"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.
Darkened rolling figures move
Through prisms of no color
Hand in hand, they walk the night
But never know each other
Passioned pastel neon lights
Light up the jeweled traveler
Who, lost in scenes of smoke-filled dreams
Find questions, but no answers
Startled eyes that sometimes see
Phantasmagoric splendor
Pirouette down palsied paths
With pennies for the vendor
Salvation's yours for just the time
It takes to pay the dancer
And once again, such anxious men
Find questions, but no answers
The night has gone
And taken its infractions
While reddened eyes
Hope there will be a next one
Sahara signs look down upon
A world that glitters glibly
And mountainsides put arms around
The unsuspecting city
Second hands that minds have slowed
Are moving even faster
Toward bringing down someone who's found
The questions, but no answers
Through prisms of no color
Hand in hand, they walk the night
But never know each other
Passioned pastel neon lights
Light up the jeweled traveler
Who, lost in scenes of smoke-filled dreams
Find questions, but no answers
Startled eyes that sometimes see
Phantasmagoric splendor
Pirouette down palsied paths
With pennies for the vendor
Salvation's yours for just the time
It takes to pay the dancer
And once again, such anxious men
Find questions, but no answers
The night has gone
And taken its infractions
While reddened eyes
Hope there will be a next one
Sahara signs look down upon
A world that glitters glibly
And mountainsides put arms around
The unsuspecting city
Second hands that minds have slowed
Are moving even faster
Toward bringing down someone who's found
The questions, but no answers
Lyrics submitted by stardroplet, edited by JohnnyLurg
Daily Nightly [Remastered] Lyrics as written by Michael Nesmith
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, O/B/O DistroKid
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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