"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.
Grey light, new day leaks through the window
And some old soul song comes on the alarm clock radio
We walk the forty blocks to the middle
Of the place we heard where everything would be
And there were barracades to keep us off the street
But the crowd kept pushing forward
Until they swallowed the police
Yeah, they went wild
Yeah, they went wild
Yeah, they went wild
We left before the dust had time to settle
And all the broken glass swept off the avenue
And on the way home I held your camera like a bible
Just wishing so bad that it held some kind of truth
And I stood nervous next to you in the dark room
You dropped the paper in the water
And it all begins to bloom
Yeah, they go wild
Yeah, they go wild
Yeah, they go wild
Yeah, they go wild
And just when I get so lonesome I can't speak
I see some flowers on a hillside
Like a wall of new TVs
Yeah, they go wild
And some old soul song comes on the alarm clock radio
We walk the forty blocks to the middle
Of the place we heard where everything would be
And there were barracades to keep us off the street
But the crowd kept pushing forward
Until they swallowed the police
Yeah, they went wild
Yeah, they went wild
Yeah, they went wild
We left before the dust had time to settle
And all the broken glass swept off the avenue
And on the way home I held your camera like a bible
Just wishing so bad that it held some kind of truth
And I stood nervous next to you in the dark room
You dropped the paper in the water
And it all begins to bloom
Yeah, they go wild
Yeah, they go wild
Yeah, they go wild
Yeah, they go wild
And just when I get so lonesome I can't speak
I see some flowers on a hillside
Like a wall of new TVs
Yeah, they go wild
Lyrics submitted by keely, edited by pixelcreme, Mellow_Harsher
Old Soul Song Lyrics as written by Conor Oberst
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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he actually says "like a war on your tv"