"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.
CHORUS:
We built this city, we built this city on rock an' roll
Built this city, we built this city on rock an' roll
Say you don't know me, or recognize my face
Say you don't care who goes to that kind of place
Knee deep in the hoopla, sinking in your fight
Too many runaways eating up the night
Marconi plays the mamba, listen to the radio, don't you remember
We built this city, we built this city on rock an' roll
CHORUS
Someone's always playing corporation games
Who cares, they're always changing corporation names
We just want to dance here, someone stole the stage
They call us irresponsible, write us off the page
Marconi plays the mamba, listen to the radio, don't you remember
We built this city, we built this city on rock an' roll
CHORUS
It's just another Sunday, in a tired old street
Police have got the chokehold, oh, then we just lost the beat
Who counts the money underneath the bar
Who writes the wrecking ball into our guitars
Don't tell us you need us, 'cause we're the ship of fools
Looking for America, coming through your schools
(I'm looking out over that Golden Gate bridge on another gorgeous sunny Saturday, not seein' that bumper-to-bumper traffic)
Don't you remember (remember)
(It's your favorite radio station, in your favorite radio city
The city by the bay, the city that rocks, the city that never sleeps)
Marconi plays the mamba, listen to the radio, don't you remember
We built this city, we built this city on rock an' roll
CHORUS
CHORUS
(We built, we built this city) built this city
(we built, we built this city)...
We built this city, we built this city on rock an' roll
Built this city, we built this city on rock an' roll
Say you don't know me, or recognize my face
Say you don't care who goes to that kind of place
Knee deep in the hoopla, sinking in your fight
Too many runaways eating up the night
Marconi plays the mamba, listen to the radio, don't you remember
We built this city, we built this city on rock an' roll
CHORUS
Someone's always playing corporation games
Who cares, they're always changing corporation names
We just want to dance here, someone stole the stage
They call us irresponsible, write us off the page
Marconi plays the mamba, listen to the radio, don't you remember
We built this city, we built this city on rock an' roll
CHORUS
It's just another Sunday, in a tired old street
Police have got the chokehold, oh, then we just lost the beat
Who counts the money underneath the bar
Who writes the wrecking ball into our guitars
Don't tell us you need us, 'cause we're the ship of fools
Looking for America, coming through your schools
(I'm looking out over that Golden Gate bridge on another gorgeous sunny Saturday, not seein' that bumper-to-bumper traffic)
Don't you remember (remember)
(It's your favorite radio station, in your favorite radio city
The city by the bay, the city that rocks, the city that never sleeps)
Marconi plays the mamba, listen to the radio, don't you remember
We built this city, we built this city on rock an' roll
CHORUS
CHORUS
(We built, we built this city) built this city
(we built, we built this city)...
Lyrics submitted by Boonechic_21, edited by Seokame
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Fast Car
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This song was originally written by a guy called Peter Gutteridge. He was one of the founders of the "Dunedin Sound" a musical scene in the south of New Zealand in the early 80s. From there it was covered by "The Clean" one of the early bands of that scene (he had originally been a member of in it's early days, writing a couple of their best early songs). The Dunedin sound, and the Clean became popular on american college radio in the mid to late 80s. I guess Yo La Tengo heard that version.
Great version of a great song,
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@youscareme pretty sure hoopla is slang for orgy :p groupies