"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.
Sha-la-la-la-la-la-la
Mmm
Uh huh
I was down at the New Amsterdam
Staring at this yellow-haired girl
Mr. Jones strikes up a conversation
With a black-haired flamenco dancer
You know she dances while his father plays guitar
She's suddenly beautiful
And we all want something beautiful
Man, I wish I was beautiful
So come dance the silence down through the morning
Sha-la-la-la-la-la-la, yeah
Uh huh, yeah
Cut up, Maria
Show me some of them Spanish dances
Pass me a bottle, Mr. Jones
Believe in me
Help me believe in anything
'Cause I wanna be someone who believes
Yeah
Mr. Jones and me
Tell each other fairy tales
And we stare at the beautiful women
She's looking at you
Ah, no, no, she's looking at me
Smilin' in the bright lights
Coming through in stereo
When everybody loves you
You can never be lonely
Well, I'm gon' paint my picture
Paint myself in blue and red and black and gray
All of the beautiful colors are very, very meaningful
Yeah, well, you know gray is my favorite color
I felt so symbolic yesterday
If I knew Picasso
I would buy myself a gray guitar and play
Mr. Jones and me
Look into the future
Yeah, we stare at the beautiful women
She's looking at you
I don't think so
She's looking at me
Standing in the spotlight
I bought myself a gray guitar
When everybody loves me
I will never be lonely
I will never be lonely
Said I'm never gonna be lonely
I wanna be a lion
Yeah, everybody wanna pass as cats
We all wanna be big, big stars
Yeah, but we got different reasons for that
Believe in me
'Cause I don't believe in anything
And I wanna be someone to believe, to believe, to believe
Yeah
Mr. Jones and me
Stumbling through the barrio
Yeah, we stare at the beautiful women
She's perfect for you
Man, there's got to be somebody for me
I wanna be Bob Dylan
Mr. Jones wishes he was someone just a little more funky
When everybody loves you, ah son
That's just about as funky as you can be
Mr. Jones and me
Staring at the video
When I look at the television, I want to see me
Staring right back at me
We all wanna be big stars
But we don't know why, and we don't know how
But when everybody loves me
I wanna be just about as happy as I can be
Mr. Jones and me
We're gonna be big stars
Mmm
Uh huh
I was down at the New Amsterdam
Staring at this yellow-haired girl
Mr. Jones strikes up a conversation
With a black-haired flamenco dancer
You know she dances while his father plays guitar
She's suddenly beautiful
And we all want something beautiful
Man, I wish I was beautiful
So come dance the silence down through the morning
Sha-la-la-la-la-la-la, yeah
Uh huh, yeah
Cut up, Maria
Show me some of them Spanish dances
Pass me a bottle, Mr. Jones
Believe in me
Help me believe in anything
'Cause I wanna be someone who believes
Yeah
Mr. Jones and me
Tell each other fairy tales
And we stare at the beautiful women
She's looking at you
Ah, no, no, she's looking at me
Smilin' in the bright lights
Coming through in stereo
When everybody loves you
You can never be lonely
Well, I'm gon' paint my picture
Paint myself in blue and red and black and gray
All of the beautiful colors are very, very meaningful
Yeah, well, you know gray is my favorite color
I felt so symbolic yesterday
If I knew Picasso
I would buy myself a gray guitar and play
Mr. Jones and me
Look into the future
Yeah, we stare at the beautiful women
She's looking at you
I don't think so
She's looking at me
Standing in the spotlight
I bought myself a gray guitar
When everybody loves me
I will never be lonely
I will never be lonely
Said I'm never gonna be lonely
I wanna be a lion
Yeah, everybody wanna pass as cats
We all wanna be big, big stars
Yeah, but we got different reasons for that
Believe in me
'Cause I don't believe in anything
And I wanna be someone to believe, to believe, to believe
Yeah
Mr. Jones and me
Stumbling through the barrio
Yeah, we stare at the beautiful women
She's perfect for you
Man, there's got to be somebody for me
I wanna be Bob Dylan
Mr. Jones wishes he was someone just a little more funky
When everybody loves you, ah son
That's just about as funky as you can be
Mr. Jones and me
Staring at the video
When I look at the television, I want to see me
Staring right back at me
We all wanna be big stars
But we don't know why, and we don't know how
But when everybody loves me
I wanna be just about as happy as I can be
Mr. Jones and me
We're gonna be big stars
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Fast Car
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with respect to Adam's personal explanations of the lyrics, my personal rendering deals with applying the dictionary definition of "jones" jones /jÅnz/ Noun: A fixation on or compulsive desire for someone or something, typically a drug; an addiction. Verb: Have a fixation on; be addicted to.
with this, a possible reading can be extrapolated where two personalites from the same person, one being the speaker in active addiction, the other being the real person, both staring at their lives, concerned with the future, and engaging in battle between who is more worthy of beauty and happiness.
W.
@infinitecomplete Mr Jones would be his Ideal self I believe.
@infinitecomplete Mr Jones would be his Ideal self I believe.