"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.
Trouble came around here
Here in the South we fix something to eat
Steam risin' up off the greenery
And we welcome the strangers we meet
Alien sick growing in these walls
Like moss in a crack that time made
I brush a guy in the airport whistling it's a small world after all
And the prices are higher but the kids still selling lemonade
Get to the point of it
Get to the sense of it
I'm in a hurry to get through it
A hurricane flag flappin' in a bad storm
Same color of the spider underneath my nail that bit me in my dream
And who would take out the Dominican Republic
And send God's sweet children floating down a poison stream
Secret society of conference rooms
I pledge my allegiance to the dollar
And when the clergy take a vote all the gays will pay again, yeah
'Cause there's more than one kind of criminal white collar
To get to the point of it
Get to the sense of it
I'm in a hurry to get through it
One day the war will stop
And we'll grow a peaceful crop
And a girl can get a wife
And we can bring you back to life
Sacks of flour and rice or poker chips
Greasy palms and systems underhanding
And maybe we'll take a walk on Pluto
But be no closer to the understanding
And get to the point of it
Get to the sense of it
I'm in a hurry to get through it yeah
Here in the South we fix something to eat
Steam risin' up off the greenery
And we welcome the strangers we meet
Alien sick growing in these walls
Like moss in a crack that time made
I brush a guy in the airport whistling it's a small world after all
And the prices are higher but the kids still selling lemonade
Get to the point of it
Get to the sense of it
I'm in a hurry to get through it
A hurricane flag flappin' in a bad storm
Same color of the spider underneath my nail that bit me in my dream
And who would take out the Dominican Republic
And send God's sweet children floating down a poison stream
Secret society of conference rooms
I pledge my allegiance to the dollar
And when the clergy take a vote all the gays will pay again, yeah
'Cause there's more than one kind of criminal white collar
To get to the point of it
Get to the sense of it
I'm in a hurry to get through it
One day the war will stop
And we'll grow a peaceful crop
And a girl can get a wife
And we can bring you back to life
Sacks of flour and rice or poker chips
Greasy palms and systems underhanding
And maybe we'll take a walk on Pluto
But be no closer to the understanding
And get to the point of it
Get to the sense of it
I'm in a hurry to get through it yeah
Lyrics submitted by ThePurpleAngel
Trouble Lyrics as written by Emily Ann Saliers Amy Elizabeth Ray
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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