"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.
When you sleep
Where do your fingers go?
What do your fingers know?
What do your fingers show?
Where do your fingers go?
When you sleep
Do they tremble on the edge of the bed
Or do you fold them neatly by your head
Do they clench like claws against your own skin
When you're living your day all over again
When you sleep (when you sleep)
Where do your fingers go? (when you sleep)
What do your fingers know? (when you sleep)
What do your fingers show? (when you sleep)
Where do your fingers go, yeah? (when you sleep)
Do they play guitar in a Latin bar
Are they strangers or lovers
Do they drive your car
Are they swimming submissively
Sex acts of life
Or just cutting through jello with a very sharp knife
Now Zeus was a womanizer
Always on the make
But Hera usually punished her that Zeus was one to take
When you sleep
Where do your fingers go?
Are they pulling out weeds from the dusty soil
But then never rewarded with the fruits of their toil
Are they scratching their nails on the chalkboards of death
Only seeking attention when everyone in the room has left
(When you sleep) where do your fingers go?
(When you sleep) what do your fingers know?
(When you sleep) what do your fingers show?
(When you sleep) where do your fingers go?
(When you sleep)
When you sleep
Do they tremble on the edge of the bed
Or do you fold them neatly by your head
Where do your fingers go?
What do your fingers know?
What do your fingers show?
Where do your fingers go?
When you sleep
Do they tremble on the edge of the bed
Or do you fold them neatly by your head
Do they clench like claws against your own skin
When you're living your day all over again
When you sleep (when you sleep)
Where do your fingers go? (when you sleep)
What do your fingers know? (when you sleep)
What do your fingers show? (when you sleep)
Where do your fingers go, yeah? (when you sleep)
Do they play guitar in a Latin bar
Are they strangers or lovers
Do they drive your car
Are they swimming submissively
Sex acts of life
Or just cutting through jello with a very sharp knife
Now Zeus was a womanizer
Always on the make
But Hera usually punished her that Zeus was one to take
When you sleep
Where do your fingers go?
Are they pulling out weeds from the dusty soil
But then never rewarded with the fruits of their toil
Are they scratching their nails on the chalkboards of death
Only seeking attention when everyone in the room has left
(When you sleep) where do your fingers go?
(When you sleep) what do your fingers know?
(When you sleep) what do your fingers show?
(When you sleep) where do your fingers go?
(When you sleep)
When you sleep
Do they tremble on the edge of the bed
Or do you fold them neatly by your head
Lyrics submitted by Ice, edited by Chrysolopus spectabilis
When You Sleep Lyrics as written by John M Mccrea
Lyrics © Wixen Music Publishing
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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Fast Car
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Yo La Tengo
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I've always pictured that the writer was simply watching someone sleep and wondering what they were dreaming about. Perhaps he saw them move their fingers in their sleep and it got him thinking about what that person might be dreaming.
I find it a sweet little song.