"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.
In a town in the woods at the top of a hill
There’s a house where no one lives
So you take a big bag of your big city money there
And buy it.
But at night, the house is dark
And you’re all alone, there’s a noise upstairs
At the top of the stairs, there’s a door
And you take a deep breath and try it.
And the flashlight shows you something moving just inside the door
There’s a tattered dress and a feeling you have felt somewhere before.
And there’s the creepy doll
That always follows you
It’s got a ruined eye
That’s always open…
And there’s a creepy doll
That always follows you
It’s got a pretty mouth
To swallow you whole…
So you scream and you close the door
And you tell yourself it was just a dream
In the morning you head into town,
‘Cause you want to go antiquing.
In the store there’s a strange old man
With a wandering eye and a withered hand
When he hands you the old wooden box
You can hear his old bones creaking.
And you know what you will find inside the moment that you see
That someone carved your name into the tarnished silver key.
And there’s a creepy doll
That always follows you
It’s got a ruined eye
That’s always open…
And there’s a creepy doll
That always follows you
It’s got a pretty mouth
To swallow you whole…
And when you come home late, the doll is waiting up for you
And when you fix a snack, the doll says it would like one too
The doll is in your house and in your room and in your bed
The doll is in your eyes and in your arms and in your head – and you are crazy.
Now it’s late and you head downstairs
’Cause you just can’t sleep so you make some tea
And the doll disapprovingly asks
If you really need that much honey.
You decide that you’ve had enough
And you lock the doll in the wooden box
You put the box in the fireplace
Next to your bag of big city money.
As the smoke fills up your tiny room there’s nothing you can do
And far too late you see the one inside the box is you.
And there’s a creepy doll
That always follows you
It’s got a ruined eye
That’s always open…
And there’s a creepy doll
That always follows you
It’s got a pretty mouth
To swallow you whole…
There’s a house where no one lives
So you take a big bag of your big city money there
And buy it.
But at night, the house is dark
And you’re all alone, there’s a noise upstairs
At the top of the stairs, there’s a door
And you take a deep breath and try it.
And the flashlight shows you something moving just inside the door
There’s a tattered dress and a feeling you have felt somewhere before.
And there’s the creepy doll
That always follows you
It’s got a ruined eye
That’s always open…
And there’s a creepy doll
That always follows you
It’s got a pretty mouth
To swallow you whole…
So you scream and you close the door
And you tell yourself it was just a dream
In the morning you head into town,
‘Cause you want to go antiquing.
In the store there’s a strange old man
With a wandering eye and a withered hand
When he hands you the old wooden box
You can hear his old bones creaking.
And you know what you will find inside the moment that you see
That someone carved your name into the tarnished silver key.
And there’s a creepy doll
That always follows you
It’s got a ruined eye
That’s always open…
And there’s a creepy doll
That always follows you
It’s got a pretty mouth
To swallow you whole…
And when you come home late, the doll is waiting up for you
And when you fix a snack, the doll says it would like one too
The doll is in your house and in your room and in your bed
The doll is in your eyes and in your arms and in your head – and you are crazy.
Now it’s late and you head downstairs
’Cause you just can’t sleep so you make some tea
And the doll disapprovingly asks
If you really need that much honey.
You decide that you’ve had enough
And you lock the doll in the wooden box
You put the box in the fireplace
Next to your bag of big city money.
As the smoke fills up your tiny room there’s nothing you can do
And far too late you see the one inside the box is you.
And there’s a creepy doll
That always follows you
It’s got a ruined eye
That’s always open…
And there’s a creepy doll
That always follows you
It’s got a pretty mouth
To swallow you whole…
Lyrics submitted by PureSophist
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Fast Car
Tracy Chapman
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Wu-Tang Clan
Wu-Tang Clan
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Just A Little Lovin'
Dusty Springfield
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Ed Sheeran
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American Town
Ed Sheeran
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I think this song should be taken at face value. Not all songs have some deep spiritual meaning... It's about a creepy doll...
that always follows you.