"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.
Oh, say can you see, by the dawn's early light
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars, through the perilous fight
O'er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming?
And the rockets' red glare, and the bombs in air
Gave us proof through the night that our flag was still there
And our flag marked with blood, with the blood of our hands
And our hands marked with death, with the blood of the man
And the man on the cross, and the cross on our hearts
Has it done nothing more, than to drive us apart?
And the rockets red glare and the bombs in the air
Gave us proof through the night that our flag was still there
And our flag marked with blood, with the blood of our hands
And our hands marked with death, with the blood of the man
And the man on the cross, and the cross on our hearts
Has it done nothing more, than to drive us apart?
Oh say, does that star
(Oh say, does that star)
Spangled banner yet wave
(Spangled banner yet wave)
O'er the land of the free
(O'er the land of the free)
And the home of the brave?
(And the home of the brave?)
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars, through the perilous fight
O'er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming?
And the rockets' red glare, and the bombs in air
Gave us proof through the night that our flag was still there
And our flag marked with blood, with the blood of our hands
And our hands marked with death, with the blood of the man
And the man on the cross, and the cross on our hearts
Has it done nothing more, than to drive us apart?
And the rockets red glare and the bombs in the air
Gave us proof through the night that our flag was still there
And our flag marked with blood, with the blood of our hands
And our hands marked with death, with the blood of the man
And the man on the cross, and the cross on our hearts
Has it done nothing more, than to drive us apart?
Oh say, does that star
(Oh say, does that star)
Spangled banner yet wave
(Spangled banner yet wave)
O'er the land of the free
(O'er the land of the free)
And the home of the brave?
(And the home of the brave?)
Lyrics submitted by Way_AE, edited by xuledahi561
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Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
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Page
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"and the man on the bus" "and the cause on our hearts" is what I hear before "Has it done nothing more than drive us apart.
Also, I hear "the blood of the lamb".