"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.
Were we the Kinnock factor
Am I talking private sector
Do I think I'm Shaun William Ryder
Or my former friend who's now undercover
He's gone and I'm no deserter
Perhaps I'm hard all the same
Today a poet who can't play guitar
Tomorrow Steve Ovett has injured his calf
Next year the world's greatest politician
Yesterday the boy who once had a mission
I don't want to be
A prologue to history
A prologue to history
So I water my plants with Evian
A brand new Dyson that is decadent
Read my papers and the business section
Check out the Tessas and the pensions
Call my friends and they're alright
So I pray for the safety of the night
Today a poet who can't play guitar
Tomorrow Steve Ovett has injured his calf
Next year the world's greatest politician
Yesterday the boy who once had a mission
I don't want to be
A prologue to history
A prologue to history
Remember ethnic cleansing in the highlands
No one says a thing in the middle of En-ger-land
I'm bruised fruit but still taste so nice
But if you look at me you better look twice
I'm talking rubbish to cover up the cracks
An empty vessel who can't make contact
Today a poet who can't play guitar
Tomorrow Phil Bennett's playing outside half
Next year the world's greatest politician
Yesterday the boy who once had a mission
I don't want to be
A prologue to history
A prologue to history
A prologue to history
A prologue
Am I talking private sector
Do I think I'm Shaun William Ryder
Or my former friend who's now undercover
He's gone and I'm no deserter
Perhaps I'm hard all the same
Today a poet who can't play guitar
Tomorrow Steve Ovett has injured his calf
Next year the world's greatest politician
Yesterday the boy who once had a mission
I don't want to be
A prologue to history
A prologue to history
So I water my plants with Evian
A brand new Dyson that is decadent
Read my papers and the business section
Check out the Tessas and the pensions
Call my friends and they're alright
So I pray for the safety of the night
Today a poet who can't play guitar
Tomorrow Steve Ovett has injured his calf
Next year the world's greatest politician
Yesterday the boy who once had a mission
I don't want to be
A prologue to history
A prologue to history
Remember ethnic cleansing in the highlands
No one says a thing in the middle of En-ger-land
I'm bruised fruit but still taste so nice
But if you look at me you better look twice
I'm talking rubbish to cover up the cracks
An empty vessel who can't make contact
Today a poet who can't play guitar
Tomorrow Phil Bennett's playing outside half
Next year the world's greatest politician
Yesterday the boy who once had a mission
I don't want to be
A prologue to history
A prologue to history
A prologue to history
A prologue
Lyrics submitted by Songmeaningsuser
Prologue to History Lyrics as written by Jones Bradfield
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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@sugarbabydoll Its about the highland clearances. People were forced out of their houses and off their small holdings for English aristocrats to graze their sheep on. These highlanders had to emigrate to Canada, USA and New Zealand.