"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.
Well, I took a stroll on the old long walk
Of a day-I-ay-I-ay
I met a little girl and we stopped to talk
Of a fine soft day-I-ay-I-ay
And I ask you, friend, what's a fella to do?
'Cause her hair was black and her eyes were blue
And I knew right then I'd be takin' a whirl
'Round the Salthill Prom with a Galway girl
We were halfway there when the rain came down
Of a day-I-ay-I-ay
She asked me up to her flat downtown
Of a fine soft day-I-ay-I-ay
And I ask you, friend, what's a fella to do?
'Cause her hair was black and her eyes were blue
I took her hand and I gave her a twirl
And I lost my heart to a Galway girl
When I woke up I was all alone
With a broken heart and a ticket home
And I ask you now, tell me what would you do
If her hair is black and her eyes were blue
I've traveled around, I've been all over this world
Boys, I ain't never seen nothin' like a Galway girl
Of a day-I-ay-I-ay
I met a little girl and we stopped to talk
Of a fine soft day-I-ay-I-ay
And I ask you, friend, what's a fella to do?
'Cause her hair was black and her eyes were blue
And I knew right then I'd be takin' a whirl
'Round the Salthill Prom with a Galway girl
We were halfway there when the rain came down
Of a day-I-ay-I-ay
She asked me up to her flat downtown
Of a fine soft day-I-ay-I-ay
And I ask you, friend, what's a fella to do?
'Cause her hair was black and her eyes were blue
I took her hand and I gave her a twirl
And I lost my heart to a Galway girl
When I woke up I was all alone
With a broken heart and a ticket home
And I ask you now, tell me what would you do
If her hair is black and her eyes were blue
I've traveled around, I've been all over this world
Boys, I ain't never seen nothin' like a Galway girl
Lyrics submitted by Lloyd_Cole
The Galway Girl Lyrics as written by Steve Earle
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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