"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.
Dumb, dumb, dumb, honey what have you done?
Dumb, dumb, dumb it's the sound of my gun
Dumb, dumb, dumb, honey what have you done?
Dumb, dumb, dumb it's the sound
Janie's got a gun
Janie's got a gun
Her whole world's come undone
From lookin' straight at the sun
What did her daddy do?
What did he put you through?
They said when Janie was arrested they found him underneath a train
But man, he had it comin'
Now that Janie's got a gun she ain't never gonna be the same
Janie's got a gun
Janie's got a gun
Her dog day's just begun
Now everybody is on the run
Tell me now it's untrue
What did her daddy do?
He jacked a little bitty baby
The man has got to be insane
They say the spell that he was under the lightning and
The thunder knew that someone had to stop the rain
Run away, run away from the pain yeah, yeah yeah yeah
Run away run away from the pain yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah
Run away, run away, run, run away
Janie's got a gun
Janie's got a gun
Her dog day's just begun
Now everybody is on the run
What did her daddy do?
It's Janie's last I.O.U.
She had to take him down easy and put a bullet in his brain
She said 'cause nobody believes me
The man was such a sleaze, he ain't never gonna be the same
Run away, run away from the pain yeah, yeah yeah yeah yeah
Run away run away from the pain yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah
Run away, run away, run, run away
Janie's got a gun
Janie's got a gun
Janie's got a gun
Everybody is on the run
Janie's got a gun
Her dog day's just begun
Now everybody is on the run
Because Janie's got a gun
Janie's got a gun
Her dog day's just begun
Now everybody is on the run
Janie's got a gun
Dumb, dumb, dumb it's the sound of my gun
Dumb, dumb, dumb, honey what have you done?
Dumb, dumb, dumb it's the sound
Janie's got a gun
Janie's got a gun
Her whole world's come undone
From lookin' straight at the sun
What did her daddy do?
What did he put you through?
They said when Janie was arrested they found him underneath a train
But man, he had it comin'
Now that Janie's got a gun she ain't never gonna be the same
Janie's got a gun
Janie's got a gun
Her dog day's just begun
Now everybody is on the run
Tell me now it's untrue
What did her daddy do?
He jacked a little bitty baby
The man has got to be insane
They say the spell that he was under the lightning and
The thunder knew that someone had to stop the rain
Run away, run away from the pain yeah, yeah yeah yeah
Run away run away from the pain yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah
Run away, run away, run, run away
Janie's got a gun
Janie's got a gun
Her dog day's just begun
Now everybody is on the run
What did her daddy do?
It's Janie's last I.O.U.
She had to take him down easy and put a bullet in his brain
She said 'cause nobody believes me
The man was such a sleaze, he ain't never gonna be the same
Run away, run away from the pain yeah, yeah yeah yeah yeah
Run away run away from the pain yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah
Run away, run away, run, run away
Janie's got a gun
Janie's got a gun
Janie's got a gun
Everybody is on the run
Janie's got a gun
Her dog day's just begun
Now everybody is on the run
Because Janie's got a gun
Janie's got a gun
Her dog day's just begun
Now everybody is on the run
Janie's got a gun
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I would like to add that this song is not only about child abuse, molestation and gun control- it's about the fact no one believes Janie and thinks she's crazy. Can no one else see how traumatic and destructive that would be to Janie? She would be an absolute wreck. And i agree- no one should joke about these things. It's just not appropriate.
so the song is about you wildflower? tell me: how does it feel to be raped by your own father then blow his brains out with a .357 magum?
@turtonhot Actually, She had the big Colt Python downloaded with .38 special round nose leads bullets. Standard velocity as well.
I think this song is about how "monsters create monsters".
The song is obviously about rape, incest, and a child abuse, but it also goes into the future affects that such abuse can cause. The repeated line "everybody is on the run" means to me that her father isn't the only target, because she has "snapped", and is now after everyone because noone believed her.
this song was very touching, the message was very clear the poor girl had an asshole of a father. and was getting raped very often.i'd kill the basterd too!.
I agree about the content of the song. Rape changes people, especially children. Due to a court order decades ago, I once had to help send an 18 month old baby back to the home where he had been abused by the mother's boyfriend. Within a few weeks the baby was back in our shelter after having been molested/raped by his maternal grandparents (both of them). I don't condone killing, but life in prison would be appropriate. I often wonder, though, what creates a rapist. At one stage in his/her life he was an innocent, precious child. Someone wrote on his/her slate to help create the monster within him. It's very sad.
no i wouldnt take it, but i was slightly cynically amused by wildflower's claim that it was about her...listening to the song paints a rather negative picture - considering it is about child abuse and the consequences of it. And how the hell am I harsh? I sincerely doubt that wildflower can relate to any of the (fictional) events portrayed in this song, although I do wholeheartedly apologise for my seriously derogatory comments if this happens to be the case...
poor janie...it's not my fav song however i think it got's an important message to ppl like...maybe ppl should listen more to each other so that some things can be avoidable. no?
This song is about a girl being sexually abused by her father and eventually killing him.
I don't know if it's true, but I heard that this song was written by Steven Tyler in response to many survivors' groups getting angry at the video for the song Ragdoll.
Seems like it's not entirely anti-gun here though. I mean, the gun did stop her from being abused.
A bit overplayed on the radio, but great nonetheless. It definitely is about child abuse, rape, but that's only the half of it. It's also about society pretending it doesn't happen, or feeling awkward about the situation, and then it blows up in their face. You hear in the news about some kid who kills his/her parents, and you don't know if the kid is a monster, or it was a 'Janie' situation. This is the kid's point of view, and now Janie is scared and running, and doesn't know who to turn to.
great song that as you can see by the video is about a absuive man even thou it has a strong message its a amazing song