the giant car wash
And the good people of the world
Are washing their cars on their lunch breaks
Hosing and scrubbing as best they can
In skirts and suits
They drive their shiny Datsun's and Buick's
Back to the phone company, the record store, too
Well, they're nothing like Billy and me
'Cause all I wanna do is have some fun
I got a feeling I'm not the only one
All I wanna do is have some fun
I got a feeling I'm not the only one
All I wanna do is have some fun
Until the sun comes up over
Santa Monica Boulevard
I like a good beer buzz, early in the morning
And Billy likes to peel the labels from his bottles of Bud
He shreds them on the bar then he lights every match
In an over-sized pack letting each one burn
Down to his thick fingers before blowing and
Cursing them out, he's watching
The bottles of Bud as they spin on the floor
And a happy couple enters the bar
Dangerously, close to one another
The bartender looks up from his wanted ads
But all I wanna do is have some fun
I got a feeling I'm not the only one
All I wanna do is have some fun
I got a feeling I'm not the only one
All I wanna do is have some fun
Until the sun comes up over
Santa Monica Boulevard
Otherwise the bar is ours
The day and the night
And the car wash, too
The matches and the Bud's
And the clean and dirty cars
The sun and the moon
But, all I wanna do is have some fun
I got a feeling I'm not the only one
All I wanna do is have some fun
I got a feeling I'm not the only one
All I wanna do is have some fun
I got a feeling the party has just begun
All I wanna do is have some fun
I won't tell you that you're the only one
All I wanna do is have some fun
Until the sun comes up over
Santa Monica Boulevard
Until the sun comes up over
Santa Monica Boulevard
Lyrics submitted by itsmyownmind
All I Wanna Do Lyrics as written by Kevin M Gilbert Bill Bottrell
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Downtown Music Publishing, Reservoir Media Management, Inc., Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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I peel the label off of every beer bottle i drink too & I always play with matches. I usually lite the whole pack & throw it in the ashtray flaming & get yelled at.
I like how she mentions Datsuns at the carwash. The name Datsun hasn't been used since 1983 when the company changed the name to Nissan.
LOL. Yeah now most people think a "Datsun" is the other name for a weenie dog.