"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.
I hear the thunder three miles away
The Island's leaking into the bay
The poison is spreading
The demon is free
And people are running from what they can't even see
Face the fire
You can't turn away
The risk grows greater with each passing day
The waiting's over
The moment has come
To kill the fire and turn to the sun
They'll take your money
And then take your health
To line their pockets with unequalled wealth
Those men are under the power of gold
We won't be safe until we shut them down
Face the fire
You can't turn away
The risk grows greater with each passing day
The waiting's over
The moment has come
To kill the fire and turn to the sun
The people came to the capitol town
One hundred thousand of them laid their hearts down
They screamed in anger and broadcast their fears
Just to have them fall on deaf ears
Face the fire
You can't turn away
The risk grows greater with each passing day
The waiting's over
The moment has come
To kill the fire and turn to the sun
Kill the fire and turn to the sun
The Island's leaking into the bay
The poison is spreading
The demon is free
And people are running from what they can't even see
Face the fire
You can't turn away
The risk grows greater with each passing day
The waiting's over
The moment has come
To kill the fire and turn to the sun
They'll take your money
And then take your health
To line their pockets with unequalled wealth
Those men are under the power of gold
We won't be safe until we shut them down
Face the fire
You can't turn away
The risk grows greater with each passing day
The waiting's over
The moment has come
To kill the fire and turn to the sun
The people came to the capitol town
One hundred thousand of them laid their hearts down
They screamed in anger and broadcast their fears
Just to have them fall on deaf ears
Face the fire
You can't turn away
The risk grows greater with each passing day
The waiting's over
The moment has come
To kill the fire and turn to the sun
Kill the fire and turn to the sun
Lyrics submitted by mongoosestalker
Face the Fire Lyrics as written by Dan Fogelberg
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
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Yo La Tengo
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This song was originally written by a guy called Peter Gutteridge. He was one of the founders of the "Dunedin Sound" a musical scene in the south of New Zealand in the early 80s. From there it was covered by "The Clean" one of the early bands of that scene (he had originally been a member of in it's early days, writing a couple of their best early songs). The Dunedin sound, and the Clean became popular on american college radio in the mid to late 80s. I guess Yo La Tengo heard that version.
Great version of a great song,
Magical
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Ed Sheeran
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The first poster's correct. The song protests against nuclear power and specifically about the 1979 near-disaster that occurred at the Three Mile Island nuclear plant near Harrisburg PA. Witness the first 2 lines of the song that make this obvious:- "I hear the thunder three miles away The Island's leaking into the bay" The 3 Mile Island disaster is back in the news today following the tsunami in Japan that has caused similar risks at a number of Japan's northern nuclear plants.