"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.
He had a reason to get back to Lake Charles
He used to talk about it
He'd just go on and on
He always said Louisiana
Was where he felt at home
He was born in Nacogdoches
That's in East Texas
Not far from the border
But he liked to tell everybody
He was from Lake Charles
Did an angel whisper in your ear
And hold you close and take away your fear
In those long last moments
We used to drive
Through Lafayette and Baton Rouge
In a yellow Camino
Listening to Howling Wolf
He liked to stop in Lake Charles
'Cause that's the place that he loved
Did you run about as far as you could go
Down the Louisiana highway
Across Lake Pontchartrain
Now your soul is in Lake Charles
No matter what they say
Did an angel whisper in your ear
And hold you close and take away your fear
In those long last moments
He had a reason to get back to Lake Charles
He used to talk about it
He'd just go on and on
He always said Louisiana
Was where he felt at home
Did an angel whisper in your ear
And hold you close and take away your fear
In those long last moments
Did an angel whisper in your ear
And hold you close and take away your fear
In those long last moments
In those long last moments
He used to talk about it
He'd just go on and on
He always said Louisiana
Was where he felt at home
He was born in Nacogdoches
That's in East Texas
Not far from the border
But he liked to tell everybody
He was from Lake Charles
Did an angel whisper in your ear
And hold you close and take away your fear
In those long last moments
We used to drive
Through Lafayette and Baton Rouge
In a yellow Camino
Listening to Howling Wolf
He liked to stop in Lake Charles
'Cause that's the place that he loved
Did you run about as far as you could go
Down the Louisiana highway
Across Lake Pontchartrain
Now your soul is in Lake Charles
No matter what they say
Did an angel whisper in your ear
And hold you close and take away your fear
In those long last moments
He had a reason to get back to Lake Charles
He used to talk about it
He'd just go on and on
He always said Louisiana
Was where he felt at home
Did an angel whisper in your ear
And hold you close and take away your fear
In those long last moments
Did an angel whisper in your ear
And hold you close and take away your fear
In those long last moments
In those long last moments
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This beautiful and sad article explains it all: austinchronicle.com/music/1998-10-23/520480/
Thank you for this definitive explanation and backstory. I still tell everyone that I was born in Nacogdoches.
Good Lord do I love this song - such a beautiful melancholy groove. I love this song that I went out my way to visit Nacogdoches. I wish I were born in Nacogdoches - it sounds so badass.
To me the meaning of this song is quite literal; it's about someone who crashed his car into/near Lake Charles. Down the Lousiana highway Across Lake Ponchatrain Now your soul is in Lake Charles No matter what they say Did an angel whisper in your ear And hold you close and take away your fear In those long last moments
The line about the angel whispering in his ear the moment before the crash says it all. Such a lyrical song surely has different meanings for different people, but this literal interpretation works for me.
The world needs more songs about car crashes.
This is the best interpretation of the song I've ever read, and for as many times as I've listened to the song, it eluded me.
One of my favorite Lucinda songs. Havn't you ever been somewhere that you just felt at home? Lake Charles is not a place most people would pick for that feeling but it makes the song that much more poignant. A comfortable place to be - what a great thing!
Beautiful and peaceful. I could listen to this song for days.
This song is much sadder than I think the other posters have made it seem.
The Austin Chronicle article linked to by @freaktet describes how an angel (Margaret Moser) really did whisper in his ear and all that! Thanks for the article link, it was beautiful.\n\nI don\'t know if Lu was specifically referring to Maggie in the song, but it sounds that way to me.
I always felt the song was about spreading his ashes in Lake Charles (now your soul's in Lake Charles...). I did find the story behind this. There was no car crash. The song us about a former boyfriend, Clyde, who died from alcoholism. Here's the article written by a friend who was at his bedside: austinchronicle.com/music/1998-10-23/520480/
One of my favorite Lucinda songs. Havn't you ever been somewhere that you just felt at home? Lake Charles is not a place most people would pick for that feeling but it makes the song that much more poignant. A comfortable place to be - what a great thing!
This song is so sad. It's about a guy who tried to create a more fitting identity by moving the story of his life to Lake Charles, Louisiana (instead of Texas, his actual birthplace).
His relationship with Lucinda sounded like it was on a good arc, but then he died suddenly, in the dark, in a tangle of twisted metal and gasoline, in pain, alone. Let's hope those angels brought him his well-deserved release.