"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.
Dear catastrophe waitress
Dear catastrophe waitress
I'm sorry that you seem to have the weight of the world over you
I cherish your smile
There's a word of peace on your lips
Say it, and with tenderness I'll cherish you
Dear catastrophe girlfriend
Dear catastrophe girlfriend
I'm sorry if he hit you with a full can of coke
It's no joke
Your face is bleeding
You'll soon be leaving this town to the clowns who worship
No one but themselves
No one but themselves
Dear catastrophe waitress
Dear catastrophe waitress
I'm sorry if the kids hold you in cool disregard
I know it's hard
Stick to what you know
You'll blow them all to the wall
When they realize what you've been working for
You've been working for
You've been working for
Dear catastrophe waitress
I'm sorry that you seem to have the weight of the world over you
I cherish your smile
There's a word of peace on your lips
Say it, and with tenderness I'll cherish you
Dear catastrophe girlfriend
Dear catastrophe girlfriend
I'm sorry if he hit you with a full can of coke
It's no joke
Your face is bleeding
You'll soon be leaving this town to the clowns who worship
No one but themselves
No one but themselves
Dear catastrophe waitress
Dear catastrophe waitress
I'm sorry if the kids hold you in cool disregard
I know it's hard
Stick to what you know
You'll blow them all to the wall
When they realize what you've been working for
You've been working for
You've been working for
Lyrics submitted by ReActor, edited by daintyhrts, sbd01
Dear Catastrophe Waitress Lyrics as written by Christopher Geddes Bob Kildea
Lyrics © Hipgnosis Songs Group
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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Is the angry looking lady on the album cover the catastrophe waitress?
I think that the catastrophe waitress is a person, and we all know people like this, who is constantly in s a state of crisis. The narrator, evidently, is a person who tends to fall for people like her, get wrapped up in their crises, and feel the need to save them. Hence the catastrophe waitress becomes catastrophe girlfriend. Funny song.
@moik I read this and couldn't agree more - then I noticed, "Oh, I wrote this sixteen years ago." Ha!
To be honest I just copied them from the official site.
Wroooong Lyrics.
Corrected, sorry about that.
she is dear catastrophe waitress. catastrophe because she's waitressing just as a job. it's what she can get a job doing. her life is a mess, she gets stuck in a relationship and ends up having kids. she leaves and her kids grow up and end up being cold to her because she had to work so much to provide for them. she has a dream and is working towards it. this song is about the many poverty stricken single women who are never looked at as courageous. it's a tribute to them. they are wonderful people too. "you'll blow them all to the wall..."
I didn't know what this song meant 'til I found out my friend wasn't who I liked her to be. All my friends were leaving me and I felt alone, It seemed that everything I did was wrong but if my other friend did it it was cute. I felt awful and I had been planning to move. But if I stick to being friendly I will find some one who really cares about me and find new friends. And that's what it means to me. I found this out because it got stuck in my head trying to think of a happy song.
i never thought about it in the way dreadhead69 said about it being about poverty stricken single mothers...interesting. my take on this song is a girlfriend consumed by stress and dumping it out onto her boyfriend all the time so that he just wants to see her happy again; but instead of being a jerk back to her, he sympathizes and acknowledges her pain.
i can relate.
weird. To me this song is a bit like... lonely girl who's always left aside for prettier/smarter people... I actually don't see much to this song, although I love B&S...
I love this song.
I'm disregarding the first two stanzas, but the last makes me think that the song is about a girl who is disliked by many people for being different; doing something positive that is, for whatever reason, not appreciated by this person's friends.
Eventually, this girl will get the recognition she deserves and grow, and the other people will just go downhill.