"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.
From the cradle to the grave
Life ain't never been easy, livin' in the ghetto (yeah, yeah)
From the cradle to the grave
Life ain't never been easy
June 16th, 1971
Mama gave birth to a hell-raisin heavenly son
See the doctor tried to smack me but I smacked him back
My first words was, "Thug for life," and, "Papa pass the MAC"
I'm bustin' on these motherfuckers ballin'
Listen you can hear my mini fourteen callin'
From out the window of my drop top, I got my Glock cocked
Bustin' at niggas, when will it stop?
Now tell me are you scared of the dark?
Can't close my eyes I see visions
And even with this thug livin', will I escape prison?
Penitentiary chances was an all day thang
The only way to advance, and if you slang
Then you'd better have yo' Nike's on - 'cause when we fight
It's in the middle of the night with no lights on, hey
There must be a God, 'cause I feel lucky
Paranoid out my mind, 'cause motherfuckers tryna rush me
Am I goin' to jail? Look at me bailin'
Comin' out the court house, all about my mail and bank
Never, never die I'll be a hustler motherfuckers
And makin' thugs out you suckers from the cradle to the grave
From the cradle to the grave (from the cradle to the grave)
Life ain't never been easy, livin' in the ghetto (livin' in the ghetto)
From the cradle to the grave since a little bitty child
I've been known to get ill and kinda buck wild
Pop pop, just like the part that's in my walk with street talk
I'm runnin' up the block in the dark where lead spark
Surveillance on a nigga every day
Waitin' on my daddy just to take his ass away
Now mama always workin' tryna make ends meet
So now a young nigga's bein' raised by the streets
And then the only other one that ever showed me love
Was my dope fiend uncle strung out on drugs
A straight thug, just me, my mama out here on our own
So I got two gats, one black and one of chrome
Now I don't wanna hurt nobody, but I must defend mine
It's all the fuck I got, so stop and walk a thin line
Young niggas be brave
And keep on thuggin' from the cradle to the grave
From the cradle to the grave
From the cradle to the grave (life ain't never been easy)
Life ain't never been easy (from the cradle), livin' in the ghetto
From the cradle to the grave
I'm glad to say, I made it this far
Many G's died hogs and all they got was they name hit up on a wall
It's sad thinkin' about the times
Life goes on, I'm steady lost in this land
That's the war zone, I gots no home, don't have no friends neither
It's just me by my lonely so I married my nina
I keeps her wherever I go, I love my ho
Never leave home with out my sugar, I'm hafta plug a nigga
Mama told me not to trust no punks
And kick his ass if he lay a hand on me since then I been knowin'
Sometimes I think my own self stupid
'Cause I stay shootin at marks, get twisted up in police reports
Since the cradle, I've been ungrateful
My first toy was a gun I got sprung and learned to love weapons
But now I'm through with money, and through with street fame
Somebody peeled my cap, and put me in my grave
From the cradle to the grave (from the cradle)
Life ain't never been easy, livin' in the ghetto (life ain't never been)
(Livin' in the ghetto)
From the cradle to the grave (from the cradle)
Life ain't never been easy, livin' in the ghetto
March 18th, a rainy day, my mama gave birth
To a baby boy trapped in hell on Earth
From day one, it wasn't fun I never had a crumb
Daddy worked two jobs and mama won't stop drinkin' rum
I tried to cope loc, but my family's broke
And my pocket's short so now I got to slang dope
In the game filled with pain it's a fuckin' shame
The white man got a motherfucker slangin 'caine
So now it's on from dusk to dawn I'm gettin my serve on
Always in the spot with my Glock slingin' rocks at the Rox
The shit don't stop, I'm steady dodgin' cops
I never flip-flop, hear my Glock cock, thug 'til I drop
And if I hit the pen' I gotta do my time
Sittin' on my bunk reminiscin' bout the good times
It's fucked up a nigga gotta grow up doin' dirt
But from the cradle to the grave I'ma put in work
From the cradle to the grave (from the cradle)
Life ain't never been easy (life ain't never been), livin' in the ghetto
(Easy, no, no no no, no no no no no, no no no no)
From the cradle to the grave (from the cradle)
Life ain't never been easy (life ain't been, life ain't been)
Livin' in the ghetto (life ain't never been easy in the ghetto)
Time's movin' fast, will I last another day?
So I pray and I lay with my A-K
Did I sell my soul as a young kid?
All the things I did wishin' someone held me but they never did
I can't take it, will I make it to my older age?
Before I'm shot up or locked up in a fuckin' cage
Lord help me, guide me, save me
'Cause that's the way that Daddy raised me, crazy
Do or die, nigga pull the trigger don't give a fuck
You'd rather be in jail than get yo' ass bucked
Nobody cares, it's me against the world
Keepin' murder on my mind and my Tec-9
I got nothin' to lose, payin' dues, nigga you wanna die?
I get high and then my mission is a walk-by
You'd better jet when I hit your set 'cause I'm comin'
Start runnin' yellin', "Evil mind" as I'm gunnin'
One in the chamber for the anger that I build inside
For the mothers that cried, for my homies that died
The beginning is an ending, am I just a slave?
