"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.
Another reason to doubt me
Another teardrop falls
Can't wait for a friend when loneliness calls
Another kiss in the basement
Pour salt on my tongue
No one cries for heros left unsung
Look at me when I'm talking to you
Look at me in the eyes
Then look away and tell me why...why
Another tasteless movie
Another kiss goodnight
Could be a dark oasis in my life
Another icon smashed to pieces
By yesterday's romance
Another hated person no more chances
Look at me when I'm talking to you
Look at me in the eyes
Then look away and tell me why...why
Playin' with a happy boy
A cold place for a man
Familiar faces in a foreign land
The hands kept spinning around the face
But the earth stopped cold at dawn
For a moment, then moved on
For a moment, then moved on...
Another teardrop falls
Can't wait for a friend when loneliness calls
Another kiss in the basement
Pour salt on my tongue
No one cries for heros left unsung
Look at me when I'm talking to you
Look at me in the eyes
Then look away and tell me why...why
Another tasteless movie
Another kiss goodnight
Could be a dark oasis in my life
Another icon smashed to pieces
By yesterday's romance
Another hated person no more chances
Look at me when I'm talking to you
Look at me in the eyes
Then look away and tell me why...why
Playin' with a happy boy
A cold place for a man
Familiar faces in a foreign land
The hands kept spinning around the face
But the earth stopped cold at dawn
For a moment, then moved on
For a moment, then moved on...
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Fast Car
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Mr Bryan (Mark, one of the guitarists) wrote this when his grandmother passed away. He says so in the linear notes.
I love this song because it captures that moment when you get bad news and there's a pause and your heart sinks. But as it points out, it's only for a moment, and then the earth moves on.
i found the meaning of this song when my own grandmother passed away..it is like every time you lose someone,either in a relationship or in a much grander scale-like death-we'd always feel helpless and powerless, but the world moves on regardless... its a savage cold and unaffected world out there, so lets give the finger back to it!