"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've come back this morning
To where I first came alive
Here within this terminal
Where the buses arrive
I was a commuter on the 804
Worked for a computer
On the 19th floor and
You came down the aisle of the bus
And you sat by my side
Shoulder up to shoulder
We shared that 9 o'clock ride
Oh my heart was screaming
As you left your seat
Following your movements
I was at your feet and
Oh... down into the terminal
Both of us smiled
So... we entered the terminal
Just as you smiled
"Won't you leave out work for today?"
You asked of me then
So I phoned in sick on the way
To the home of a friend
We were all alone from 10 a.m. till 3
Really thought the fire
Had gone out of me but
You awoke the sleep of my life
From gray into red
Made the weary wonder of Wall Street
Rise from the dead
Could have held up
Budding my entire life
But I had to get home
To the kids and the wife and so
I left for the terminal where I began
Baby no, I wouldn't have left
If I'd been half a man
So here I am this morning
Where love had asked for the dance
Here within this terminal
Where I passed on the chance
Lord I'll never find her
Though I've truly tried
Probably she's found another
Bus to ride and
I am now about to begin
The last of my days
I'm within what others
Would call a terminal phase
I myself can only say it's livin' dead
Riding to the office with
A song in my head that goes...
La da da...
And you know it grows
La da da...
To where I first came alive
Here within this terminal
Where the buses arrive
I was a commuter on the 804
Worked for a computer
On the 19th floor and
You came down the aisle of the bus
And you sat by my side
Shoulder up to shoulder
We shared that 9 o'clock ride
Oh my heart was screaming
As you left your seat
Following your movements
I was at your feet and
Oh... down into the terminal
Both of us smiled
So... we entered the terminal
Just as you smiled
"Won't you leave out work for today?"
You asked of me then
So I phoned in sick on the way
To the home of a friend
We were all alone from 10 a.m. till 3
Really thought the fire
Had gone out of me but
You awoke the sleep of my life
From gray into red
Made the weary wonder of Wall Street
Rise from the dead
Could have held up
Budding my entire life
But I had to get home
To the kids and the wife and so
I left for the terminal where I began
Baby no, I wouldn't have left
If I'd been half a man
So here I am this morning
Where love had asked for the dance
Here within this terminal
Where I passed on the chance
Lord I'll never find her
Though I've truly tried
Probably she's found another
Bus to ride and
I am now about to begin
The last of my days
I'm within what others
Would call a terminal phase
I myself can only say it's livin' dead
Riding to the office with
A song in my head that goes...
La da da...
And you know it grows
La da da...
Lyrics submitted by fromthislandofmine
Terminal Lyrics as written by Rupert Holmes
Lyrics © JORDAN - HERMAN - HOLMES PUBL, BMG Rights Management, Universal Music Publishing Group, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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