"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.
As I write this letter to you darlin'
I can't hold the teardrops from my eyes
For at sundown I will lay a-dyin'
At the door of the Fool's Paradise
Rode into this cattle town this mornin'
Left my burro to check the market price
And I walked into the nearest barroom
They call it the Fool's Paradise
There the crowd was gay and girls were dancin'
And the men were playin' cards and dice
So I stepped up to the bar to join them
What a grand place this Fool's Paradise
It was then I showed to them your picture
I passed it around once or twice
Then a man insulted your sweet honour
At the bar of the Fool's Paradise
So I slapped his face and I told him, I says
"You eat them words Mister, or draw, that's my advice"
And he said, "Well, somebody might get hurt inside
But I'll be glad to meet you in the street at sundown
At sundown in front of the Fool's Paradise"
So goodbye my darlin', may God bless you
I go to make this sacrifice
And if ever you visit old Dodge City
Remember the Fool's Paradise
I can't hold the teardrops from my eyes
For at sundown I will lay a-dyin'
At the door of the Fool's Paradise
Rode into this cattle town this mornin'
Left my burro to check the market price
And I walked into the nearest barroom
They call it the Fool's Paradise
There the crowd was gay and girls were dancin'
And the men were playin' cards and dice
So I stepped up to the bar to join them
What a grand place this Fool's Paradise
It was then I showed to them your picture
I passed it around once or twice
Then a man insulted your sweet honour
At the bar of the Fool's Paradise
So I slapped his face and I told him, I says
"You eat them words Mister, or draw, that's my advice"
And he said, "Well, somebody might get hurt inside
But I'll be glad to meet you in the street at sundown
At sundown in front of the Fool's Paradise"
So goodbye my darlin', may God bless you
I go to make this sacrifice
And if ever you visit old Dodge City
Remember the Fool's Paradise
Lyrics submitted by ButNeverOutgunned
The Fool's Paradise Lyrics as written by Danny Elfman
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Universal Music Publishing Group, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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