"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.
Sweep up, little sweeper boy
It's you who's got the wig on here
Sweep up, little sweeper boy, sweep up
Yellow is the color of my true love's crossbow
Yellow is the color of the sun
And black is the color of
A strangled rainbow
That's the color of my lung
Black is the color of my true love's arrow
That's the color of a human's blood
You got a shot o-o-o-of shampoo
Though it was made thirty years ago
Yeah, you still got a shot o-o-o-of shampoo
Though you were made twenty years ago
Speak up, little sweeper boy
They are hard of hearing
Anything that anyone has to say
Well, I say
Yellow is the color of my true love's crossbow
Yellow like the color of the sun
And, black is the color of
A strangled rainbow
Just the color of my lung
Black is the color of my true love's arrow
Exactly the color of my blood
But I don't want to die
I-I-I'll never die, tomorrow maybe (however dark tomorrow may be)
Above me a perfect square of sky
You are worth your weight in gold, you are worth your weight in sorrow, baby
Though you will never know why
It's you who's got the wig on here
Sweep up, little sweeper boy, sweep up
Yellow is the color of my true love's crossbow
Yellow is the color of the sun
And black is the color of
A strangled rainbow
That's the color of my lung
Black is the color of my true love's arrow
That's the color of a human's blood
You got a shot o-o-o-of shampoo
Though it was made thirty years ago
Yeah, you still got a shot o-o-o-of shampoo
Though you were made twenty years ago
Speak up, little sweeper boy
They are hard of hearing
Anything that anyone has to say
Well, I say
Yellow is the color of my true love's crossbow
Yellow like the color of the sun
And, black is the color of
A strangled rainbow
Just the color of my lung
Black is the color of my true love's arrow
Exactly the color of my blood
But I don't want to die
I-I-I'll never die, tomorrow maybe (however dark tomorrow may be)
Above me a perfect square of sky
You are worth your weight in gold, you are worth your weight in sorrow, baby
Though you will never know why
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I have a different version of the song (that I got off Daytrotter)
There is an extra verse that comes in after "my blood" and goes like this:
But I don't want to die, I'll never die, tomorrow maybe Above a near perfect square of sun You are worth your weight in gold you are worth your weight in sorrow baby though you will never know why
*equals I don't really know
I read in a review that the line was "But I don't want to die, however dark tomorrow may be" but I always heard "I'd rather die tomorrow maybe". In the live versions, you can hear it better. And I think "sun" is "sky"...but that's only because it rhymes with "why".
What was the title of the track?<br /> <br /> Upon searching Daytrotter, I discovered only the following tracks:<br /> <br /> Good Friday<br /> Emile's Vietnam in the Sky<br /> All the Night Without Love<br /> While You Were Sleeping