"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.
O crown of light, o darkened one
I never thought we'd meet
You kiss my lips, and then it's done
I'm back on boogie street
A sip of wine, a cigarette
And then it's time to go
I tidied up the kitchenette
I tuned the old banjo
I'm wanted at the traffic jam
They're saving me a seat
I'm what I am, and what I am
Is back on boogie street
And o my love, I still recall
The pleasures that we knew
The rivers and the waterfall
Wherein I bathed with you
Bewildered by your beauty there
I'd kneel to dry your feet
By such instructions you prepare
A man for boogie street
O crown of light, o darkened one?
So come, my friends, be not afraid
We are so lightly here
It is in love that we are made
In love we disappear
Tho' all the maps of blood and flesh
Are posted on the door
There's no one who has told us yet
What boogie street is for
O crown of light, o darkened one
I never thought we'd meet
You kiss my lips, and then it's done
I'm back on boogie street
A sip of wine, a cigarette
And then it's time to go
I never thought we'd meet
You kiss my lips, and then it's done
I'm back on boogie street
A sip of wine, a cigarette
And then it's time to go
I tidied up the kitchenette
I tuned the old banjo
I'm wanted at the traffic jam
They're saving me a seat
I'm what I am, and what I am
Is back on boogie street
And o my love, I still recall
The pleasures that we knew
The rivers and the waterfall
Wherein I bathed with you
Bewildered by your beauty there
I'd kneel to dry your feet
By such instructions you prepare
A man for boogie street
O crown of light, o darkened one?
So come, my friends, be not afraid
We are so lightly here
It is in love that we are made
In love we disappear
Tho' all the maps of blood and flesh
Are posted on the door
There's no one who has told us yet
What boogie street is for
O crown of light, o darkened one
I never thought we'd meet
You kiss my lips, and then it's done
I'm back on boogie street
A sip of wine, a cigarette
And then it's time to go
Lyrics submitted by atahualpa, edited by jacksongreer
Boogie Street Lyrics as written by Sharon Robinson Leonard Cohen
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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I believe it's about his experiences in the buddhist temple (O crown of light, etc) and his return to normal life (Boogie street).
As with all of L Cohen's songs there is a spiritual message in them tinged with a great sense of humour (I’m wanted at the traffic-jam. They’re saving me a seat.)
What he has achieved in the buddhist experience is acceptance and less anxiety