"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.
In bed I’m lying
Trying
to wake up
All I need to awaken my mind
is a lucid dream
a vivid thought
An unanswered prayer
to evoke the question
“Can I talk to god?”
“Carry the heavy stone?”
“Walk around without a trace of self-preservation?”
In a war of wills
I’m always fighting a lost cause
Always too afraid to accept dissent
Never mind the truth
Make a decision that will alter fate
In bed I’m dying
Trying
to feel something
Praying for an answer
A reason to remain
An answer to a question
“How do I know this is reality?”
“Where can I find a person with resolve?”
and “When did life stop making sense?”
In chaos, we unite
In unity, we survive
In war, the living envy the dead
Too many minds occupy the sky
and they rain on the world below
and a beautiful rainbow reminds us
that we will not die
I’m alone in a prison I’ve created
reading the book of Revelations
but I haven’t felt a change
Inside this empty shell
shallow be thy name
I played the fiddle
while Nazareth burned
Now a crucifix will bring me shame
Dance without care
Flow without fear
Live without anxiety
A halo will appear
Now you can deliver me from darkness
My lips are chapped
Fingers blistered
And tears like wine
drip from my mind’s eye
I am a man of harsh reality
and the bad I see in others
only shows the bad in me
I’m kneeling on the floor
Looking to the sky
I can sense it even more
that I can’t let myself cry
There’s been a life-long struggle
to make this man happy
Now I will burn with you forever
just to say “I hate you”
Dance without care
Flow without fear
Live without anxiety
A halo will appear
Now you can deliver me from darkness
Conflicting spirits in the mist
have denied my request for salvation
They torment me with the knowledge of this
These demons control my isolation
I get so tired of explaining myself
Living each day like I were somebody else
A mission to relieve all of the pain
through a gray haze, trapped in an intricate maze
I can’t explain the need to live these days
as if they were my last
Give up
Don’t sacrifice a thing
Your life is yours
Don’t let anyone talk you into capitulation
Drink from the tree of life
and breathe it in like life
Dance without care
Flow without fear
Live without anxiety
A halo will appear
Now you can deliver me from darkness
I don’t think I care to wait and see what happens next
There is a world of thrill and joy
but this world spins without me
I cannot reach my providence
Spirit dies
In bed I’m lying
dying
trying
to carry on
to expel the hate
to emerge from darkness
and shadows of gloom
The spirit willing
I can wake from slumber
unaware of my past
Living a new life
The spirit alive in every light
Trying
to wake up
All I need to awaken my mind
is a lucid dream
a vivid thought
An unanswered prayer
to evoke the question
“Can I talk to god?”
“Carry the heavy stone?”
“Walk around without a trace of self-preservation?”
In a war of wills
I’m always fighting a lost cause
Always too afraid to accept dissent
Never mind the truth
Make a decision that will alter fate
In bed I’m dying
Trying
to feel something
Praying for an answer
A reason to remain
An answer to a question
“How do I know this is reality?”
“Where can I find a person with resolve?”
and “When did life stop making sense?”
In chaos, we unite
In unity, we survive
In war, the living envy the dead
Too many minds occupy the sky
and they rain on the world below
and a beautiful rainbow reminds us
that we will not die
I’m alone in a prison I’ve created
reading the book of Revelations
but I haven’t felt a change
Inside this empty shell
shallow be thy name
I played the fiddle
while Nazareth burned
Now a crucifix will bring me shame
Dance without care
Flow without fear
Live without anxiety
A halo will appear
Now you can deliver me from darkness
My lips are chapped
Fingers blistered
And tears like wine
drip from my mind’s eye
I am a man of harsh reality
and the bad I see in others
only shows the bad in me
I’m kneeling on the floor
Looking to the sky
I can sense it even more
that I can’t let myself cry
There’s been a life-long struggle
to make this man happy
Now I will burn with you forever
just to say “I hate you”
Dance without care
Flow without fear
Live without anxiety
A halo will appear
Now you can deliver me from darkness
Conflicting spirits in the mist
have denied my request for salvation
They torment me with the knowledge of this
These demons control my isolation
I get so tired of explaining myself
Living each day like I were somebody else
A mission to relieve all of the pain
through a gray haze, trapped in an intricate maze
I can’t explain the need to live these days
as if they were my last
Give up
Don’t sacrifice a thing
Your life is yours
Don’t let anyone talk you into capitulation
Drink from the tree of life
and breathe it in like life
Dance without care
Flow without fear
Live without anxiety
A halo will appear
Now you can deliver me from darkness
I don’t think I care to wait and see what happens next
There is a world of thrill and joy
but this world spins without me
I cannot reach my providence
Spirit dies
In bed I’m lying
dying
trying
to carry on
to expel the hate
to emerge from darkness
and shadows of gloom
The spirit willing
I can wake from slumber
unaware of my past
Living a new life
The spirit alive in every light
Lyrics submitted by james ahab
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This song rocks! - heh -