"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.
[Kool Keith]
Yeah!
For the 2000 (2000)
Black Elvis (Black Elvis)
We get raw with this (hand me my guitar)
Tour bus packed (tour bus packed)
Black Elvis recordin in the 48 track studio
Madison Square Garden soundcheck to speak direct
Fans in the upper level backstage passes
Wearin diamonds around my glasses leather coat
Thirty thousand from Wilson countin the mill's
I'm talkin to Andre Harrell with a chaffeur drivin me around
in the green Rolls Royce, parked parallel, on Fifth Avenue
Steppin in Bloomingdale's, waitin for Celine Dion to get her nails done
Tour dates start tomorrow, MCI send the cash through Wells Fargo
Black Elvis, 28 G's a night
Tour bus with the Motley Crue, who gon' stop who?
Rock star don't need no tattoo
Guitar out of the sharp, Fender bass with the Stratocaster
With Prodigy, Rage Against the Machine, flyin over the Atlantic ocean
with the potion
Chorus: cool Keith
Black Elvis, rock star, walkin down Broadway
What y'all thinkin about?
Black Elvis, rock star, walkin down Broadway
Chillin in the project hallway
(repeat 1.5X)
[Kool Keith]
Tour bus, painted neon green with black wheels
We do big wheels, count big head Franklin bills
Movin up that's when I'm Black Elvis at the Civic Center
Promoter book venues that are too small, ignore the call
Seventy thousand jam packed arenas
with rock fans wearin backpacks
Merchandise sell nice gold shirts with red lights
Sponsored by Dial soap and a Heineken
The biggest rock star gon' rhyme again
Roadie cases for eight months, Samsonite suitcases
Rappers comin home with no money on the red eye with dead eyes
Stadium tickets, watch scalpers get wicked
Pull up in my limo ejecting your demo (your demo)
Stretch lamborghinis with four doors, with four floors
Followin right behind yours, basic Continental
Get out your rental before I get mental
(Yeah baby)
Chorus 2X
[Kool Keith]
Huge signs on highways, you see the biggest advertisements
I meant to man the bombs off and skip my next assignment
Walk in the Sony building, grab checks
Stop in a Hilton, Warner Brothers Chap' on the back
of my royalty statements, my name is Matthew
Three apartments on the West with 200 songs
Five minutes each on Ampex reels
At the Shark Bar chewin billionaire meals
At the Apollo, can you digest?
I'm a hard act to swallow
With a Paris France with a real estate agent
that's building me a kid's playground in Denver, Colorado
Vacation unknown when I'm speakin 3-way with Roberto Duran
and Sugar Ray Leonard on the cellular phone
Upstate Connecticut, hold you rap style with a better grip
(I'm a rock star now)
Chorus 2X
Yeah!
For the 2000 (2000)
Black Elvis (Black Elvis)
We get raw with this (hand me my guitar)
Tour bus packed (tour bus packed)
Black Elvis recordin in the 48 track studio
Madison Square Garden soundcheck to speak direct
Fans in the upper level backstage passes
Wearin diamonds around my glasses leather coat
Thirty thousand from Wilson countin the mill's
I'm talkin to Andre Harrell with a chaffeur drivin me around
in the green Rolls Royce, parked parallel, on Fifth Avenue
Steppin in Bloomingdale's, waitin for Celine Dion to get her nails done
Tour dates start tomorrow, MCI send the cash through Wells Fargo
Black Elvis, 28 G's a night
Tour bus with the Motley Crue, who gon' stop who?
Rock star don't need no tattoo
Guitar out of the sharp, Fender bass with the Stratocaster
With Prodigy, Rage Against the Machine, flyin over the Atlantic ocean
with the potion
Chorus: cool Keith
Black Elvis, rock star, walkin down Broadway
What y'all thinkin about?
Black Elvis, rock star, walkin down Broadway
Chillin in the project hallway
(repeat 1.5X)
[Kool Keith]
Tour bus, painted neon green with black wheels
We do big wheels, count big head Franklin bills
Movin up that's when I'm Black Elvis at the Civic Center
Promoter book venues that are too small, ignore the call
Seventy thousand jam packed arenas
with rock fans wearin backpacks
Merchandise sell nice gold shirts with red lights
Sponsored by Dial soap and a Heineken
The biggest rock star gon' rhyme again
Roadie cases for eight months, Samsonite suitcases
Rappers comin home with no money on the red eye with dead eyes
Stadium tickets, watch scalpers get wicked
Pull up in my limo ejecting your demo (your demo)
Stretch lamborghinis with four doors, with four floors
Followin right behind yours, basic Continental
Get out your rental before I get mental
(Yeah baby)
Chorus 2X
[Kool Keith]
Huge signs on highways, you see the biggest advertisements
I meant to man the bombs off and skip my next assignment
Walk in the Sony building, grab checks
Stop in a Hilton, Warner Brothers Chap' on the back
of my royalty statements, my name is Matthew
Three apartments on the West with 200 songs
Five minutes each on Ampex reels
At the Shark Bar chewin billionaire meals
At the Apollo, can you digest?
I'm a hard act to swallow
With a Paris France with a real estate agent
that's building me a kid's playground in Denver, Colorado
Vacation unknown when I'm speakin 3-way with Roberto Duran
and Sugar Ray Leonard on the cellular phone
Upstate Connecticut, hold you rap style with a better grip
(I'm a rock star now)
Chorus 2X
Lyrics submitted by ButNeverOutgunned
Black Elvis Lyrics as written by Keith Thornton
Lyrics © CONCORD MUSIC PUBLISHING LLC
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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