"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.
Rudy's on a train to nowhere, halfway down the line
He don't want to get there, but he needs time
He ain't sophisticated, nor well-educated
After all the hours he wasted, still he needs time
He needs time
He needs time for livin'
He needs time
For someone just to see him
He ain't had no lovin'
For no reason or rhyme
And the whole world's above him
Well it's not as though he's fat
No there's more to this than that
See, he tries to play it cool
Wouldn't be nobody fool
Rudy thought that all good things comes to those that wait
But recently he could see that it may come but too late, too late, too late
All through your life, all through the years
Nobody loved, nobody cared
So dim the light, dark are your fears
Try as I might, I can't hold back the tears
How can you live without love, it's not fair?
Someone said give but I just didn't dare
I didn't dare, I didn't dare
What good advice are you waiting to hear?
Hearing's alright for them that's all there
Hearing's alright
You'd better gain control now
You'd better show 'em all now
You'd better make or break now
You'd better give and take now
You'll have to push and shove now
You'll have to find some love now
You'd better gain control now
Now he's just come out the movie
Numb of all the pain,
Sad but in a while he'll soon be
Back on his train
He don't want to get there, but he needs time
He ain't sophisticated, nor well-educated
After all the hours he wasted, still he needs time
He needs time
He needs time for livin'
He needs time
For someone just to see him
He ain't had no lovin'
For no reason or rhyme
And the whole world's above him
Well it's not as though he's fat
No there's more to this than that
See, he tries to play it cool
Wouldn't be nobody fool
Rudy thought that all good things comes to those that wait
But recently he could see that it may come but too late, too late, too late
All through your life, all through the years
Nobody loved, nobody cared
So dim the light, dark are your fears
Try as I might, I can't hold back the tears
How can you live without love, it's not fair?
Someone said give but I just didn't dare
I didn't dare, I didn't dare
What good advice are you waiting to hear?
Hearing's alright for them that's all there
Hearing's alright
You'd better gain control now
You'd better show 'em all now
You'd better make or break now
You'd better give and take now
You'll have to push and shove now
You'll have to find some love now
You'd better gain control now
Now he's just come out the movie
Numb of all the pain,
Sad but in a while he'll soon be
Back on his train
Lyrics submitted by cheeky_munkeys42, edited by kwisp
Rudy Lyrics as written by Roger Hodgson Richard Davies
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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Fast Car
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Captures the rollercoaster of emotions of feeling lost while loving someone who is not there for you, feeling let down and abandoned while waiting for a lover. Lost with no direction, "Now I'm up in the air with the rain in my hair, Nowhere to go, I can go anywhere"
The bridge shows signs of longing and a plea for companionship. The Lyrics express a desire for authentic connection and the importance of Loving someone just as they are. "Just in passing, I'm not asking. That you be anyone but you”
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I think your first comment is closer to being accurate. The singer/song writers state "Millions of eyes can see, yet why am i so blind!? When the someone else is me, its unkind its unkind". I believe hes referring to the girl toying with him and using him. He wants something deeper with her, thats why he allows himself to be as a puppet (even though for her fun and games) as long as it makes her happy. But he knows deep down that she doesnt really want to be serious with him and thats what makes him.
Gentle Hour
Yo La Tengo
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This song was originally written by a guy called Peter Gutteridge. He was one of the founders of the "Dunedin Sound" a musical scene in the south of New Zealand in the early 80s. From there it was covered by "The Clean" one of the early bands of that scene (he had originally been a member of in it's early days, writing a couple of their best early songs). The Dunedin sound, and the Clean became popular on american college radio in the mid to late 80s. I guess Yo La Tengo heard that version.
Great version of a great song,
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I believe Rudy is the symbol of everything that is not wanted, a renegade but more than ordinary individual who is not given a chance to explore himself and become someone else, someone better, someone special and therefore my opinion is that this is a recurring character, present in " The four albums "; Crime of the century, Crisis, Quietest and Breakfast.