"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.
Cet air qui m'obsède, jour et nuit
Cet air n'est pas né d'aujourd'hui
Il vient d'aussi loin que je viens
Traîné par cent mille musiciens
Un jour, cet air, me rendra folle
Cent fois, j'ai voulu dire pourquoi
Mais il m'a coupé la parole
Il parle toujours avant moi
Et sa voix couvre ma voix
Padam, padam, padam
Il arrive en courant, derrière moi
Padam, padam, padam
Il me fait le coup du souviens-toi
Padam, padam, padam
C'est un air qui me montre du doigt
Et je traîne après moi comme une drôle d'erreur
Cet air qui sait tout par cœur
Il dit "rappelle-toi tes amours
Rappelle-toi puisque, c'est ton tour
Y a pas d'raison pour qu'tu n'pleures pas
Avec tes souvenirs sur les bras"
Et moi, je revois ceux qui restent
Mes vingt ans font battre tambour
Je vois s'entrebattre des gestes
Toute la comédie des amours
Sur cet air qui va toujours
Padam, padam, padam
Des "je t'aime", de quatorze-juillet
Padam, padam, padam
Des "toujours", qu'on achète au rabais
Padam, padam, padam
Des "veux-tu", en voilà par paquets
Et tout ça pour tomber juste au coin d'la rue
Sur l'air qui m'a reconnue
Écoutez le chahut qu'il me fait
Comme si tout mon passé défilait
Faut garder du chagrin pour après
J'en ai tout un solfège, sur cet air qui bat
Qui bat comme un cœur de bois
Cet air n'est pas né d'aujourd'hui
Il vient d'aussi loin que je viens
Traîné par cent mille musiciens
Un jour, cet air, me rendra folle
Cent fois, j'ai voulu dire pourquoi
Mais il m'a coupé la parole
Il parle toujours avant moi
Et sa voix couvre ma voix
Padam, padam, padam
Il arrive en courant, derrière moi
Padam, padam, padam
Il me fait le coup du souviens-toi
Padam, padam, padam
C'est un air qui me montre du doigt
Et je traîne après moi comme une drôle d'erreur
Cet air qui sait tout par cœur
Il dit "rappelle-toi tes amours
Rappelle-toi puisque, c'est ton tour
Y a pas d'raison pour qu'tu n'pleures pas
Avec tes souvenirs sur les bras"
Et moi, je revois ceux qui restent
Mes vingt ans font battre tambour
Je vois s'entrebattre des gestes
Toute la comédie des amours
Sur cet air qui va toujours
Padam, padam, padam
Des "je t'aime", de quatorze-juillet
Padam, padam, padam
Des "toujours", qu'on achète au rabais
Padam, padam, padam
Des "veux-tu", en voilà par paquets
Et tout ça pour tomber juste au coin d'la rue
Sur l'air qui m'a reconnue
Écoutez le chahut qu'il me fait
Comme si tout mon passé défilait
Faut garder du chagrin pour après
J'en ai tout un solfège, sur cet air qui bat
Qui bat comme un cœur de bois
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I add a comment. I am quite sure that most of the French people do not hear "Padam" when Piaf sings. For the simple reason that Padam has no meaning and that Panam has a meaning (Panam is Paris). And more: the pronunciation Panam is close to Padam. So the French ear will chose (by ease) to hear Panam (understandable) instead of Padam (without meaning).The thing would have been totally different with Patam or Param, which are far from Panam for the pronunciation. So I guess that most of the French people, if they happen to know that Padam is the real word sung by Piaf, would not understand why such a word here. Odd, odd, odd. They would not care. They do not care. And they are right. The aim of a song is not to propose a puzzle and a headache. We need simple things there we can immediately get. So I venture to say that the guy who wrote the song found clever to write Padam, but most of the French people do not understand the subtlety (if any) and sing Panam, panam, panam. Such a meaningless (at first sight) title, Padam, did not prevent the song to be a huge success!
Jean-Claude Picot - jecipic@hotmail.com