"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.
Five names that I can hardly stand to hear
Including yours and mine
And one more chimp who isn't here
I can see the ladies talking
How the times are getting hard
And that fearsome excavation
On Magnolia Boulevard
Yes I'm going insane
And I'm laughing at the frozen rain
Well I'm so alone
Honey when they gonna send me home
Bad sneakers and a Pina Colada my friend
Stompin' on the avenue
By Radio City with a
Transistor and a large sum of money to spend
You fellah, you tearin' up the street
You wear that white tuxedo
How you gonna beat the heat
Do you take me for a fool
Do you think that I don't see
That ditch out in the valley
That they're digging just for me
Yes I've gone insane
You know I'm laughing at the frozen rain
I feel like I'm so alone
Honey when they gonna send me home
Bad sneakers and a Pina Colada my friend
Stompin' on the avenue
By Radio City with a
Transistor and a large sum of money to spend
You know I'm going insane
Yes I'm laughing at the frozen rain
And I'm so alone
Honey when they gonna send me home
Bad sneakers and a Pina Colada my friend
Stompin' on the avenue
By Radio City with a
Transistor and a large sum of money to spend
Including yours and mine
And one more chimp who isn't here
I can see the ladies talking
How the times are getting hard
And that fearsome excavation
On Magnolia Boulevard
Yes I'm going insane
And I'm laughing at the frozen rain
Well I'm so alone
Honey when they gonna send me home
Bad sneakers and a Pina Colada my friend
Stompin' on the avenue
By Radio City with a
Transistor and a large sum of money to spend
You fellah, you tearin' up the street
You wear that white tuxedo
How you gonna beat the heat
Do you take me for a fool
Do you think that I don't see
That ditch out in the valley
That they're digging just for me
Yes I've gone insane
You know I'm laughing at the frozen rain
I feel like I'm so alone
Honey when they gonna send me home
Bad sneakers and a Pina Colada my friend
Stompin' on the avenue
By Radio City with a
Transistor and a large sum of money to spend
You know I'm going insane
Yes I'm laughing at the frozen rain
And I'm so alone
Honey when they gonna send me home
Bad sneakers and a Pina Colada my friend
Stompin' on the avenue
By Radio City with a
Transistor and a large sum of money to spend
Lyrics submitted by AbFab, edited by nomusician2
Bad Sneakers Lyrics as written by Walter Carl Becker Donald Jay Fagen
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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So yeah. Rehab. The ladies are nurses complaining about the drug problem in the area ("the fearsome excavation", c.f. "the ditch in the valley").
"Frozen rain" is methadone, vs. the "Pina Colada", i.e. the real thing. He's in rehab, lamenting his circumstances, and remembering how it all started and wanting to go back to when he had "bad sneakers", starting out in NY, etc.
Of course, the good ol' days - when he still had a "large sum of money to spend" - is why he ended up getting popped (i.e. he couldn't "beat the heat") and landed in rehab. Thing is - he knows he's killing himself. He sees the "ditch" out in LA that's being dug for him by the drugs, he hears about it from the nurses, but all he can think about is getting back out there.