"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.
You and I should get away for awhile
I just wanna be alone with your smile
Buy some candy and cigarettes and we'll get in my car
We'll blast the stereo and we'll drive to Madagascar
'Cause when I'm with you there's nothing I wouldn't do
I just want to be your only one
I'm grasping out at straws
Thinking back to what I saw
That night on the floor when we were all alone
My love life was getting so bland
There are only so many ways I can make love with my hand
Sometimes it makes me want to laugh
Sometimes I want to take my toaster in the bath
'Cause when I'm with you there's nothing I wouldn't do
I just want to be your only one
I'm grasping out at straws
Thinking back to what I saw
That night on the floor when we were all alone
Who's gonna be the odd man out?
I don't want to be the odd man out
Is this going to be the end?
Or are you going to be my new girlfriend?
I just wanna be alone with your smile
Buy some candy and cigarettes and we'll get in my car
We'll blast the stereo and we'll drive to Madagascar
'Cause when I'm with you there's nothing I wouldn't do
I just want to be your only one
I'm grasping out at straws
Thinking back to what I saw
That night on the floor when we were all alone
My love life was getting so bland
There are only so many ways I can make love with my hand
Sometimes it makes me want to laugh
Sometimes I want to take my toaster in the bath
'Cause when I'm with you there's nothing I wouldn't do
I just want to be your only one
I'm grasping out at straws
Thinking back to what I saw
That night on the floor when we were all alone
Who's gonna be the odd man out?
I don't want to be the odd man out
Is this going to be the end?
Or are you going to be my new girlfriend?
Lyrics submitted by ScreamingInfidelity, edited by Mellow_Harsher
M+M's Lyrics as written by Scott Raynor Tom Delonge
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Songtrust Ave, Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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Hmm... No one's going to mention that lines 7-10 are about masturbation? Read between the lines, folks!
Lines 11-12, "Sometimes it makes me want to laugh / Sometimes I want to take my toaster in the bath," are about the narrator's attitude toward his own situation (loneliness, yearning for this girl). Sometimes he has a good sense of humor about it, with maybe a bit of self-pity. But other times, he has mood swings and feels suicidal.
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