"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.
Hey did you ever know that songs are just some thick little words
And that the Aeroport is just a nest of big metal birds
And they swoop in and out and steal us from each others' lives and
Tear us apart like conjoined twins under a surgeon's knives
An inch is a mile is a day
And where you are is too far away
Hey did you ever know that years are just slippery numbers
And that I still get chills when I hear Paul sing Golden Slumbers
Cause it reminds me of our house and how it used to snow there
And lets me know that I can still skip town and end up nowhere
An inch is a mile is a day
And where you are is too far away
And a drop is a puddle is a sea
And that's further than I want to be
And now I read you letters and they said someday
We'll meet again on some empty runway
And watch the planes they circle like Peregrine
Falcons do and carry us there again
An inch is a mile is a day
And where you are is too far away
And a drop is a puddle is a sea
And that's further than I want to be
I sent a letter and it said someday
We'll meet again on some crowded runway
And watch the planes they circle like birds of prey
And as you left I thought that I heard you say
An inch is a mile is a day
And where you live is too far away
And that the Aeroport is just a nest of big metal birds
And they swoop in and out and steal us from each others' lives and
Tear us apart like conjoined twins under a surgeon's knives
An inch is a mile is a day
And where you are is too far away
Hey did you ever know that years are just slippery numbers
And that I still get chills when I hear Paul sing Golden Slumbers
Cause it reminds me of our house and how it used to snow there
And lets me know that I can still skip town and end up nowhere
An inch is a mile is a day
And where you are is too far away
And a drop is a puddle is a sea
And that's further than I want to be
And now I read you letters and they said someday
We'll meet again on some empty runway
And watch the planes they circle like Peregrine
Falcons do and carry us there again
An inch is a mile is a day
And where you are is too far away
And a drop is a puddle is a sea
And that's further than I want to be
I sent a letter and it said someday
We'll meet again on some crowded runway
And watch the planes they circle like birds of prey
And as you left I thought that I heard you say
An inch is a mile is a day
And where you live is too far away
Lyrics submitted by velouria
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Fast Car
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