"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.
Time on your side it'll never end
The most beautiful thing you can ever spend
But you work in a shirt with your name tag on it
Drifting apart like a plate tectonic
It don't matter to me
All I wanted to be
Was a million miles from here
Somewhere more familiar
Too much time spent dragging the past up
I didn't see you not looking when I messed up
Settling down in your early twenties
Sucked more blood than a backstreet dentist
It don't matter to me
All I wanted to be
Was a million miles from here
Somewhere more familiar
[Chorus]
Oh my God I can't believe it
I've never been this far away from home
Oh my God I can't believe it
I've never been this far away from home
Oh my God I can't believe it
I've never been this far away from home
Oh my God I can't believe it
I've never been this far away from home
Bright ruins lit for a greater glory
The only thing growing is our history
Knock me down I'll get right back up again
Come back stronger than a powered-up Pacman
It don't matter to me
All I wanted to be
Was a million miles from here
Somewhere more familiar
[Chorus: x2]
The most beautiful thing you can ever spend
But you work in a shirt with your name tag on it
Drifting apart like a plate tectonic
It don't matter to me
All I wanted to be
Was a million miles from here
Somewhere more familiar
Too much time spent dragging the past up
I didn't see you not looking when I messed up
Settling down in your early twenties
Sucked more blood than a backstreet dentist
It don't matter to me
All I wanted to be
Was a million miles from here
Somewhere more familiar
[Chorus]
Oh my God I can't believe it
I've never been this far away from home
Oh my God I can't believe it
I've never been this far away from home
Oh my God I can't believe it
I've never been this far away from home
Oh my God I can't believe it
I've never been this far away from home
Bright ruins lit for a greater glory
The only thing growing is our history
Knock me down I'll get right back up again
Come back stronger than a powered-up Pacman
It don't matter to me
All I wanted to be
Was a million miles from here
Somewhere more familiar
[Chorus: x2]
Lyrics submitted by frozen_in_fire, edited by gyrgrls
Oh My God Lyrics as written by Charles Spaulding Gladfelter
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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Fast Car
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This song is awesome. Ricky Wilson said in NME this issue:
"Its a cracker, innit? It's about being in a band, about being a fish out of water. The first leap's always the hardest."