"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.
Harness your hopes
On just one person
Because you know a harness
Was only made for one
Don't telegraph your passes
You'll end up with molasses
Cauterized in syrup
And syrup and molasses
And I'm checking out the asses
The assets that attract us
To anything that moves
We're deep inside the grooves
And it's time to shake the rations
'Cause someone's gonna cash in
The plot it turns again
The reference starts at ten
Well, show me
A word that rhymes with Pavement
And I won't kill your parents
And roast them on a spit
And a-don't you try to etch it
Or permanently sketch it
Or you're gonna catch a bad bad cold
And the freaks have stormed the White House
I moved into a lighthouse
It's on a scenic quay
It's oh so far away
Far away from the beginning
The shroud is made of linen
The yearling took your purse
The goth kid has a hearse
Heart-breaking
Earth-quaking
Kiwis they are home baking
Minds wide open truly
Leisure
A leisure suit is nothing
It's nothing to be proud of
In this late century
And I'm asking you to hold me
Just like the morning paper
Pinched between your pointer
Your index and your thumb
It's a semi-automatic
Believers are ecstatic
You see the way they cling
The cold metallic sting
And I'm living in a coma
For Donna de Varona
The harness made of hopes
The lovers on the ropes
Nun is to church
As the parrot is to perch
And my heart's
Wide open truly
On just one person
Because you know a harness
Was only made for one
Don't telegraph your passes
You'll end up with molasses
Cauterized in syrup
And syrup and molasses
And I'm checking out the asses
The assets that attract us
To anything that moves
We're deep inside the grooves
And it's time to shake the rations
'Cause someone's gonna cash in
The plot it turns again
The reference starts at ten
Well, show me
A word that rhymes with Pavement
And I won't kill your parents
And roast them on a spit
And a-don't you try to etch it
Or permanently sketch it
Or you're gonna catch a bad bad cold
And the freaks have stormed the White House
I moved into a lighthouse
It's on a scenic quay
It's oh so far away
Far away from the beginning
The shroud is made of linen
The yearling took your purse
The goth kid has a hearse
Heart-breaking
Earth-quaking
Kiwis they are home baking
Minds wide open truly
Leisure
A leisure suit is nothing
It's nothing to be proud of
In this late century
And I'm asking you to hold me
Just like the morning paper
Pinched between your pointer
Your index and your thumb
It's a semi-automatic
Believers are ecstatic
You see the way they cling
The cold metallic sting
And I'm living in a coma
For Donna de Varona
The harness made of hopes
The lovers on the ropes
Nun is to church
As the parrot is to perch
And my heart's
Wide open truly
Lyrics submitted by let it fall
Harness Your Hopes Lyrics as written by Stephen Joseph Malkmus
Lyrics © Hipgnosis Songs Group
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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Fast Car
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"Take me back to the night we met:When the night was full of terrors: And your eyes were filled with tears: When you had not touched me yet"
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"Some and now none of you"
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This was the perfect song for "13 Reasons Why"
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Great lyrics on this one "Show me-a word that ryhmes with Pavement-and I will kill your parents-and roast them on a spit!" The second I find a girl who gets this!
@Eli_Cash I mean is there more to get than "engravement" or am I missing something?
@Eli_Cash depravement for the killing your parents, engravement for the etch it and permanently sketch it, ailment for the bad bad cold <br /> <br /> The wordplay is very clever