"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.
Sunday to St. James street
Ride blue on the line
Staring at the blue skyline
someday I'll find my way to
Make those shining lights mine.
Are you ready to leave today? oh, we are
Are you ready to give it all away? oh, we are
Are you ready to sink your soul? oh, we are
Are you ready to go it alone?
Alone
I could sink right into this sleep
My body has beat me to.
Sunday to St. James street
Hold on kid, there's an ambulance on the way
Oh great
Someday I'll find my way to
Follow up on fate with timing and grace
And a well thought out face.
Are you ready to leave today? oh, we are
Are you ready to throw it all away? oh, we are
Are you ready to take them down? oh, we are
Are you ready to make it count?
To twenty four
Twenty four and you're not a kid anymore
Are you kidding?
Are you ready to go it alone?
Alone, i could sink right into this sleep
y body has beat me to the teeth
Alone, here we go gold
Oh my soul feels so old.
One solace as I thought about it
They could read and get a good laugh out of it
On their way to the same damn parade
In the honor of a brand new saint.
I hope you get a good laugh out of it.
Ride blue on the line
Staring at the blue skyline
someday I'll find my way to
Make those shining lights mine.
Are you ready to leave today? oh, we are
Are you ready to give it all away? oh, we are
Are you ready to sink your soul? oh, we are
Are you ready to go it alone?
Alone
I could sink right into this sleep
My body has beat me to.
Sunday to St. James street
Hold on kid, there's an ambulance on the way
Oh great
Someday I'll find my way to
Follow up on fate with timing and grace
And a well thought out face.
Are you ready to leave today? oh, we are
Are you ready to throw it all away? oh, we are
Are you ready to take them down? oh, we are
Are you ready to make it count?
To twenty four
Twenty four and you're not a kid anymore
Are you kidding?
Are you ready to go it alone?
Alone, i could sink right into this sleep
y body has beat me to the teeth
Alone, here we go gold
Oh my soul feels so old.
One solace as I thought about it
They could read and get a good laugh out of it
On their way to the same damn parade
In the honor of a brand new saint.
I hope you get a good laugh out of it.
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Out of body experience looking down on the self as the body is dieing (suicide), the duality of the situation in both the mind and body. One wants to die, the other fighting to live, regardless of the wishes of the self. And again, in the toughts of the writer, "too young to die," but still "i could sink into this sleep [death]."
Does anybody know if the writer knew somebody who killed him/herself? Sounds like the kid was on the way to the hospital during a St James parade, or the St James parade is the metaphore of the trip to death. I'm not big on religion, but I thought Paul was at the gates of heaven and not James? Or is it just that the ride happened to take place on Saint James' Street?