"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.
They got to the part with the cattle and the creeping things
Said "I'm pretty sure we've heard this one before"
And don't it all end up in some revelation
With four guys on horses and violent red visions
Famine and death and pestilence and war?
I'm pretty sure I heard this one before
Well, you in the corner with a good looking drifter
Two cups of coffee and ten packs of sugar
I heard Gideon saw you in Denver, he said you're contagious
Silly rabbit, tripping is for teenagers
Murder is for murderers and hard drugs are for bartenders
I think I might have mentioned that before
He's got the pages in his pockets
That he ripped out of the Bible from his bed stand in the motel
He likes the part where the traders get chased out from the temple
I guess I heard about original sin
I heard the dudes blamed the chick
I heard the chick blamed the snake
And I heard they were naked when they got busted
And I heard things ain't been the same since
You on the streets with a tendency to preach to the choir
Wired for sound and down with whatever
I heard Gideon did you in Denver
She's got a cross around her neck
That she ripped off from a schoolgirl in the subway
On a visit to the city
She likes how it looks on her chest with three open buttons
She likes the part where one brother kills the other
She has to wonder if the world ever will recover
'Cause Cain and Abel seem to still be causing trouble
She said I was seeing double for three straight days
After I got born again
It felt strange but it was nice and peaceful
And it really pleased me to be around so many people
Of course, half of them were visions
Half of them were friends from going through the program with me
Later on we did some sexy things
Took a couple photographs and carved them into wood reliefs
Hey, but that's enough about me
Come on, tell me how you got down here into Ybor City
He said I got to the part about the exodus
And up to then I only knew it was a movement of the people
But if small town cops are like swarms of flies
And blackened foil is like boils and hail
I'm pretty sure I've been through this before
It seemed like a simple place to score
And it seemed like a simple place to score
It seemed like a simple place to score
Then some old lady came to the door
Said McKenzie Phillips doesn't live here anymore
Said "I'm pretty sure we've heard this one before"
And don't it all end up in some revelation
With four guys on horses and violent red visions
Famine and death and pestilence and war?
I'm pretty sure I heard this one before
Well, you in the corner with a good looking drifter
Two cups of coffee and ten packs of sugar
I heard Gideon saw you in Denver, he said you're contagious
Silly rabbit, tripping is for teenagers
Murder is for murderers and hard drugs are for bartenders
I think I might have mentioned that before
He's got the pages in his pockets
That he ripped out of the Bible from his bed stand in the motel
He likes the part where the traders get chased out from the temple
I guess I heard about original sin
I heard the dudes blamed the chick
I heard the chick blamed the snake
And I heard they were naked when they got busted
And I heard things ain't been the same since
You on the streets with a tendency to preach to the choir
Wired for sound and down with whatever
I heard Gideon did you in Denver
She's got a cross around her neck
That she ripped off from a schoolgirl in the subway
On a visit to the city
She likes how it looks on her chest with three open buttons
She likes the part where one brother kills the other
She has to wonder if the world ever will recover
'Cause Cain and Abel seem to still be causing trouble
She said I was seeing double for three straight days
After I got born again
It felt strange but it was nice and peaceful
And it really pleased me to be around so many people
Of course, half of them were visions
Half of them were friends from going through the program with me
Later on we did some sexy things
Took a couple photographs and carved them into wood reliefs
Hey, but that's enough about me
Come on, tell me how you got down here into Ybor City
He said I got to the part about the exodus
And up to then I only knew it was a movement of the people
But if small town cops are like swarms of flies
And blackened foil is like boils and hail
I'm pretty sure I've been through this before
It seemed like a simple place to score
And it seemed like a simple place to score
It seemed like a simple place to score
Then some old lady came to the door
Said McKenzie Phillips doesn't live here anymore
Lyrics submitted by iagoAdmirer, edited by rhysthuryn2003
Cattle and the Creeping Things Lyrics as written by Tad Jason Kubler Craig Finn
Lyrics © Reservoir Media Management, Inc.
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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this song as many references to over hold steady/lifter puller song. "hard drugs are for bartenders. i think i might have mentioned that before" is a reference to certian songs on Almost killed me. "with 4 guys on horses, and violent red visions famine and death and pestilence and war. i'm pretty sure i heard this one before." is from the lifter puller song 4dix.