"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.
In an upstairs room, under lock and key
It's my brother, Former Lee
All the mops and brooms keep him company
Misconceived of the family
Former Lee Warmer pulls up the covers to hide in his wrinkled bed
No dreams go in, no dreams go out of the hole in his wrinkled head
Former Lee Warmer
When I hear him play in his twisted key
That's the way he calls to me
On a silver tray, I keep the master key
In every way, he depends on me
Former Lee Warmer; an old smoking jacket, holes in his satin sleeves
Candle-lit puddles, arthritic fingers, yellow stained ivory keys
In an upstairs room, under lock and key
It's my brother, Former Lee
And after all these years, I've never heard him speak
I wonder what he thinks of me
Former Lee Warmer peeks out the window
When he feels really brave
Former Lee Warmer waves at his father
Out in the family grave
He's flesh and blood to me
I love him brotherly
But, I don't want to be Former Lee
It's my brother, Former Lee
All the mops and brooms keep him company
Misconceived of the family
Former Lee Warmer pulls up the covers to hide in his wrinkled bed
No dreams go in, no dreams go out of the hole in his wrinkled head
Former Lee Warmer
When I hear him play in his twisted key
That's the way he calls to me
On a silver tray, I keep the master key
In every way, he depends on me
Former Lee Warmer; an old smoking jacket, holes in his satin sleeves
Candle-lit puddles, arthritic fingers, yellow stained ivory keys
In an upstairs room, under lock and key
It's my brother, Former Lee
And after all these years, I've never heard him speak
I wonder what he thinks of me
Former Lee Warmer peeks out the window
When he feels really brave
Former Lee Warmer waves at his father
Out in the family grave
He's flesh and blood to me
I love him brotherly
But, I don't want to be Former Lee
Lyrics submitted by nonemoreblack
Former Lee Warmer Lyrics as written by Ezrin Cooper
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Spirit Music Group, Downtown Music Publishing
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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Fast Car
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Captures the rollercoaster of emotions of feeling lost while loving someone who is not there for you, feeling let down and abandoned while waiting for a lover. Lost with no direction, "Now I'm up in the air with the rain in my hair, Nowhere to go, I can go anywhere"
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I think your first comment is closer to being accurate. The singer/song writers state "Millions of eyes can see, yet why am i so blind!? When the someone else is me, its unkind its unkind". I believe hes referring to the girl toying with him and using him. He wants something deeper with her, thats why he allows himself to be as a puppet (even though for her fun and games) as long as it makes her happy. But he knows deep down that she doesnt really want to be serious with him and thats what makes him.
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Former Lee Warmer is connected to Alice Cooper's "Steven" storyline. And there's a supernatural element to the song as well. "He's flesh and blood to me. I love him brotherly. But I don't want to be Former Lee". apparently former Lee, unknown to anyone but his brother, possesses the ability to body hop and has targeted his brother for the "possession and body swapping" treatment, which also explains the signs of multiple personalities shown elsewhere on the Da Da album. Steven, on the welcome To My Nightmare album, shows the same duality, in his case between child and adult. "I'm a little boy. No I'm a great big man. No, let's be a little boy". It's entirely possible that Former Lee and Steven are one and the same person, which would also explain the prologue and epilogue of along came a Spider, in which Steven never left the cell he was locked in, which we first find him in in Wind Up Toy from Hey stupid, following the events of Only Women Bleed and The Awakening from Welcome To My Nightmare, and yet managed to kill eight people and record the deeds in his diary. former Lee could body hop, and if he's also Steven, that means Steven could body hop as well.