"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.
C’mon let’s go
I’ll find you waiting there
Beyond their violence dared
A light around your soul
You could be my friend
Lovely and different
Crushing up the stars above us
A guarantee to spoil our rot
Tears were once my only way back home
Someone speaks and instantly I’m cold
C’mon let’s go
C’mon let’s go
Beyond the great unknown
Beyond their punched-up skulls
To die upon this road
C’mon let’s go
C’mon let’s go
Anesthetized I’m hollow
Playing to the dark back row
C’mon let’s go
Go
C’mon let’s go
Assimilate, it’s all been staged
I’ve made mistakes, they penetrate
They’re gonna take, it’s all the same
They cannot wait, their love spells hate
I wanna love
I wanna love
I’m pushing back
I’m serpentine
I’m pushing back
Lord save me
With need
Lord walk me home
C’mon let’s go
C’mon, c’mon let’s go
Tears were once my only way back home
Someone weeps and instantly I’m thrown
C’mon let’s go
C’mon let’s go
Go
C’mon let’s go
I’ll find you waiting there
Beyond their violence dared
A light around your soul
You could be my friend
Lovely and different
Crushing up the stars above us
A guarantee to spoil our rot
Tears were once my only way back home
Someone speaks and instantly I’m cold
C’mon let’s go
C’mon let’s go
Beyond the great unknown
Beyond their punched-up skulls
To die upon this road
C’mon let’s go
C’mon let’s go
Anesthetized I’m hollow
Playing to the dark back row
C’mon let’s go
Go
C’mon let’s go
Assimilate, it’s all been staged
I’ve made mistakes, they penetrate
They’re gonna take, it’s all the same
They cannot wait, their love spells hate
I wanna love
I wanna love
I’m pushing back
I’m serpentine
I’m pushing back
Lord save me
With need
Lord walk me home
C’mon let’s go
C’mon, c’mon let’s go
Tears were once my only way back home
Someone weeps and instantly I’m thrown
C’mon let’s go
C’mon let’s go
Go
C’mon let’s go
Lyrics submitted by Love.Is.Suicide
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Fast Car
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This is one of my favorite songs. https://fnfgo.io
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Plastic Bag
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i agree totally with what ChrislvSP said in regards to Siamese Dream. Heck, i think anyone whos ever heard of that album loves it. its fantastic. but it was released well over 10 years ago. alot has changed. Billy is no longer an angsty 20something year old, he is a 40yr old man. No artist sticks to the exact same genre. They would get bored shitless. its like a job, your still working but you may change occupation 3 or 4 times.
U2 released Achtung baby just 4 years after The Joshua Tree - those records sound nothing the same. If you like one album and cannot escape it then thats your choice. I happen to realy appreciate and adore nearly all of the Smashing Pumpkins songs off every bootleg bside and album. Billy is an awesome guitar player, composer and lyricicist.
I think this song could be for the fans who have always stuck by the pumpkins. the people theyare getting away from are the SP haters who once were there but have now gone leaving only punched up skulls and dark back rows (the past) he is saying lets go beyond the great unknown to places of spiritual and musical greatness, forget about all the 'haters' lets keep making and loving great music and keep loving life - don't let the bastards get you down.