So I got to be brave from the cradle to the grave
(From the cradle) from the cradle to the grave (from the cradle to the grave)
Life ain't never been easy (it ain't easy, Lord), livin' in the ghetto
From the cradle to the grave (people gettin' robbed)
Life ain't never been easy (people gettin' shot)
Livin' in the ghetto (livin' in the ghetto)
From the cradle to the grave
Life ain't never been easy, livin' in the ghetto (yeah, yeah)
From the cradle to the grave
Life ain't never been easy
June 16th, 1971
Mama gave birth to a hell-raisin heavenly son
See the doctor tried to smack me but I smacked him back
My first words was, "Thug for life," and, "Papa pass the MAC"
I'm bustin' on these motherfuckers ballin'
Listen you can hear my mini fourteen callin'
From out the window of my drop top, I got my Glock cocked
Bustin' at niggas, when will it stop?
Now tell me are you scared of the dark?
Can't close my eyes I see visions
And even with this thug livin', will I escape prison?
Penitentiary chances was an all day thang
The only way to advance, and if you slang
Then you'd better have yo' Nike's on - 'cause when we fight
It's in the middle of the night with no lights on, hey
There must be a God, 'cause I feel lucky
Paranoid out my mind, 'cause motherfuckers tryna rush me
Am I goin' to jail? Look at me bailin'
Comin' out the court house, all about my mail and bank
Never, never die I'll be a hustler motherfuckers
And makin' thugs out you suckers from the cradle to the grave
From the cradle to the grave (from the cradle to the grave)
Life ain't never been easy, livin' in the ghetto (livin' in the ghetto)
From the cradle to the grave since a little bitty child
I've been known to get ill and kinda buck wild
Pop pop, just like the part that's in my walk with street talk
I'm runnin' up the block in the dark where lead spark
Surveillance on a nigga every day
Waitin' on my daddy just to take his ass away
Now mama always workin' tryna make ends meet
So now a young nigga's bein' raised by the streets
And then the only other one that ever showed me love
Was my dope fiend uncle strung out on drugs
A straight thug, just me, my mama out here on our own
So I got two gats, one black and one of chrome
Now I don't wanna hurt nobody, but I must defend mine
It's all the fuck I got, so stop and walk a thin line
Young niggas be brave
And keep on thuggin' from the cradle to the grave
From the cradle to the grave
From the cradle to the grave (life ain't never been easy)
Life ain't never been easy (from the cradle), livin' in the ghetto
From the cradle to the grave
I'm glad to say, I made it this far
Many G's died hogs and all they got was they name hit up on a wall
It's sad thinkin' about the times
Life goes on, I'm steady lost in this land
That's the war zone, I gots no home, don't have no friends neither
It's just me by my lonely so I married my nina
I keeps her wherever I go, I love my ho
Never leave home with out my sugar, I'm hafta plug a nigga
Mama told me not to trust no punks
And kick his ass if he lay a hand on me since then I been knowin'
Sometimes I think my own self stupid
'Cause I stay shootin at marks, get twisted up in police reports
Since the cradle, I've been ungrateful
My first toy was a gun I got sprung and learned to love weapons
But now I'm through with money, and through with street fame
Somebody peeled my cap, and put me in my grave
From the cradle to the grave (from the cradle)
Life ain't never been easy, livin' in the ghetto (life ain't never been)
(Livin' in the ghetto)
From the cradle to the grave (from the cradle)
Life ain't never been easy, livin' in the ghetto
March 18th, a rainy day, my mama gave birth
To a baby boy trapped in hell on Earth
From day one, it wasn't fun I never had a crumb
Daddy worked two jobs and mama won't stop drinkin' rum
I tried to cope loc, but my family's broke
And my pocket's short so now I got to slang dope
In the game filled with pain it's a fuckin' shame
The white man got a motherfucker slangin 'caine
So now it's on from dusk to dawn I'm gettin my serve on
Always in the spot with my Glock slingin' rocks at the Rox
The shit don't stop, I'm steady dodgin' cops
I never flip-flop, hear my Glock cock, thug 'til I drop
And if I hit the pen' I gotta do my time
Sittin' on my bunk reminiscin' bout the good times
It's fucked up a nigga gotta grow up doin' dirt
But from the cradle to the grave I'ma put in work
From the cradle to the grave (from the cradle)
Life ain't never been easy (life ain't never been), livin' in the ghetto
(Easy, no, no no no, no no no no no, no no no no)
From the cradle to the grave (from the cradle)
Life ain't never been easy (life ain't been, life ain't been)
Livin' in the ghetto (life ain't never been easy in the ghetto)
Time's movin' fast, will I last another day?
So I pray and I lay with my A-K
Did I sell my soul as a young kid?
All the things I did wishin' someone held me but they never did
I can't take it, will I make it to my older age?
Before I'm shot up or locked up in a fuckin' cage
Lord help me, guide me, save me
'Cause that's the way that Daddy raised me, crazy
Do or die, nigga pull the trigger don't give a fuck
You'd rather be in jail than get yo' ass bucked
Nobody cares, it's me against the world
Keepin' murder on my mind and my Tec-9
I got nothin' to lose, payin' dues, nigga you wanna die?
I get high and then my mission is a walk-by
You'd better jet when I hit your set 'cause I'm comin'
Start runnin' yellin', "Evil mind" as I'm gunnin'
One in the chamber for the anger that I build inside
For the mothers that cried, for my homies that died
The beginning is an ending, am I just a slave?
So I got to be brave from the cradle to the grave
(From the cradle) from the cradle to the grave (from the cradle to the grave)
Life ain't never been easy (it ain't easy, Lord), livin' in the ghetto
From the cradle to the grave (people gettin' robbed)
Life ain't never been easy (people gettin' shot)
Livin' in the ghetto (livin' in the ghetto)
From the cradle to the grave
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Fast Car
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