"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.
On the very first decade that we got to dream in
Our fathers were angry, our mother's were screamin'
At the clothes we were wearin' and the music we got off on
Hitler was dead, welcome to Babylon
Carved our initials out across the sand
The heart and the arrow no one understands
Then the tide rolled in and everything ran
And washed us away, washed us away, washed us away
Up in the attic ambition was burning
Now my fingers were bleedin' but the tables were turning
Down in the city the future was beckoning
And I hated myself on the day of reckoning (oh yeah)
Carved our initials on top of the cake
The heart and the arrow, the rattle and the snake
How was I to know that the Earth was gonna break
And wash us away, wash us away, wash us away
Everything's temporary in this world
Ain't it a shame when you lose someone?
Here tomorrow, gone today
Wash us away, wash us away, wash us away
There was never a fool like a young fool alone in
A world without someone he can find a home in
And for all the wrong reasons we rescued each other
You bandaged my heart I never would recover (oh)
No river runs true; it always takes a twist
Hearts can be broken, arrows gonna miss
How was I to know that it was gonna come down to this
And wash us away?
And we wrote our names on the Dead Sea Scrolls
The young and the restless, the brave and the bold
How was we to know it was gonna get outta control
And wash us away, wash us away, wash us away, wash us away
Wash us away, wash us away, wash us away?
Our fathers were angry, our mother's were screamin'
At the clothes we were wearin' and the music we got off on
Hitler was dead, welcome to Babylon
Carved our initials out across the sand
The heart and the arrow no one understands
Then the tide rolled in and everything ran
And washed us away, washed us away, washed us away
Up in the attic ambition was burning
Now my fingers were bleedin' but the tables were turning
Down in the city the future was beckoning
And I hated myself on the day of reckoning (oh yeah)
Carved our initials on top of the cake
The heart and the arrow, the rattle and the snake
How was I to know that the Earth was gonna break
And wash us away, wash us away, wash us away
Everything's temporary in this world
Ain't it a shame when you lose someone?
Here tomorrow, gone today
Wash us away, wash us away, wash us away
There was never a fool like a young fool alone in
A world without someone he can find a home in
And for all the wrong reasons we rescued each other
You bandaged my heart I never would recover (oh)
No river runs true; it always takes a twist
Hearts can be broken, arrows gonna miss
How was I to know that it was gonna come down to this
And wash us away?
And we wrote our names on the Dead Sea Scrolls
The young and the restless, the brave and the bold
How was we to know it was gonna get outta control
And wash us away, wash us away, wash us away, wash us away
Wash us away, wash us away, wash us away?
Lyrics submitted by ButNeverOutgunned
Wash Us Away Lyrics as written by Ian Hunter
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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Fast Car
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