"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.
Captain Fantastic, raised and regimented, hardly a hero
Just someone his mother might know
Very clearly a case for Corn Flakes and classics
"Two teas both with sugar please"
In the back of an alley
While little dirt cowboys turned brown in their saddles
Sweet chocolate biscuits and red rosy apples in summer
For it's hay make and "Hey mom, do the papers say anything good
Are there chances in life for little dirt cowboys
Should I make my way out of my home in the woods"
Brown Dirt Cowboy, still green and growing
City slick Captain
Fantastic the feedback
The honey, the hive could be holding
For there's weak winged young sparrows that starve in the winter
Broken young children on the wheels of the winners
And the sixty-eight summer festival wallflowers are thinning
For cheap easy meals, hardly a home on the range
Too hot for the band with a desperate desire for change
We've thrown in the towel too many times
Out for the count and when we're down
Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy
From the end of the world to your town
And all this talk of Jesus coming back to see us
Mmm mmm couldn't fool us
For we were spinning out our lines walking on the wire
Hand in hand went music and the rhyme
The Captain and the Kid stepping in the ring
From here on sonny sonny sonny, it's a long and lonely climb
For cheap easy meals, hardly a home on the range
Too hot for the band with a desperate desire for change
We've thrown in the towel too many times
Out for the count and when we're down
Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy
From the end of the world to your town
We've thrown in the towel too many times
Out for the count and when we're down
Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy
From the end of the world to your town
Just someone his mother might know
Very clearly a case for Corn Flakes and classics
"Two teas both with sugar please"
In the back of an alley
While little dirt cowboys turned brown in their saddles
Sweet chocolate biscuits and red rosy apples in summer
For it's hay make and "Hey mom, do the papers say anything good
Are there chances in life for little dirt cowboys
Should I make my way out of my home in the woods"
Brown Dirt Cowboy, still green and growing
City slick Captain
Fantastic the feedback
The honey, the hive could be holding
For there's weak winged young sparrows that starve in the winter
Broken young children on the wheels of the winners
And the sixty-eight summer festival wallflowers are thinning
For cheap easy meals, hardly a home on the range
Too hot for the band with a desperate desire for change
We've thrown in the towel too many times
Out for the count and when we're down
Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy
From the end of the world to your town
And all this talk of Jesus coming back to see us
Mmm mmm couldn't fool us
For we were spinning out our lines walking on the wire
Hand in hand went music and the rhyme
The Captain and the Kid stepping in the ring
From here on sonny sonny sonny, it's a long and lonely climb
For cheap easy meals, hardly a home on the range
Too hot for the band with a desperate desire for change
We've thrown in the towel too many times
Out for the count and when we're down
Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy
From the end of the world to your town
We've thrown in the towel too many times
Out for the count and when we're down
Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy
From the end of the world to your town
Lyrics submitted by Rick3540, edited by ginobarrac
Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy Lyrics as written by Elton John Bernie Taupin
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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I have to admit, when I first heard this song, I thought it was the "Hershey Highway" thing. It was right after I found out EJ was gay. But I then remembered Bernie Taupin (who isn't gay) wrote all of his lyrics.
I don't understand why people get so mad or offended or whatever,(and even want to censor) when others make childish comments. Who cares?
Anyway, an excellent song.
IMO, this was his last album that was really good, even though it wasn't as good as his previous hit albums, Madman, Honkey, Yellow Brick Road, etc. I think he kinda went downhill after CF&TBDC. Maybe my tastes just changed. I did buy Rock of the Westies, which was the one that followed Captain, but that was the last one of EJ's albums I purchased.
There's a huge difference between childish comments and disrespectful comments that target a specific group.