"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.
As I reach for a peach
Slide a ride down behind
a chauffeur in San Tropez
Breakin' a stick
With a brick on the sand
Ridin' a wave
In the wake of an old sedan
Sleepin' alone in the
Drone of the darkness,
Scratched by the sand that
Fell from my love,
Deep in my dreams and I
Still hear her callin'
If you're alone
I'll come home
Backward and home-bound
The pigeon, the dove
Gone with the wind
And the rain, on an airplane
Owning a home
With no silver spoon
I'm drinking champagne
Like a big tycoon
Sooner than wait for
A break in the weather,
I'll gather my far-flung
Thoughts together
Speeding away
On the wind to a new day
And if you're alone
I'll come home
And I pause for a while
By a country style
And listen to the things they say
Diggin' for gold
With a hoe in my hand
Open a book
Take a look at the way things stand
And you're leading me down
To the place by the sea
I hear your soft voice
Calling to me
Making a date for
Later by phone
And if you're alone
I'll come home
Slide a ride down behind
a chauffeur in San Tropez
Breakin' a stick
With a brick on the sand
Ridin' a wave
In the wake of an old sedan
Sleepin' alone in the
Drone of the darkness,
Scratched by the sand that
Fell from my love,
Deep in my dreams and I
Still hear her callin'
If you're alone
I'll come home
Backward and home-bound
The pigeon, the dove
Gone with the wind
And the rain, on an airplane
Owning a home
With no silver spoon
I'm drinking champagne
Like a big tycoon
Sooner than wait for
A break in the weather,
I'll gather my far-flung
Thoughts together
Speeding away
On the wind to a new day
And if you're alone
I'll come home
And I pause for a while
By a country style
And listen to the things they say
Diggin' for gold
With a hoe in my hand
Open a book
Take a look at the way things stand
And you're leading me down
To the place by the sea
I hear your soft voice
Calling to me
Making a date for
Later by phone
And if you're alone
I'll come home
Lyrics submitted by Demau Senae, edited by kent103912
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Fast Car
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