"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.
Dear hero imprisoned
With all the new crimes that you are perfecting
Oh, I can't help quoting you
Because everything that you said rings true
And now in my cell (well, I followed you)
And here's a list of who I slew
Reggie Kray, do you know my name?
Oh, don't say you don't
Please say you do, (oh, oh)
I am
The last of the famous
International playboys
The last of the famous
International playboys
And in my cell (well, I loved you)
And every man with a job to do
Ronnie Kray - do you know my face?
Oh, don't say you don't
Please say you do, (oh, oh)
I am
The last of the famous
International playboys
The last of the famous
International playboys
In our lifetime those who kill
The news world hands them stardom
And these are the ways
On which I was raised
These are the ways
On which I was, which I was raised
I never wanted to kill
I am not naturally evil
Such things I do
Just to make myself
More attractive to you
Have I failed?
Oh
Oooh, oooh, yeaah, nooo, nooo (pa ramp-amp-amp)
Nooo, nooo, yeaah, yeaah, nooo (pa ramp-amp-amp)
Nooo, nooo, yeaah, nooo, yeaah (pa ramp-amp-amp)
Nooo, nooo, yeaah, nooo, yeaah
Oooh
The last of the famous
International playboys
The last of the famous
International playboys
With all the new crimes that you are perfecting
Oh, I can't help quoting you
Because everything that you said rings true
And now in my cell (well, I followed you)
And here's a list of who I slew
Reggie Kray, do you know my name?
Oh, don't say you don't
Please say you do, (oh, oh)
I am
The last of the famous
International playboys
The last of the famous
International playboys
And in my cell (well, I loved you)
And every man with a job to do
Ronnie Kray - do you know my face?
Oh, don't say you don't
Please say you do, (oh, oh)
I am
The last of the famous
International playboys
The last of the famous
International playboys
In our lifetime those who kill
The news world hands them stardom
And these are the ways
On which I was raised
These are the ways
On which I was, which I was raised
I never wanted to kill
I am not naturally evil
Such things I do
Just to make myself
More attractive to you
Have I failed?
Oh
Oooh, oooh, yeaah, nooo, nooo (pa ramp-amp-amp)
Nooo, nooo, yeaah, yeaah, nooo (pa ramp-amp-amp)
Nooo, nooo, yeaah, nooo, yeaah (pa ramp-amp-amp)
Nooo, nooo, yeaah, nooo, yeaah
Oooh
The last of the famous
International playboys
The last of the famous
International playboys
Lyrics submitted by weezerific:cutlery
Last of Famous International Playboys Lyrics as written by Steven Morrissey Stephen Brian Street
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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I wonder if the title of this is partially a reference to J. M Synge' 'The Playboy of the Western World', a controversial Irish play from the early 1900s.
The play focusses on a small community in Ireland, into which arrives a mysterious man on the run, Christy. At first it appears he has killed his father, which lends him a seeming aura of mystery and dangerous attraction; instead of being repelled, the villagers are fascinated and one of the women falls in love with him. The play ends with the father (who was in reality injured rather than killed) also arriving, and the villagers turning upon Christy for having lied to them; Christy then escapes with his father, leaving his lover to lament in the play's final line "Oh my grief, I've lost him surely. I've lost the only Playboy of the Western World."
It's an interesting play, and ties in themes of love, murder, betrayal, gang mentality and the glamourisation of crime, as well as having the similarities in the title.