"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.
Once came a man in this heliocentric plan
Who found he was the center of the universe
Soon there were three and whatever the choice may be
Would the knowledge uncovered help more than it hurt
Once came the earth, that was flattened among its birth
And the victims of edges were the ones who knew
Negative one, as we spin around the sun
And you know that I did it all for you
For you, for you, for you
Past seen as lies and the future was seen through eyes
That held on to the faith of everything they knew
Negative one, as we revolve around the sun
And you know that I did it all for you
For you, for you, for you, for you
For you, for you, for you, for you
Who found he was the center of the universe
Soon there were three and whatever the choice may be
Would the knowledge uncovered help more than it hurt
Once came the earth, that was flattened among its birth
And the victims of edges were the ones who knew
Negative one, as we spin around the sun
And you know that I did it all for you
For you, for you, for you
Past seen as lies and the future was seen through eyes
That held on to the faith of everything they knew
Negative one, as we revolve around the sun
And you know that I did it all for you
For you, for you, for you, for you
For you, for you, for you, for you
Lyrics submitted by catalyst86
Negative One Lyrics as written by Robert Kleiner Kevin Charles Gibson
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Peermusic Publishing
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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Fast Car
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This was the perfect song for "13 Reasons Why"
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I love this song, and 2minus3 (which is this song done harder and faster). I think I like this one more, but 2minus3 is more non-devout-fan friendly
I heard this for the first time about a week ago, and it will not get out of my brain. When I listen to it, I have vast, sweeping visualizations of deserts and wild animals, and seeds growing up out of the earth into trees. Earth revolving around the sun, nature doing her thing. But who's the guy with the heliocentric plan? I feel like the lyrics must be in reference to something, but whatever it is, I am unfamiliar. Maybe it's something in literature. If anyone knows, I'd love to be enlightened.