"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.
Sometimes I wish I'd ... (repeat)
Disappear and fade away
More often than not I keep forgetting
True love it can never end in sorrow
I hope and I pray for comfort that
Never seems to come
They say what don't kill you makes you stronger
So why am I lying on the carpet
Convinced that if I sit still I will slowly wash away
I wish I could
(Chorus)
Disappear and fade away
This disappointment seems too overwhelming
Disappear and fade away
Can't understand it please somebody help me
Run back out of fear of starting over
Accept what is well below the standards
Embarassed that self respect hasn't seen the light of day
Consumed by a lack of motivation
But somehow you pull it all together
You put on some new perfume and you face another day
Your heart it breaks
(Chorus x2)
Gotta keep it all together or I'll break up
Maybe take a shower wash off this make-up
Maybe watch TV then get some sleep
and feel better when i wake up
Maybe these feelings were never brand new
Kinda makes you wanna believe that they're true
But in time you'll see this misery will fade
That's just how these things do
And your problems will
(Chorus)
Disappear and fade away
Disappear and fade away
More often than not I keep forgetting
True love it can never end in sorrow
I hope and I pray for comfort that
Never seems to come
They say what don't kill you makes you stronger
So why am I lying on the carpet
Convinced that if I sit still I will slowly wash away
I wish I could
(Chorus)
Disappear and fade away
This disappointment seems too overwhelming
Disappear and fade away
Can't understand it please somebody help me
Run back out of fear of starting over
Accept what is well below the standards
Embarassed that self respect hasn't seen the light of day
Consumed by a lack of motivation
But somehow you pull it all together
You put on some new perfume and you face another day
Your heart it breaks
(Chorus x2)
Gotta keep it all together or I'll break up
Maybe take a shower wash off this make-up
Maybe watch TV then get some sleep
and feel better when i wake up
Maybe these feelings were never brand new
Kinda makes you wanna believe that they're true
But in time you'll see this misery will fade
That's just how these things do
And your problems will
(Chorus)
Disappear and fade away
Lyrics submitted by rjd
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Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
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Yo La Tengo
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This song was originally written by a guy called Peter Gutteridge. He was one of the founders of the "Dunedin Sound" a musical scene in the south of New Zealand in the early 80s. From there it was covered by "The Clean" one of the early bands of that scene (he had originally been a member of in it's early days, writing a couple of their best early songs). The Dunedin sound, and the Clean became popular on american college radio in the mid to late 80s. I guess Yo La Tengo heard that version.
Great version of a great song,
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