"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.
Deep down in Lousiana close to New Orleans
Way back up in the woods among the evergreens
There stood an old cabin made of earth and wood
Where lived a country boy named Johnny be Goode
Who never ever learned to read or write so well
But he could play a guitar just like a ringin' a bell
Go go go Johnny go go go Johnny go go
Go Johnny go go go Johnny go go Johnny be Goode
He used to carry his guitar in a gunny sack
He sit beneath the tree by the railroad track
The engineer would see him sittin' in the shade
Strummin' with the rhythm that the drivers made
The people passin' by they would stop and say
Oh my how that little country boy can play
Go go go Johnny go go...
[ guitar - piano ]
His mother told him someday you gonna be a man
And you will be the leader of a big old band
Many people comen from miles around
To hear you play your music when the sun goes down
Maybe someday your name will be in lights sayin' Johnny be Goode tonight
Go go go Johnny go go...
Way back up in the woods among the evergreens
There stood an old cabin made of earth and wood
Where lived a country boy named Johnny be Goode
Who never ever learned to read or write so well
But he could play a guitar just like a ringin' a bell
Go go go Johnny go go go Johnny go go
Go Johnny go go go Johnny go go Johnny be Goode
He used to carry his guitar in a gunny sack
He sit beneath the tree by the railroad track
The engineer would see him sittin' in the shade
Strummin' with the rhythm that the drivers made
The people passin' by they would stop and say
Oh my how that little country boy can play
Go go go Johnny go go...
[ guitar - piano ]
His mother told him someday you gonna be a man
And you will be the leader of a big old band
Many people comen from miles around
To hear you play your music when the sun goes down
Maybe someday your name will be in lights sayin' Johnny be Goode tonight
Go go go Johnny go go...
Lyrics submitted by ButNeverOutgunned
Johnny B. Goode Lyrics as written by Chuck Berry
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, ENTERTAINMENT ONE U.S. LP
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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