"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.
It's a mountain that we all must climb,
In giant leaps or one step at a time.
I saw a fat, old money lender shoes of silk and ermine,
Laughing as they stambled on blistered feet rough shod.
He never helped the poor and weak viewed them all as vermin,
So when he fell they passed him by and struggled up to god.
Each of us must walk a different track
No sign to guide us and no turning back.
[Chorus]
Humanity in motion it's the pilgrimage eternal.
Most are blind but i suspect what rare few know is real.
"You carry me, I'll carry you" this simple childish notion.
A cable car to Shangrai-La,
Your worn up soul to heal.
The soldier boy is marching proud (with military precision)
Kicking others from the path so keen to reach the peak.
Never will he get there with this tactical decision
He spends so much time fighting that each footstep takes a week.
Carpe diem, quam minimum credula postero,
Persta et obdura omnia vincit amor!
My money's on the holy man just clad in sack and sandals
Heard a small child crying there so turned around and stopped.
Like a beacon now he shines (bright as a million candles)
Alone upon the summit when the selfish have all dropped.
It's no contest but we still race there
Like the saintly tortoise and the godless hare.
Humanity in motion it's the pilgrimage eternal.
Most are blind but i suspect what rare few know is real.
"You carry me, I'll carry you" this simple childish notion.
A cable car to Shangrai-La,
Your worn up soul to heal.
You're worn up sole to heal,
Your worn up soul too
Heal your worn up soul.
In giant leaps or one step at a time.
I saw a fat, old money lender shoes of silk and ermine,
Laughing as they stambled on blistered feet rough shod.
He never helped the poor and weak viewed them all as vermin,
So when he fell they passed him by and struggled up to god.
Each of us must walk a different track
No sign to guide us and no turning back.
[Chorus]
Humanity in motion it's the pilgrimage eternal.
Most are blind but i suspect what rare few know is real.
"You carry me, I'll carry you" this simple childish notion.
A cable car to Shangrai-La,
Your worn up soul to heal.
The soldier boy is marching proud (with military precision)
Kicking others from the path so keen to reach the peak.
Never will he get there with this tactical decision
He spends so much time fighting that each footstep takes a week.
Carpe diem, quam minimum credula postero,
Persta et obdura omnia vincit amor!
My money's on the holy man just clad in sack and sandals
Heard a small child crying there so turned around and stopped.
Like a beacon now he shines (bright as a million candles)
Alone upon the summit when the selfish have all dropped.
It's no contest but we still race there
Like the saintly tortoise and the godless hare.
Humanity in motion it's the pilgrimage eternal.
Most are blind but i suspect what rare few know is real.
"You carry me, I'll carry you" this simple childish notion.
A cable car to Shangrai-La,
Your worn up soul to heal.
You're worn up sole to heal,
Your worn up soul too
Heal your worn up soul.
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