"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.
I saw two shadow men on the Vallance Road
Said they'd pay me for your address
Oh, I was so bold
I said you see these two cold fingers
These crooked fingers I show
You's a way to mean no
Well they didn't like that much I can tell you
Said "Sunshine, I wouldn't wanna be in your shoes"
They chased me up two flights of stairs
Caught me in the lift how I sighed and said
"Hello," cause you're impossible
But it's just like he's in another world
He doesn't see the danger on show
Wind up like Joseph, bloody in a hole
And it's just like she's in another world
And how they suit each other oh no
But they never get close
It's impossible
Saw the same two men on the Cally Road
Said now they'd double their offer
I was so bold
To say "You see these two cold fingers"
These crooked fingers I show
Oh you's a way to mean no
But it's just like he's in another world
He doesn't see the danger on show
That he'll end up like Joseph, bloody in a hole
And it's just like she's in another world
And how they suit each other oh no
But they never get close
(Crazy, unstoppable)
But it's just like we're all in another world
How we suit each other oh no
But we never get close
That's close enough now
Said they'd pay me for your address
Oh, I was so bold
I said you see these two cold fingers
These crooked fingers I show
You's a way to mean no
Well they didn't like that much I can tell you
Said "Sunshine, I wouldn't wanna be in your shoes"
They chased me up two flights of stairs
Caught me in the lift how I sighed and said
"Hello," cause you're impossible
But it's just like he's in another world
He doesn't see the danger on show
Wind up like Joseph, bloody in a hole
And it's just like she's in another world
And how they suit each other oh no
But they never get close
It's impossible
Saw the same two men on the Cally Road
Said now they'd double their offer
I was so bold
To say "You see these two cold fingers"
These crooked fingers I show
Oh you's a way to mean no
But it's just like he's in another world
He doesn't see the danger on show
That he'll end up like Joseph, bloody in a hole
And it's just like she's in another world
And how they suit each other oh no
But they never get close
(Crazy, unstoppable)
But it's just like we're all in another world
How we suit each other oh no
But we never get close
That's close enough now
Lyrics submitted by iloveweezer
Up the Bracket Lyrics as written by Peter Doherty Carl Barat
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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I thought the 'shadow men' on Vallance Road were a double entendre a nod to the Kray twins, who lived there as well as being the police. 'Up the bracket' means to punch someone in the throat (it's from the Carry on Films, right?). I reckon, if you want to put a plot to it, it's the narrator being chased around London by the police, and giving them the 'finger' (swearing at them)