"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 was a stage and a pier up in western Massachusetts,
And the kids came from miles around to get messed up on the music.
And she drove down from Boden with a carload of girlfriends,
To meet some boys and maybe eat some mushrooms
And they did and she got sick
And now she's pinned and way too shaky.
She don't wanna tell the doctor everything she's taken
The paramedics hovered over her like a somber mourning family
They gave her activating charcoal, they flooded her with saline
Her:
"I got really hot and then I came to in the chillout tent,
They gave me oranges and cigarettes."
He was rough around the edges:
He'd been to school, but never finished,
He'd been to jail, but never prison.
It was his first day off in forever, man
The festival seemed like a pretty good plan,
Cruise some chicks and get a sun-tan.
And his friend gave him four, but said only take one,
But then he got bored and ended up taking all four.
Ah, so now my man ain't that bored anyways,
The paramedics found him: he was shaking on the side of the stage.
Him:
"Everything was spinning and I came to in the chillout tent,
They gave me oranges and cigarettes."
Her:
"I got really hot and then I came to in the chillout tent"
Both:
"They gave us oranges and cigarettes."
She looked just like a baby bird, all new and wet and trying to light a Parliament
He quoted her some poetry, he's Tennyson in denim and sheepskin.
He looked a lot like Izzy Stradlin.
They started kissing when the nurses took off their IVs,
It was kinda sexy, but it was kinda creepy.
Their mouths were fizzy with the cherry cola,
They had the privacy of bedsheets
And all the other kids were mostly in comas.
Her:
"He was kinda cute, we kinda kicked it in the chillout tent,
And I never saw that boy again."
Him:
"She was pretty cool, we kinda kicked in the chillout tent,
And I never saw that girl again."
Her:
"He was kinda cute, we kinda kicked it in the chillout tent,
And I never saw that boy again."
Him:
"She seemed pretty cool, we kinda kicked it in the chillout tent,
And I never saw that girl again."
And the kids came from miles around to get messed up on the music.
And she drove down from Boden with a carload of girlfriends,
To meet some boys and maybe eat some mushrooms
And they did and she got sick
And now she's pinned and way too shaky.
She don't wanna tell the doctor everything she's taken
The paramedics hovered over her like a somber mourning family
They gave her activating charcoal, they flooded her with saline
Her:
"I got really hot and then I came to in the chillout tent,
They gave me oranges and cigarettes."
He was rough around the edges:
He'd been to school, but never finished,
He'd been to jail, but never prison.
It was his first day off in forever, man
The festival seemed like a pretty good plan,
Cruise some chicks and get a sun-tan.
And his friend gave him four, but said only take one,
But then he got bored and ended up taking all four.
Ah, so now my man ain't that bored anyways,
The paramedics found him: he was shaking on the side of the stage.
Him:
"Everything was spinning and I came to in the chillout tent,
They gave me oranges and cigarettes."
Her:
"I got really hot and then I came to in the chillout tent"
Both:
"They gave us oranges and cigarettes."
She looked just like a baby bird, all new and wet and trying to light a Parliament
He quoted her some poetry, he's Tennyson in denim and sheepskin.
He looked a lot like Izzy Stradlin.
They started kissing when the nurses took off their IVs,
It was kinda sexy, but it was kinda creepy.
Their mouths were fizzy with the cherry cola,
They had the privacy of bedsheets
And all the other kids were mostly in comas.
Her:
"He was kinda cute, we kinda kicked it in the chillout tent,
And I never saw that boy again."
Him:
"She was pretty cool, we kinda kicked in the chillout tent,
And I never saw that girl again."
Her:
"He was kinda cute, we kinda kicked it in the chillout tent,
And I never saw that boy again."
Him:
"She seemed pretty cool, we kinda kicked it in the chillout tent,
And I never saw that girl again."
Lyrics submitted by kemekongka
Chillout Tent Lyrics as written by Tad Jason Kubler Craig Finn
Lyrics © Songtrust Ave, Reservoir Media Management, Inc.
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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Their best song. I love the juxtuposition of unrequited love set against a backdrop of drug overdose ('it was kind of sexy but it was kind of creepy').
The female vocals just kill me, especially the line, 'and I never saw that boy again'. Such a simple sentence but rammed with emotion.
Great songwriting.