"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.
Growin' up you don't see the writing on the wall
Passin' by, movin' straight ahead you knew it all
But maybe sometime if you feel the pain
You'll find you're all alone everything has changed
Play the game you know you can't quit until it's won
Soldier on, only you can do what must be done
You know, in some ways you're a lot like me
You're just a prisoner, and you're tryin' to break free
I can see a new horizon underneath the blazing sky
I'll be where the eagle's flying higher and higher
Gonna be a man in motion
All I need is a pair of wheels
Take me where the future's lying St. Elmo's fire, ooh
Burning up don't know just how far that I can go
Soon be home, only just a few miles down the road
I can make it, I know I can
You broke the boy in me, but you won't break the man
I can see a new horizon underneath the blazing sky
I'll be where the eagle's flying higher and higher
Gonna be a man in motion
All I need is a pair of wheels
Take me where the future's lying St. Elmo's fire
I can climb the highest mountain, cross the wildest sea
I can feel St. Elmo's fire burning in me, burning in me
Just once in his life, a man has his time
And my time is now I'm comin' alive
I can hear the music playin' I can see the banners fly
Feel like a man again
I'll hold my head high
Gonna be a man in motion
All I need is a pair of wheels
Take me where the future's lying St. Elmo's fire
I can see a new horizon underneath the blazing sky
I'll be where the eagle's flying higher and higher
Gonna be a man in motion
All I need is a pair of wheels
Take me where the future's lying St. Elmo's fire
I can climb the highest mountain, cross the wildest sea
I can feel St. Elmo's fire burning in me
Burning, burning in me
I can feel it burning, ooh burning inside of me
Passin' by, movin' straight ahead you knew it all
But maybe sometime if you feel the pain
You'll find you're all alone everything has changed
Play the game you know you can't quit until it's won
Soldier on, only you can do what must be done
You know, in some ways you're a lot like me
You're just a prisoner, and you're tryin' to break free
I can see a new horizon underneath the blazing sky
I'll be where the eagle's flying higher and higher
Gonna be a man in motion
All I need is a pair of wheels
Take me where the future's lying St. Elmo's fire, ooh
Burning up don't know just how far that I can go
Soon be home, only just a few miles down the road
I can make it, I know I can
You broke the boy in me, but you won't break the man
I can see a new horizon underneath the blazing sky
I'll be where the eagle's flying higher and higher
Gonna be a man in motion
All I need is a pair of wheels
Take me where the future's lying St. Elmo's fire
I can climb the highest mountain, cross the wildest sea
I can feel St. Elmo's fire burning in me, burning in me
Just once in his life, a man has his time
And my time is now I'm comin' alive
I can hear the music playin' I can see the banners fly
Feel like a man again
I'll hold my head high
Gonna be a man in motion
All I need is a pair of wheels
Take me where the future's lying St. Elmo's fire
I can see a new horizon underneath the blazing sky
I'll be where the eagle's flying higher and higher
Gonna be a man in motion
All I need is a pair of wheels
Take me where the future's lying St. Elmo's fire
I can climb the highest mountain, cross the wildest sea
I can feel St. Elmo's fire burning in me
Burning, burning in me
I can feel it burning, ooh burning inside of me
Lyrics submitted by Boonechic_21, edited by alpineinc
St. Elmo's Fire (Man in Motion) Lyrics as written by John Stephen Parr David Foster
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Peermusic Publishing
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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