"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 want to grow up to paint houses like me
A trailer in my yard till you're twenty three
You want to be old after forty two years
Keep dropping the hammer and grinding the gears
Well, I used to go out in a Mustang, a 302 Mach One in green
Me and your Mama made you in the back and I sold it to buy her a ring
And I learned not to say much of nothing so I figured you already know
But in case you don't or maybe forgot, I'll lay it out real nice and slow
Don't call what you're wearing an outfit, don't ever say your car is broke
Don't worry about losing your accent, a southern man tells better jokes
Have fun, stay clear of the needle, call home on your sister's birthday
Don't tell them you're bigger than Jesus, don't give it away
Five years in a St. Florian foundry, they call it Industrial Park
Then hospital maintenance and tech school just to memorize Frigidaire parts
But I got to missing your Mama and I got to missing you too
And I went back to painting for my old man and I guess that's what I'll always do
So don't let 'em take who you are boy, and don't try to be who you ain't
And don't let me catch you in Kendale with a bucket of wealthy man's paint
Don't call what you're wearing an outfit, don't ever say your car is broke
Don't sing with a fake British accent, don't act like your family's a joke
Have fun, but stay clear of the needle, call home on your sister's birthday
Don't tell them you're bigger than Jesus, don't give it away
Don't give it away
A trailer in my yard till you're twenty three
You want to be old after forty two years
Keep dropping the hammer and grinding the gears
Well, I used to go out in a Mustang, a 302 Mach One in green
Me and your Mama made you in the back and I sold it to buy her a ring
And I learned not to say much of nothing so I figured you already know
But in case you don't or maybe forgot, I'll lay it out real nice and slow
Don't call what you're wearing an outfit, don't ever say your car is broke
Don't worry about losing your accent, a southern man tells better jokes
Have fun, stay clear of the needle, call home on your sister's birthday
Don't tell them you're bigger than Jesus, don't give it away
Five years in a St. Florian foundry, they call it Industrial Park
Then hospital maintenance and tech school just to memorize Frigidaire parts
But I got to missing your Mama and I got to missing you too
And I went back to painting for my old man and I guess that's what I'll always do
So don't let 'em take who you are boy, and don't try to be who you ain't
And don't let me catch you in Kendale with a bucket of wealthy man's paint
Don't call what you're wearing an outfit, don't ever say your car is broke
Don't sing with a fake British accent, don't act like your family's a joke
Have fun, but stay clear of the needle, call home on your sister's birthday
Don't tell them you're bigger than Jesus, don't give it away
Don't give it away
Lyrics submitted by discgo, edited by luckygoon, delbertwilkins
Outfit Lyrics as written by Jason Isbell
Lyrics © Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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Fast Car
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I sure coulda used some of this advice growing up in the south in the 60's - if I woulda listened to it anyway. Think me and my friends did the opposite of most of these things and suffered for it. Well, at least I never called what I was wearin an 'Outfit' :->