"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.
There's nothing to complain about
You are so useless when you're high
There's a big gap in your front teeth
You only look good when you're high
Whatever those girls at school did say
Don't believe them
They're just jealous of your awkward ways
Brush right past them in the hall
Already settled it and this time I'll handle it and
Bring them out back to me and I'll use the whipping tree
Is that the new style at school
I like to see you keeping up
I swear it gets better now
They'll never see you getting by
Whatever those girls at school did say
Don't believe them
They're just jealous of your awkward ways
Stab them right between the heart
You look so much better now
Already settled it and this time I'll handle it and
Bring them out back to me and I'll use the whipping tree
You are so useless when you're high
There's a big gap in your front teeth
You only look good when you're high
Whatever those girls at school did say
Don't believe them
They're just jealous of your awkward ways
Brush right past them in the hall
Already settled it and this time I'll handle it and
Bring them out back to me and I'll use the whipping tree
Is that the new style at school
I like to see you keeping up
I swear it gets better now
They'll never see you getting by
Whatever those girls at school did say
Don't believe them
They're just jealous of your awkward ways
Stab them right between the heart
You look so much better now
Already settled it and this time I'll handle it and
Bring them out back to me and I'll use the whipping tree
Lyrics submitted by Kayci_Nicole
Madison Lyrics as written by Jonathan Forrest Bates
Lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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This song sounds to me about a guy who is older and in a relationship with a younger girl who is still in high school. The girl is still going through all the troubles of insecurities and using drugs to be "cool" and just everything that results in being in high school. The singer is older and just trying to ease the younger girl's mind. I can relate. I think the whole "bring them out back to me and I'll use the whipping tree" is just a mockery of being older and discipline.
I thought that this song follows a flow that the first verse is "Whatever those girls at school did say". There really is something to complain about, there really is no gap in her teeth, and she probably only gets high to fit in if she even does. The rest of the song seems to be from the perspective of the singer, trying to get her to see her value. At the same time, he's pissed off at the "girls at school" and even offers to "take them out back", so to speak.