"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.
She can't stop pacing, she never felt so alive
Her thoughts are racing, set on overdrive
It takes a village, this she knows is true
They're expecting her and she's got work to do
He helplessly stands by
It's meaningless to try
As he rubs his red-rimmed eyes
He says, I've never seen her get this bad
Even though she seems so high
He knows that she can't fly
And when she falls out of the sky
He'll be standing by
She was raised in a small Midwestern town
By a charming and eccentric loving father
She was praised as the perfect teenage girl
And everyone thought highly of her
And she tried everyday
With endless drive to make the grade
Then one day she woke up to find
The perfect girl had lost her mind
Once barely taking a break, now she sleeps the days away
She helplessly stands by, it's meaningless to try
And all she wants to do is cry
No one ever knew she was so sad
'Cause even though she gets so high
And thinks that she can fly, she will fall out of the sky
But in the face of misery, she found hopefulness
Feeling better, she had weathered this depression
Much to her advantage
She resumed her frantic pace
Boundless power, midnight hour
She enjoyed the race
Her thoughts are racing, set on overdrive
It takes a village, this she knows is true
They're expecting her and she's got work to do
He helplessly stands by
It's meaningless to try
As he rubs his red-rimmed eyes
He says, I've never seen her get this bad
Even though she seems so high
He knows that she can't fly
And when she falls out of the sky
He'll be standing by
She was raised in a small Midwestern town
By a charming and eccentric loving father
She was praised as the perfect teenage girl
And everyone thought highly of her
And she tried everyday
With endless drive to make the grade
Then one day she woke up to find
The perfect girl had lost her mind
Once barely taking a break, now she sleeps the days away
She helplessly stands by, it's meaningless to try
And all she wants to do is cry
No one ever knew she was so sad
'Cause even though she gets so high
And thinks that she can fly, she will fall out of the sky
But in the face of misery, she found hopefulness
Feeling better, she had weathered this depression
Much to her advantage
She resumed her frantic pace
Boundless power, midnight hour
She enjoyed the race
Lyrics submitted by Idan, edited by MetalManiac666, LordGS
About to Crash Lyrics as written by John Ro Myung John Petrucci
Lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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Fast Car
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This is one of my favorite songs. https://fnfgo.io
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Well, it's the wrong lyrics so here are the right ones
I'm alive again The darkness far behind me I'm invincible Despair will never find me
I feel strong I've got a new sense of elation Boundless energy Euphoria fixation
Still it's hard to just get by It seems so meaningless to try When all I want to do is cry Who would ever know I felt so sad
Even though I get so high I know that I will never fly And when I fall out of the sky Who'll be standing by
Will you be standing by
As a continuation of the narrative from About To Crash, the speaker has pulled herself out of her fatal pattern, but she realises that it wont be long before she once again returns to it. So in anticipation of that time, she asks "will you be standing by?.." I actually think that this is better than About To Crash itself, even though this is shorter and doesn't contain quite the same level of musical complexity. It's high spirited and swift, and it's great...
\m/ DREAM THEATER \m/
It's crazy, just listening to About to Crash and then this. It's just weird after knowing the lyrics better as you can see how they resonate. The way they do the voices at the "semi chorus" is just perfect. A completely calm and fluid voice for such a set of distraught thoughts. Absolutely genius.
Great Great part.....of a badass epic.