"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.
Calling Mister Oswald with the swastika tattoo
There is a vacancy waiting in the English voodoo
Carving "v" for vandal on the guilty boy's head
When he's had enough of that, maybe you'll take him to bed
To teach him he's alive before he wishes he was dead
Turn up the TV, no one listening will suspect
Even your mother won't detect it so your father won't know
They think that I've got no respect, but
Everything means less than zero
Hey, oh hey
Hey, oh hey
Oswald and his sister are doing it again
They've got the finest home movies that you have ever seen
They've got a thousand variations, every service with a smile
They're gonna take a little break, and they'll be back after a while
Well, I hear that South America is coming into style
Turn up the TV, no one listening will suspect
Even your mother won't detect it so your father won't know
They think that I've got no respect, but
Everything means less than zero
Hey, oh hey
Hey, oh hey
A pistol was still smoking, a man lay on the floor
Mister Oswald said he had an understanding with the law
He said he heard about a couple living in the USA
He said they traded in their baby for a Chevrolet
Let's talk about the future now we've put the past away
Turn up the TV, no one listening will suspect
Even your mother won't detect it so your father won't know
They think that I've got no respect, but
Everything means less than zero
Hey, oh hey
Hey, oh hey
Hey, oh hey
Hey, oh hey
Hey, oh hey
Hey, oh hey
Hey, hey
Hey, oh hey
There is a vacancy waiting in the English voodoo
Carving "v" for vandal on the guilty boy's head
When he's had enough of that, maybe you'll take him to bed
To teach him he's alive before he wishes he was dead
Turn up the TV, no one listening will suspect
Even your mother won't detect it so your father won't know
They think that I've got no respect, but
Everything means less than zero
Hey, oh hey
Hey, oh hey
Oswald and his sister are doing it again
They've got the finest home movies that you have ever seen
They've got a thousand variations, every service with a smile
They're gonna take a little break, and they'll be back after a while
Well, I hear that South America is coming into style
Turn up the TV, no one listening will suspect
Even your mother won't detect it so your father won't know
They think that I've got no respect, but
Everything means less than zero
Hey, oh hey
Hey, oh hey
A pistol was still smoking, a man lay on the floor
Mister Oswald said he had an understanding with the law
He said he heard about a couple living in the USA
He said they traded in their baby for a Chevrolet
Let's talk about the future now we've put the past away
Turn up the TV, no one listening will suspect
Even your mother won't detect it so your father won't know
They think that I've got no respect, but
Everything means less than zero
Hey, oh hey
Hey, oh hey
Hey, oh hey
Hey, oh hey
Hey, oh hey
Hey, oh hey
Hey, hey
Hey, oh hey
Lyrics submitted by fearofmusic
Less Than Zero Lyrics as written by Elvis Costello
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Universal Music Publishing Group, Capitol CMG Publishing
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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This song is a scathing attack on Oswald Mosley, a politician who was popular in England at the time. Mosley was the leader of the British Union of Fascists. He died in 1980.
@HazMatador <br /> I thought it was about Oswald Spengler but I was mistaken. <br /> Thank you for placing this brilliant song within historical context.